Abbott Slashes 700 Jobs From Its Medical Devices and Diagnostics Unit

Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories today announced that it would lay off 700 employees from its medical devices and diagnostics division as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. 

Most of the layoffs will take place in the Chicago area and affect employees that manufacture the company’s cardiovascular stents and diagnostic tests. According to a company spokesperson approximately 500 persons who work in stent manufacturing and 200 who work in diagnostics will lose their jobs.

The restructuring of Abbott’s manufacturing operations began several years ago and about this time last year the company layed off about 1,900 employees in Lake County, Illinois.

In October, Abbott surprised investors and analysts with the announcement that it would spin off its branded drug business, including Humira (psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis) it’s largest selling branded pharmaceutical product. Company executives argued that the split would allow stakeholders and investors to separately and more accurately value Abbott’s other less risky businesses which include nutritional (baby) formula, generic drugs and medical devices and diagnostics.

Despite signs of economic recovery, it appears that layoffs are still occurring at a pretty good clip at many pharma and biotech companies. It now appears that medical devices and diagnostic company employees, who were once immune to downsizing and reorganization, are now fair game.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Continues Its Westward Expansion

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company, yesterday announced its intention to purchase the Swiss drug maker Nycomed for 8 to 10 billion euros ($11.4-14 billion). While the deal is not certain to close, it signals Takeda’s intention to purchase its way into the US and European markets.

Takeda acquired Cambridge, MA-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 2008 for $8.8 billion, the largest foreign acquisition ever by a Japanese company. The Millennium acquisition was intended to bolster Takeda’s competencies in genomics and oncology drug discovery. If Takeda is successful in its bid, Nycomed would enhance the company’s standing in treatments for gastric, respiratory and inflammatory disorders. Nycomed has operations in roughly 70 countries, with Europe representing 50 percent of the company’s sale and emerging markets 38 percent.

Takeda’s chief executive officer Yasuchika Hasegawa has pursued an aggressive M&A strategy since assuming control of the company in 2003. Historically, Japanese drugmakers intentionally remained small and were content doing business in local and other Asian markets. However, Hasegawa has changed the “game” and has forced some of Takeda’s rivals to emulate his global strategy. To that end, in recent years Daiichi Sankyo Company has purchased Plexxikon and Ranbaxy and Astellas acquired OSI pharmaceuticals as part of a westward expansion.

While Takeda remains Japan’s largest pharmaceutical company, net profit slumped 17 percent last year and the company is losing patent protection for its largest selling drugs, Prevacid (ulcers) and Actos (diabetes). Like Takeda, Nycomed sales are being hit by the loss of patent protection for its largest selling drug Protonix (antacid). Worldwide sales of the drug plummeted by almost 28 percent. Therefore, it would appear that Takeda’s pursuit of Nycomed is based more on its pipeline rather than currently marketed products.

Stay tuned for late-breaking news on the deal!

Until next time,

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

 

Brand Management: Sanofi-Aventis Shortens Its Name!

In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare famously wrote:

"What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet ..."

While I am not so sure about the “sweet part,”  French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis believes that no matter what it calls itself it will still be the same old company. To that end, Sanofi-Aventis last Friday announced that it will officially shorten its name to simply “Sanofi.” 

Sanofi is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies based on revenues. It was formed in 2004 in a merger between two French pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis. The reason for the name change; most people (me included) simply called it Sanofi rather than Sanofi-Aventis. And, perhaps more appropriately, the company wanted its name to be “recognizable and easy to pronounce” around the world.

In addition to the name change, the company also declared a dividend of 2.50 euro for its shareholders that will be paid either in cash or stock. The dividend payout will take effect by June 16, 2011

As you may recall, Sanofi purchased Genzyme last month in a $20.1 billion deal. Perhaps the name change was announced because Sanofi-Genzyme is much easier to pronounce and has a better “ring to it” than Sanofi-Aventis-Genzyme?

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!

 

Consolidation Continues in the Pharmaceutical Sector: Teva to Acquire Cephalon for $6.8 Billion

The world’s largest generic pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries LTD today announced that it has agreed to purchase Pennsylvania-based Cephalon, Inc for $6.8 billion. Teva will purchase Cephalon for $81.50 per share, a 12 percent premium to the $73-per share unsolicited offer tendered by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, on March 29, 2011. Cephalon’s board of directors rejected Valeant’s offer on April 5, 2011.

While most of Teva’s revenue comes from the sale of prescription generic medications, the company also sells several branded pharmaceutical products including the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and the Parkinson’s disease Azilect. Cephalon’s best selling drugs include Provigil for narcolepsy and the cancer drug Treanda. In addition to its marketed products, the Cephalon development pipeline contains potential cancer treatments, a tamper-resistant opioid painkiller, and an asthma treatment. The Cephalon acquisition is a pivotal part of Teva's strategy of growing branded drug revenue to $9 billion by 2015.

Teva currently has about 40,000 employees worldwide while Cephalon employs 4,000 persons. It is not clear what ever the acquisition will have on job layoffs or organizational structure.

