Pharmaceutical Job Cuts Exceed 50,000 in 2010
Despite signs earlier this summer that job cuts at pharmaceutical companies were beginning to slow, it appears that the number of jobs lost in 2010 may come close to the roughly 61,000 pharmaceutical jobs that were eliminated in 2009. This is based on quarterly Job-Cut Announcement Report published by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.
In past month or so, two big pharma companies, Roche and Novartis, announced that there will be major corporate reorganizations and deep job cuts to reduce spending, increase profits and bolster flagging stock prices.
While things appear to be improving in other parts of the economy, the life sciences industry has been devastated by massive job layoffs in the past three years. Although pharma executives publicly blame the downsizing on the recession, massive R&D units, thinning pipelines and a failure to obtain a sufficient ROI on the huge sums of money poured into new drug development over the past decade are the real reason for the blood letting. Unfortunately, the US job market for life scientists won’t be improving anytime soon; mainly because it is more cost effective for companies to perform R&D and clinical testing in the emerging markets of China, India, Brazil and Russia (BRIC).
The ability of life sciences companies to successfully perform these activities outside of the US is in large part due to the lack of interest by American students in science careers and misguided immigration policies that prevented talented US-trained foreign nationals from remaining in the US after completing their training. This allowed many foreign countries to achieve a critical mass of US-trained life scientists and provide Western life sciences companies with a highly trained and well equipped scientific workforce.
With the holidays approaching, now may be a good time for those of you who work or considering careers in the life sciences industry to re-evaluate or consider alternate career options for life scientists.
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!
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The expanding European financial crisis is forcing drug makers to continue to explore ways in which to cut costs. Faced with budget deficits amid a global economic crisis, European countries such as Germany, France and Greece have cut or plan to cut their health-care spending. Greece last month ordered drugmakers, including France’s largest drug maker Sanofi-Aventis, to cut prices by 3 percent to 27 percent to help rescue its economy. 
Despite the announcement late last week in the London Sunday Times that 
, or 12 percent of its work force, by 2014 to cut costs as it reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings. The job cuts will be made across all regions and divisions and were necessary because some of the company’s major products including the child asthma medication Pulmicort, which made sales of $1.3 billion in 2009, and breast cancer treatment Arimidex, with $1.92 billion in sales will be losing patent protection in the near future.