Around the Industry: Layoffs and Closures
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The fourth quarter is over, earnings are being announced and new budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are being evaluated and tweaked. This means that we have officially entered layoff and closure season. Isn’t it great that big companies wait until right before the holiday season to let employees know whether or not they will have a job next year?
That said, two companies, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Pfizer/Wyeth are the first to kickoff the 2009-2010 season.
BMS announced that it will lay off 25% of its Abilify sales force. This comes only six months after the drugmaker extended its contract with Otsuka Pharmaceutical to market the anti-psychotic and depression drug. Abilify is BMS’s second best selling medication after Plavix that is co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis. Otsuka developed the drug and BMS markets and distributes it in the US and several European counties.
Abilify loses patent protection in 2012 and faces stiff generic competition in the anti-psychotic and depression markets. A BMS spokesperson declined to say exactly how many reps would be losing their jobs. However, according to a post on the sorely missed and recently resurrected Pharmalot blog there is speculation that Otsuka may hire some of the layed off BMS reps.
In other news, Pfizer/Wyeth announced that it will be closing its facility in Bridgewater, NJ but expanding operations at its Peapack-Gladstone, NJ location. The Bridgewater facility employs 300 people, 100 of which are involved in technology. The company announced yesterday that it wouldn't be shutting down Wyeth's Collegeville, PA headquarters.
Over 120,000 employees have been laid off by pharma companies in the past three years, many of whom lived and worked in New Jersey. Unemployment in NJ is hovering around 10%.
Stay tuned for more updates.
Hat tip to Ed at Pharmalot
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!