Cephalon’s stock price rose $3.25 or 4.2 percent to $80.26 after the deal was announced.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

 

Looking Back: The Largest Big Pharma Drug Settlements in the Past Two Years

Big pharma continues to lament the increased scrutiny being imposed on it by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Like it or not, the agency’s directive is to insure that the drugs that it approves are safe and effective for the American public. And, for the most part, the agency does its job and frequently catches companies that attempt to break the rules.

To that end, an article that appeared in FiercePharma last October noted that eleven big pharma companies had paid a total of over $6.0 billion in fines to the US government over the last two years or so. The biggest losers include Eli Lilly paid over $1.4 billion in fines because of alleged illegal marketing of its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa and Pfizer which paid $2.3 billion for marketing missteps with three drugs including Bextra (pain), Geodon (schizophrenia) , Lyrica (neuropathic pain) and Zyvox (antibiotic). 

More recently, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $750 million fine in a whistle blower lawsuit that alleged that the company had sold "adulterated products" manufactured in a Cidra Puerto Rico production facility. Also, the company announced last February that it intends to pay $3.4 billion to settle lawsuits alleging the improper promotion and sale of several of its products including the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia and Paxil (depression).

The article also included a timeline of some of the other major settlements that have recently taken place (seen below)

Novartis
With: U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
When: Sept. 30, 2010
Infraction: Novartis agreed to a $422.5 million settlement with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for its off-label promotion of Trileptal and other allegations against Diovan, Exforge, Sandostatin, Tekturna and Zelnorm.

Forest Labs
With: Dept. of Justice
When: Sept. 15, 2010
Infraction: After marketing Levothroid, an unapproved thyroid drug, Forest Labs received its penalty, to the tune of $313 million. The settlement also covered Forest's off-label use of Celexa for children's use.

Allergan
With: Dept. of Justice
When: Sept. 1, 2010
Infractions: Allergan's $600 million Department of Justice settlement was broken into two parts: $375 million in fines and $225 million in civil penalties, all of which stemmed from its off-label use of Botox for headaches, pain management and cerebral palsy.

Elan
With: U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts
When: July 15, 2010
Infraction: The Irish drugmakers received its $203.5 million fine for its marketing tactics of Zonegran, an epilepsy drug. Also, the company's U.S. branch pled guilty to a misdemeanor and the company will enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the HHS Inspector General.

Johnson & Johnson
With: Department of Justice
When: April 29, 2010
Infraction: Though J&J's more infamous woes stem from its phantom recalls, two of the troubled drug maker’s subsidiaries received a $81 million penalty for off-label promotions of Topamax, an epilepsy drug.

AstraZeneca
With: U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia
When: April 27, 2010
Infraction: In the same week as the J&J settlement, AstraZeneca was hit with a $520 million penalty for its antipsychotic, Seroquel. The company misled doctors and patients about the drug's safety.

Despite concerted efforts by the US Food and Drug Agency to limit off-label promotion of prescription drugs, most pharma companies continue to see how far they can push the envelope before the agency catches up with them. Given the current budget woes facing FDA, don’t be surprised if the frequency of off label promotion and misrepresentation of prescriptions drugs continue to rise.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!
 

 

Life Scientists: Tweet Your Way To a New Job or Career

There is no question that Twitter is the new social media tool of the moment. And, it should come as no surprise that scientists and other bioprofessionals have been slow to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. While the jury is still out on Twitter’s effectiveness as a research tool, there is a growing body of evident that suggests that it can be a valuable tool when conducting a job search. 

To that end, Miriam Salpeter, the owner of Keppie Careers wrote an incisive piece on leveraging Twitter to find a job or jumpstart your career. I excerpted relevant parts of the post that originally appeared as “Older Job Seeker: Want to Tweet Yourself to A New Job?”  While originally aimed at older employees, much of what is presented in the article is germane to life scientists of all ages who are seeking new job opportunities! 

Want to Tweet Yourself to A New Job?”

by Miriam Salpeter

Would you believe that you can tweet yourself to a job opportunity 140 characters at a time? It’s been done! Statistics show that job search networking is much more effective when you make “loose” connections – touching base with people beyond your immediate circle whose networks and contacts are much different from your own. With over 200 million users, Twitter offers an unparalleled opportunity to create an extended network.

Not convinced that Twitter is actually a high-powered job search tool? Read on to learn how Twitter can uniquely position you for job-hunting success!

What Can Twitter Do For You?

1. Afford access to other professionals in your field. When you follow industry leaders, you’ll know who spends time with them, what conferences they attend (and what they think of the speakers!), what they’re reading and what is on their minds. This is great information to leverage for your search.

2. Provide exposure and credibility as well as personal and professional relationships when you connect to others in your industry.

3. Offer you a venue to demonstrate your expertise and share information in quick, pithy bursts of wisdom. This is perfect if you don’t have the time or energy to create a blog.

Unique Aspects of Twitter

1. It is casual and immediate and a great place to “meet” informally.

2. You’ll find an array of people on Twitter, including CEOs, top-level executives, hiring managers, recruiters and everyone in-between! It’s one-stop shopping for your networking needs. You’ll be surprised to find that stars in your field (mentors) may follow you if you reach out to them!

