Posted on September 10, 2011 by BioJobBlogger

Seattle Biotech Dendreon To Lay Off 500 Employees

Dendreon, one of Seattle’s hottest and most visible biotechnology companies, yesterday  announced that it will lay off 500 employees or 25 percent of its workforce. The company’s only product Provenge—a prostate cancer vaccine that received FDA approval over a year ago—has been slow to be adopted and is lagging in sales. As of August 31 Dendreon had only 600 million in cash and investments. 

Dendreon staffed up to about 2,000 employees in anticipation of brisk sales of Provenge. Approximately, 100 jobs will be cut in Seattle and an additional 400 will be slashed at the company’s manufacturing facilities in New Jersey, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Because Provenge is a personalized prostate cancer vaccine, the company needed to create manufacturing facilities in close proximity to hospitals where patients are treated.

According to an article in the Daily Advantage “Dendreon reported in early August that quarterly gross revenues were only $51 million, about $7 million short of analysts' expectations, and it withdrew earlier projections that sales for the year would soar to $350 million or $400 million.”

Some BioJobBlog readers may recall that FDA approval of Provenge was not without some drama. There were allegations that there were conflicts of interest among several members of the advisory committee that FDA assembled to review the product (several members of the committee failed to disclose that they were consultants to companies that were competing with Dendreon for prostate cancer treatments). 

One of the main reasons for the slow sales of Provenge was the delay in reimbursements for physicians who used the product. It sometimes took Medicare, the largest provider of medical insurance in the US, three to five months to reimburse them.

Provenge costs about $93,000 for a three-stage course of treatment. According to the FDA, Provenge can increase the median survival time of patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate resistant (hormone refractory) prostate cancer.

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

 

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Posted on April 18, 2008 by BioJobBlogger

Pfizer Proves That Biggest Is Not Always Best

Pfizer the world’s largest and least innovative pharmaceutical company  announced yesterday that its profits dropped by 18% last year. The company attributed the loss to reductions in the sale of its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, which is slated to lose patent protection in the next few years.

Pfizer, which has about $25 billion in cash, has been on something of a buying spree the past couple of years. The company is desperately trying get into biotechnology (too little, too late?) and believes, as it always has, that the best way to enter a new therapeutic area is to buy its way into it! To that end, Pfizer has already purchased two “biotech” companies in 2007 (more purchases are likely on the way) and entered into financially-lucrative, long term research collaborations with several others. Although this strategy has previously worked for Pfizer in the short term, it has proved to be financially disastrous for the company in the long term. Nevertheless, Pfizer said it still expects earnings this year to grow about 11%, due largely to a cost-cutting program that has eliminated 25,000 jobs, or 23% of its work force since 2004.

Until Pfizer executives realize that a robust internal drug discovery and development program is the key to success, Pfizer will continue to be the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company with a constantly flagging stock price.

Until next time….

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

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