3. Unlike Facebook, where it is kind of creepy if you start trying to “friend” people who are connected to your contacts, it is acceptable (and expected) to follow people on Twitter because another friend or colleague does.

4. It forces you to be brief. Coming up with your “Twit-Pitch” – what you have to offer in 140 characters or less – will help you clarify your value proposition. Remember: less is more!

What To Do First?

1. Brand yourself professionally. If you are planning to use Twitter for a job search, set up a designated profile and account. Choose a professional Twitter handle using your name or some combination of your name and profession that sounds good and is easy to remember. For example, JaneSmith or MarketingExpertJane.

2. Take time to create a professional profile that will attract your target market. If you don’t have a website, link to your LinkedIn profile.

3. Before you follow anyone, start posting some tweets! Don’t succumb to the temptation to share your lunch menu…Tweet about an article, an idea or share a link of professional interest to your targeted followers. Do this for a few days. It may seem strange to be tweeting when no one is following, but you may be surprised to gain an audience before you even try. Once you have a great profile and a set of interesting tweets, start following people in your industry. Aim high! Follow stars – some will follow you back.

4. Continue to build your network by using Twitter Search and Twitter’s Find People tool. Manually review profiles and use Twubble to help you find new people to follow. Use directories such as Twellow and TwitDir. Grow your network slowly – you don’t want to follow 1000 people and have only 30 following you. That makes you look spammy, not professional.

5. Give, give, give! Think about what you can do for others. Don’t blatantly self-promote. Instead, help promote others. “Retweet” (pass along information someone else shared, giving them credit) – you will earn followers and friends this way. Those who know (and like) you will become part of your network and will be willing to help you.

Sustain Your Twitter Network

1. Twitter doesn’t have to be very time-consuming, but if it’s going to be part of your job search strategy, make a point to keep up with it by sending out something useful every day.

2. Read what other people write and respond. Join conversations and start your own.

3. Don’t be afraid to send a message directly to a star in your field. Simply address your tweet to @their Twitter name, and they should receive it. (Be aware that Twitter isn’t 100% reliable, so feel free to try again if you don’t hear back or have reason to believe your message wasn’t delivered).

4. Use the direct message feature if you have a private or personal note. Remember that the recipient may respond publicly, though.

5. Feel free to tweet that you are looking for an opportunity. (See below for a success story!)

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!  (@biojobbblog)

 

Novartis Sheds 550 UK Jobs

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis late yesterday announced that it would cut 550 jobs at it Horsham site West Sussex, England. At present, there are 950 workers at the Horsham site. The job cuts, 330 dedicated to respiratory research, will be made over the next two years.

This is more bad news for the UK pharma R&D workforce. In February, Pfizer said it would shut its Sandwich in Kent facility which employs 2,400 people. More job cuts are likely to take place in the US, UK and Europe as the pharmaceutical industry continues to scale back investment in R&D. 

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

 

The Workplace: Pointing Fingers and Giving Credit When Credit Is Due

A positive workplace environment can make or break a company.  Companies with low employee morale often suffer from cultures of blame—pointing a finger at a team member (other than you) when things go awry —and not giving credit to deserving employees when credit may be due. 

Seemingly it should be relatively easy to fix these problems. Unfortunately, unless management is aware of the problem it won’t take steps to fix it. Further, the problem may not be company wide and may only exist in certain department or groups. To that end, Eilene Zimmerman who writes the NY Times CAREER COUCH column offers some very practical tips to employees and managers who want to fix these problems in an article entitled “The Problem With Pointing Fingers.”

Unlike other articles that I have read on this topic, the suggestions that see offers are incisive, fresh and bound to work for those who decide to implement them!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

 

Sanofi-Genzyme Deal Update: The End May Be Near

After seven months of public bickering over an appropriate sale price, the NY Time reports today that Sanofi Aventis may have hammered out a deal that would enable the French drug maker to acquire the world’s largest orphan drug manufacturer Genzyme for $19 billion. According to the report, Sanofi will acquire Genzyme for a $74 per share which is up from it previous offer of $69 per share.

Most analysts and the Genzyme management team felt that the previous $69 per share offer was too low and that the tipping price would be in the mid 70s. This made sense even to outsiders like me because Eli Lilly purchased ImClone, a company with only one approved product on the market, for $70 per share several years ago. Genzyme has multiple FDA-approved products with a strong late stage drug development pipeline. Not surprisingly, Sanofi tendered a low initial stock price purchase offer to give itself flexibility when it decided to enter into serious negotiations.

Despite the long drawn out and tiresome melodrama, the deal is a good one for Sanofi, a company that desperately needs to bolster its biotechnology pipeline and also for Genzyme which has been rocked by biomanufacturing and quality problems for the past couple of years.

Now that this deal is imminent, does anyone have an idea about which biotechnology company may be the next takeover target?

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

 

What Ever Happened to Amgen?

Five years ago Amgen was the world’s largest biotechnology and was, by many accounts, the darling of Wall Street. But, today, there is little mention of the once formidable biotechnology company that many startups attempted to emulate. Like other companies, Amgen ran into pipeline problems, medical issues with existing blockbuster drugs (remember the whole hematocrit brouhaha over Epogen and Aranesp its flagship anemia products), lower drug sales and ultimately the perception that the company had lost its innovative edge. However, it now appears that Amgen is making something of a comeback and may have been quietly preparing itself for its  “rebirth” over the past few years.

According to an article in today’s NY Times, Amgen agreed to purchase BioVex, a closely held oncology company for $425 million and as much as $575 million in milestone payments. BioVex’s lead product, an experimental cancer vaccine Oncovex, is in late stage clinical development. It was developed to treat metastatic melanoma. Oncovex is also being evaluated for head and neck cancer.  Over the past five years, Amgen has acquired seven companies (with an average deal value of about $264 million) in oncology and other therapeutic areas indicating a willingness to create new drugs to treat diseases rather than symptoms commonly associated with them.

In other news, the company announced that it was raising it price for some of its largest selling drugs including Aranesp, Neupogen and Neulasta. Another sign that the once mighty company may be trying to get back into the game and compete with archrival Genentech (now a subsidiary of Roche) for the title of the world’s largest biotechnology company.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!.

 

Another One Bites the Dust: Bristol Myers Squibb to Acquire the Biotechnology Company Zymogenetics

The New York Times today reported that Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) will acquire Seattle, WA-based Zymogenetics for $885 million or $9.75 per share. The two companies were jointly developing new medicines to treat hepatitis C infections. The $9.75 a share in cash represents an 84 percent premium to Zymogenetics closing stock price on Tuesday.

BMS executives must believe that the jointly-developed hepatitis C product, PEG-interferon lambda will be a winner because the company is usually reluctant to pay such high premium prices for acquisitions. The new PEG-interferon lambda product will have to compete against similar products PEG-Intron (peginterferon alfa-2b, Merck) and Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2b, Roche) in a highly competitive hepatitis C treatment market currently dominated by Roche. Also, several companies, most notably Vertex Pharmaceuticals, have orally-bioavailable small molecule hepatitis C treatments in late stage clinical development. All of the PEGylated interferons must be administered via injection.

BMS has a variety of marketed treatments for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B infections. These products, along with its market leading anti-clotting agent Plavix (co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis) are facing fierce generic competition in the not-to-distant future.

The company’s acquisition of Zymogenetics is another step towards transforming BMS from a small molecule pharmaceutical company into a biotechnology-focused drug maker. In addition to PEG-interferon lambda, Zymogenetics is developing protein-based treatments for surgical bleeding (recombinant human thrombin), metastatic melanoma (IL-21) and atopic dermatitis (IL-31 mAb). 

Zymogenetics was founded in 1981 and is one of Seattle’s largest independent, publicly-traded biotechnology companies. Stay tuned as more consolidation continues in the biotechnology sector.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

 

Need a Quick Business Tune Up: Stanford's Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship Can Help!

The Stanford Summer Institute for Summer Entrepreneurship was started several years ago and was “designed for currently enrolled, non-business graduate students.” According to the program’s website, “The business world is in need of young visionaries with backgrounds in humanities, science, and engineering. The Stanford Graduate School of Business Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship offers current graduate students the unique opportunity to build the analytical and practical skills critical to launching a successful business.” That’s right, all you would-be entrepreneurs who want to start your won biotech company ought to check it out!

The program has been wildly successful since its inception. The 2010 class is completely full and applications for the 2011 session will be available this September. For a program overview, check out this video

Please contact Aimee Slobin for more information. Also, you can download a program brochure by clicking here.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

 

Why Pharma May Never Be Good At Social Media

Johnson & Johnson is arguably one of the world leaders in bringing social media to the pharmaceutical industry. Marc Monseau and his dedicated team oversee a network of blogs, video channels and Twitter feeds while some of J&J’s brand companies even sponsor patient advocacy communities like ADHD Moms and ADHD Allies. However, the company’s recent handling of manufacturing problems and recall of Tylenol and other pediatric medicines seemingly flies in the face of openness and transparency; two of the underlying tenets and guiding principles of social media.

In an article in today’s New York Times, Natasha Singer reports that “a Congressional investigation into a recent recall of children’s Tylenol and other pediatric medicines has been stymied by the manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, raising the prospect that new measures — like issuing of subpoenas to compel cooperation — could be invoked.”

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the unit that manufacturers Tylenol and other over-the-counter medications, is no stranger to scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is currently being investigated for a pattern of violations in manufacturing practice and quality control issues that have led to recalls of several medications. Last month, the agency suggested that it was considering criminal penalties or other actions against McNeil executives.

According to the times article, the House committee opened its investigation in early May shortly after McNeil announced a voluntary recall of liquid pediatric Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec. FDA investigators uncovered evidence that the products, made at a company plant in Fort Washington, Pa., may have included metal particles, or too much of the active drug ingredient, or inactive ingredients that did not meet testing standards.”

Manufacturing problems are not uncommon in the pharmaceutical industry and it isn’t clear what J&J has to lose by not fully cooperating with FDA officials. In fact, failure to cooperate could lead to harsher penalties and larger fines. However, I suspect that McNeil hasn’t been forthcoming because of allegations of a so-called “phantom recall” that took place last year, where J&J contractors secretly removed alleged defective products from store shelves.” Nevertheless, ongoing media coverage of the recall and the circumstances behind it are beginning to cast a very negative light on McNeil products and the J&J brand.

Pharmaceutical social media advocates contend that one of the reasons why pharma companies ought to use social media tools is information dissemination and so-called damage or crisis control. While I haven’t been assiduously screening all of the J&J social media channels, it seems like now would be an ideal time to begin to leverage them. 

It is unfortunate that an innovative and progressive pharmaceutical company like J&J has come under fire. However, product quality and safety is of paramount importance to consumers. And companies that cannot ensure those product attributes must move quickly and decisively to reinstate them. To that end, J&J ought to fully cooperate with FDA regulators, fix its Tylenol problems and then use its abundant social media channels to reinstate public confidence in McNeil Consumer Healthcare and the J&J brand! After all, isn’t that what social media is all about?

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

 

Bristol-Myers Squibb Board Okays $3.0 Billion Stock Repurchase Program; Is BMS Preparing Itself for Sale?

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) announced Tuesday that its board authorized the repurchase of up to $3 billion of its common stock.

The company said the buyback program has no expiration date and will take place over the next few years. Company spokespersons said the decision reflects Bristol-Myers' strong financial position, which included $9.8 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of the first quarter.

While stock repurchase programs are common, BMS is steeling itself for the expected loss of substantial revenues beginning in 2011 due to patent expiry of its top selling anti-clotting medication Plavix. In the past year or so, the company has sold off a profitable medical device subsidiary (Convatec) and a consumer products company (Meade Johnson) to sure up its finances and improve stock share price. 

Long be rumored to be a takeover target, BMS has attempted to reinvent itself over the past few years as a “next generation biopharmaceutical company” through licensing agreements and acquisition of smaller biotechnology companies with promising technology platforms and near term new biotechnology products (Medarex). However, the loss of Imclone—the biotechnology company that developed the one of the top-selling colon cancer drugs called Erbitux—to rival drug maker Eli Lilly has significantly slowed the next generation initiative.

Stay tuned for all late-breaking events.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

 

Looking for a Life Sciences Internship? Internships.com May Help

A common lament from that I frequently hear from graduate students and postdoctoral scientists  at career development meetings is the need for "prior industry experience" to qualify and be considered for an industrial science job. Invariably, someone asks: “How in the world am I supposed to get industrial experience if nobody is willing to hire me as an industrial scientist?” Prior to the financial meltdown, I frequently advised PhD-trained scientists seeking industrial jobs to consider positions in smaller, local biotechnology companies.

While the pay, visibility and status is likely to be less than that of employees at major pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, spending a year or more at a smaller company still qualifies as industrial experience. This, in turn, opens the door for new opportunities at larger, more established life sciences companies; which tend to offer more career options for industrial scientists. However, over the past three years or so, over 200,000 pharmaceutical employees have lost their jobs and many biotechnology companies are on the verge of bankruptcy. Consequently, entry level positions at smaller local biotechnology companies are gradually disappearing as job possibilities for newly-minted graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Interestingly, the financial crisis and high unemployment rates have elevated the once lowly corporate internship to “must have status” for job seekers who are interested in landing entry level positions at many life sciences companies.  While corporate life sciences internships are in high demand, they are typically not well publicized and frequently limited to students enrolled in certificate and degree programs. Put simply, corporate life sciences internships for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, which are in high demand, are extremely difficult to find!

For the past several years, I wanted to create a website devoted to internship opportunities for life sciences graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. To that end, I approached several life sciences search engine companies and a couple of placement firms but was unable to convince them of the value and need for such as site. About a week ago, I came across a website called Internships.com that is exclusively devoted to “all things internship.” While the site is still in beta and the number of life sciences internship opportunities is limited, I think that it has enormous potential for graduate students and postdoctoral scientists who may be seeking industrial internship opportunities.

In the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, I have no relationship, financial or otherwise, with Internships.com. I just think it is a great idea and hope that the folks behind Internships.com are successful!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Internship Hunting!!!!!!!!

 

A Day in the Life at a Genome Engineering Company

Cellectics, SA, a French genomic engineering and genetic surgery company is a great example of a biotechnology company that “gets” social media. 

The person, who manages the company’s Twitter account, posted a video on YouTube called a “ A Day at Cellectics. While not quite Avatar, it is short, fun to watch and if nothing else, it shows prospective employees that Cellectics may be a cool place to work! 

While I can’t vouch for Cellectics’ science, it is a company that knows how to leverage social media for better business outcomes! 

Until next time…

 

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!

 

Second Acts: ImClone Founder Sam Waksal is Seeking Investors for a New Biotechnology Company

As many of you may recall, in 2001, Sam Waksal, founder and former CEO of the biotechnology company ImClone was convicted (along with his good friend Martha Stewart) for fraud and insider trading of ImClone stock. Waksal, who was released from prison in late 2008 and lived in a half way house for several months had kept a relatively low profile until earlier this month. Rumor has it that Sam along with Richard Mulligan, PhD a Harvard professor and former ImClone director and Dr. Larry Witte, a current executive vice president in the ImClone division of Eli Lilly are attempting raise about $50 million for the privately-held new venture called Kadmon. Other reports indicate that Waksal and other members of the Kadmon team are putting up $50 million as well. 

According to insider reports the company will ostensibly focus on cancer and infectious disease targets and—taking a page out of the Cubist, Celgene and Sepracor play books—re-purpose once promising drug candidates discarded by other companies. To that end, according an article in TheStreet, the company's drug research programs include a "statin inhibitor for influenza" from a "leading Ivy League university" along with a variety of monoclonal antibodies for use as targeted cancer treatments, similar to Erbitux. Kadmon is also eyeing several existing cancer-focused drug companies, one of which already has a marketed product, as acquisition targets, according to the prospectus. For those of you who may be wondering about whether or not Waksal can legally start another biotechnology company, an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission bars Waksal from serving as an officer in a publicly traded company, but as previously mentioned, Kadmon is a private venture.

Whether you like Waksal or not, his track record in the biotechnology industry speaks for itself. Unlike the vast majority of his rivals, Waksal shepherded a molecule from discovery through commercialization. That molecule, a monoclonal antibody called Erbitux, became a multibillion dollar a year treatment for certain forms of colorectal cancer. More importantly, Waksal was one of the first to recognize that humanized monoclonal antibodies directed against certain cellular receptors could be used to treat a variety of oncology indications—a concept that is driving a large portion of discovery and product development in the oncology space. For those of you who may not know, Eli Lilly purchased ImClone two years ago for $7.0 billion dollars after a very public and acrimonious fight over the sale price of ImClone erupted between Carl Icahn, ImClone’s Chairman, and Jim Cornelius, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). ImClone and BMS co-marketed Eribitux prior to the sale.

Waksal has been in and around the biotechnology industry for over 30 years and many consider him to be one of the early industry pioneers. Unfortunately, despite his dubious past, Waksal represents a dying breed of visionaries whose entrepreneurial spirit and unorthodox approach to new drug development is largely responsible the biotechnology industry’s current largess. Like other ex-felons Waksal did his time and like all Americans he is entitled to a second chance.

Let’s hope that Sam learned a few things during his incarceration and is smarter and wiser for his second and possibly final act. I wish Waksal success in his new venture and I hope that he and his team still possess the insight, creativity and tenacity required to discover and develop innovative oncology and infectious diseases drugs.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

 

Update: Tracking Pfizer's Job Cuts and Other Layoffs

It is getting difficult to keep track of the job cuts that are happening almost daily at Pfizer. A quick perusal of the job cuts to date indicate that the company has eliminated about 1200 jobs in the past week; 680 in Pennsylvania, 400 in New Jersey and 116 in Rockland County, NY (where I grew up!). While there is currently a lull in activity, I suspect additional job cuts will be forthcoming in the near future.

Merck earlier announced that it was slashing about 500 jobs in New Jersey which continues the ongoing carnage that the NJ pharmaceutical workforce had to endure over the past three years.

Meanwhile, in New England, Charles River Laboratories International announced that it is suspending operations at its Shrewsbury, MA facility by the middle of this year. Approximately 300 workers will be losing their jobs at the facility that focused on preclinical drug development.

Despite claims that the US economy is improving, life sciences layoffs are continuing and job growth is much slower than expected. While some economists aren’t that surprised, I would be nervous and exploring my options if I was employed at a life sciences company!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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Health Information Technology: The Next Frontier

In a previous post I lauded health information technology (HIT) aka health informatics as a possible new career choice for scientists with life sciences PhD degrees who also have a proclivity for software development and data base management. Shortly after I posted the piece, I happened to read an article in a local publication about a NJ-based company called the MISI Company that is at the forefront of the HIT field and developing software to help digitize American healthcare records. 

I invited Dave Roth, an MISI executive, to share his views on the future of HIT and what ought to be done to insure that e-medical records are appropriately and successfully created. BTW, for my bioinformatics and genomics friends, MISI is looking to hire a few talented men and women who are interested in HIT careers.

HIT: The Other Missing Link

by Dave Roth

Health information technology (HIT) is hot. There’s every reason to believe that HIT will play a major role in the reforms envisioned for our health care system. From President Obama announcing $5B in grants to aid medical research, to bioinformaticists developing tools for predicting genetic predisposition to diseases, to software developers working on electronic medical records (EMR) systems, HIT is a burgeoning field. What concerns people like me – read: people who are users of technology rather than the developers of it – is that all this HIT talk seems to have very little mention of us in it.

Not long ago, I wrote an article called The Missing Link in Healthcare IT: The Consumer. In it I pointed out that none of the current government definitions being proposed for "meaningful use" of electronic medical record (EMR) systems define meaningful from the healthcare consumer's perspective. I also noted that whatever rules the government establishes for receiving stimulus money for the development of HIT solutions, none of them will exclude technologists from collaborating with consumers in the development of their solutions. I posited that technologists would be doing us all a favor if they would stop to consider for a moment how their systems will affect the consumer’s experience of health care services.

I was encouraged when David Goldhill, in his cover story in the September 2009 issue of Atlantic Monthly, How American Health Care Killed My Father, wrote, “[A] guiding principle of any reform should be to put the consumer, not the insurer or the government, at the center of the system.” Goldhill’s prescription for a better health care system begins with advocating for the consumers of services and focusing on how to get the best outcomes for those consumers at a reasonable cost. He was channeling the views of many people, such as Harvard Business School professor Regina Herzlinger, who believe consumer-driven health care is the only reform that will truly be meaningful.

The growing visibility of the consumer in this debate has gotten me to thinking there is real opportunity in the HIT job market for another missing link: Consumer-centric Health IT Developers. It is a rare developer who brings to his/her craft an appreciation of the importance of understanding who you are developing for. Rarer still is the developer who is aware of and employs tools and techniques for capturing end-users’ feedback during the development process. More often than not, user-centered design (UCD) is considered a luxury that burns up time and precious dollars. This misconception is largely the result of development teams typically waiting until they are too far into the development cycle before engaging with those who will be using their creation. Inevitably, problems are discovered with the usability or utility of the system that will hinder adoption. But the problems are discovered too late to be fixed by the target launch date and/or within budget. Users/Consumers become the enemy in this scenario.

There is another way. HIT technologists should understand how and why to engage their target audience at the beginning of the development process, long before anything is actually developed. They should begin by understanding who they are developing for, what these people are looking to accomplish, and how they can best help them accomplish it. Using such techniques has been shown to actually reduce downstream development work and increase adoption. I believe technologists schooled in the techniques of consumer-centered design will be central to any successful, long-term health care reform.

Dave is Vice President and  heads MISI Company's Experience Design (XD) group - a group of strategists, experience architects, visual designers and technologists whose mission is to help ensure the success of every interaction between a business and its target audience. His career spans 30 years and includes award-winning work in documentary and corporate film/video, print advertising, and interactive software application development for computers and the Internet. Dave is a Stanford University grad, a SF 49ers fan and a member of the Single Malt Scotch Whiskey Society.

 

Is Roche Really Becoming a Biotechnology Company?

Word on the street suggests that Roche has severed its relationship with the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) the trade group that represents and lobbies on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. The recent purchase of Genentech must have convinced the venerable 100 year old pharmaceutical company that proteins not small molecule drugs are the key to its future.

According to published reports, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has already sent an emissary to Roche's headquarters in Basel to talk to Severin Schwan, its CEO, about the benefits of BIO membership. Will Roche really eschew its membership in RhRMA and join BIO? And,will the loss of Roche's financial contributions substantial reduce PhRMA's influence and lobbying power in Congress? I guess only time will tell!

 Until next time...

 Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

 

The Future of Pharmaceutical R&D

Did you know that the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world spent close to $50 billion dollars last year on R&D? That sum could be used to purchase the entire US biotechnology industry except for the five largest companies—Genentech, Amgen, Gilead Genzyme and Celgene. Further, pharma’s R&D budget is about 4 times the R&D budget of all of the US biotechnology companies combined. According to a blurb in breakingviews.com, Pfizer alone spent $8 billion last year which was greater than the sum spent by biotech’s top five companies. What this tells us is that pharmaceutical companies are grossly unproductive when it comes to drug discovery and development. This would explain why nearly three-quarters of all new medicines approved for sale in the US last year originated at biotechnology companies.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that biotechnology companies are much more efficient at R&D than pharmaceutical companies. More importantly this suggests that something must change so that pharma can continue receive adequate ROI on internal discovery programs. Perhaps big pharma ought to spend a greater portion of its R&D budget on biotech mergers and acquisitions rather than continuing to invest in inefficient and failing internal R&D programs. While biotechnologynology companies are exceptional in drug discovery, they are severely lacking when it comes to clinical development of new drugs. This is largely due the high costs of conducting human clinical trials (which are required for regulatory approval of all new medicines). Most biotechnology companies are strapped for cash and don’t have sufficient funds to conduct clinical trials on their own.

Not surprisingly, given the recent financial downturn, there has been a recent spate of deals in which pharma has been willing to pay large sums of money for clinical development rights to promising new biotechnology drugs. Moreover, a majority of the almost 160,000 employees layed off by pharma companies in the past few years have been R&D scientists. This suggests that pharma is beginning to realize that its money may be better spent doing deals or buying biotech companies rather than continuing to invest large sums of money into it’s own unproductive R&D programs. Unfortunately, this paradigm shift doesn’t bode well for doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows who are training in the life sciences. This is because many entry-level biotech positions, traditionally filled by newly-minted PhDs and postdoctoral fellows will likely be filled by experienced, pharmaceutical employees who lost their jobs in the recent rounds of layoffs. As much as I hate to say this, if I were a life sciences graduate student or postdoctoral fellow considering an R&D career in industry, I would begin to explore alternative career options.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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Yet Again :More Downsizing at Bristol Myers Squibb

In a  previous post,  I suggested that more layoffs would occur at Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS) by December, 1, 2008. The Pharmalot Blog reported today that 800 more BMS employees ( including scientists) would lose their jobs before the end of 2008. Okay, so I was off by about two weeks.

A company spokesperson told the Pharmalot folks that “We are reducing the global Bristol-Myers Squibb workforce as part of our previously announced second wave of productivity initiatives designed to enhance our ability to address the significant challenges and uncertainties our company faces in the short- and long-term. Headcount reductions associated with the second wave of productivity initiatives will continue through 2010, with a goal of a 10 percent reduction in our global workforce. This [layoff of 800] is in addition to the 10 percent workforce reduction previously announced in December 2007.” 

Things are obviously not going well at BMS these days. Look for more layoffs in early 2009 and beyond. Who do you think is going to buy BMS?

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (Try Lilly I hear ImClone is looking for a few good men and women)

 

At Last: A Website for Salary Comparisons and CEO Reviews

Do you ever wonder what the person who you share an office with is making? Or, have you ever wondered what other people think about the CEO of your company? Or, should I consider working at that company? The answers to these questions and more can now be found at a 4-month old website called Glassdoor.com.

The well designed and easy–to-navigate website allows employees to anonymously post their salaries and write uncensored reviews about their bosses, fellow employees and the companies at which they work. The site also ranks executive performances based on the reviews that it receives.

It is a wealth of information and a must for people who are looking for new jobs or career opportunities. Two of the most important questions that all jobseekers want answered when looking for a new job are compensation and the quality of a workplace environment or corporate culture. Until now, these things were difficult to parse. Not anymore! Check out Glassdoor.com and you might find answers to those nagging questions that you may have about your company, colleagues and CEO!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

The World's Top Fifty Life Sciences Companies in 2008

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe published a list last month called the Pharma Exec 50 for 2008. To qualify for the list, companies had to have more than $510 billion in sales.  Unlike other lists of this ilk, it is easy to read, visually appealing and mentions each company’s top selling drugs and their annual R &D spending.  It is definitely worth a read by people who need or like to stay abreast of the life sciences industry. And for a change, the list was compiled by a European rather than an American publication. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Until next.....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

 

 

Enzon Pharmaceuticals Redux

It looks as though Enzon Pharmaceuticals, the first company to successfully commercialize protein PEGylation, finally buckled under the pressure exerted by Carl Icahn, one of its major shareholders.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Carl recently started buying large blocks of Enzon stock to gain a controlling interest in the company to maximize shareholder value. To accommodate Icahn’s "vision" and demands, Jeff Buchalter, Enzon’s Chairman and CEO has decided to spin out a new biotechnology company.  According to an Enzon press release, the new company (to be named later) will get Enzon’s core technology (PEGylation) and its entire preclinical pipeline (i.e.; their RNA antagonist oncology portfolio). Enzon will also invest $150m in the new venture.

So, what does Enzon get out of the deal? It retains ownership of a small, aging manufacturing facility and a portfolio of nominally-performing specialty pharma drugs. I think comments made by Eben Tessari, a financial analyst who follows Enzon, sums up of the essence of the proposed spin out.  He writes: “Maybe I’m way off here but it seems to me in analyzing this deal that the new company gets all the goodies while Enzon is left with a manufacturing plant and a stable of marginal drugs (zero out of four therapies have over $50m a year in revenue). Now, I don’t mean to imply that I think Enzon is a bad company - hell, they’ve managed to make more profit this quarter than any pharma company I’ve ever worked for - I’m just saying they are selling their future based on the advice of a man notorious for breaking up companies and wringing every last dime out of a shakeup.”

Not surprisingly, Jeff Buchalter, the brains behind the deal, thinks it will provide Enzon shareholders with the value that they demand. “By separating these unique businesses into two focused companies, the opportunities for both the specialty pharmaceutical business and the biotechnology business could be substantially enhanced and greater value could be created than under the current structure. Operating separately will allow each company to benefit from greater strategic and managerial focus and appeal to their own unique shareholders. The separation will enable the two businesses to compete more effectively in their respective markets and optimize their business goals, research initiatives and capital requirements. We look forward to creating this opportunity for the shareholders,” said Buchalter.

Jeff, who learned how to turn around failing companies from his former boss Fred Hassan (turn around specialist and current CEO of Schering Plough) ought to know a little something about value. According to SEC filings, last year Jeff made $773,558 (base salary) with $1,162,500 in bonuses for a total cash compensation of about $2 million. In addition, Jeff received just over $3.1 million in equity bringing his total 2007 compensation package to approximately $5.2 million —almost 3 times the amount received by any other Enzon executive.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try Enzon’s spin out, they are flush with cash)!!!!!!