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I have been in the business long enough to remember when Amgen was the largest and most successful biotechnology company in the world. During most of the 90s and early 2000s, Amgen was second to none. But, a lack of innovation, questionable marketing practices and an uncreative executive management team forced the once invincible biotech Giant to recently stumble and relinquish its world class status

For those of you who may not be familiar with Amgen, it was founded in 1980 by a team of scientists led by George B. Rathmann. The company’s original name was Applied Molecular Genetics which was officially changed in 1983 to Amgen. Its first product, Epogen (EPO; epoetin-alfa) an erythropoiesis-stimulating hormone was approved in 1989 when Gordon Binder was CEO. 

EPO quickly became the company’s flagship blockbuster product and was largely responsible for Amgen’s early success.  The company’s second blockbuster product Neupogen (Filgrastim) a recombinant-methionyl human granulocyte colony factor (G-CSF)—also under Binder’s leadership—which stimulates neutrophil (white blood cell) production was approved in 1998. In the early 2000s the company—now under the tutelage of its third CEO, Kevin Shearer—introduced a longer acting, second generation EPO product called Aranesp (darbepoetin-alfa) and Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), a second generation, longer-acting PEGylated version of recombinant G-CSF.

The largesse from the EPO and Filgrastim franchises allowed Amgen to rapidly expand in the 2000s and to heavily invest substantial resources into new drug development (both small molecule and biotechnology). Unfortunately, most of these investments did not pan out; with the possible exception of XGEVA (denosumab) and Prolia (denosumab) a monoclonal antibody (MAb) treatment that recently received approval for the treatment of skeletal-related events including pathological faction in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors and postmenopausal osteoporosis respectively.

In the 2000s, Amgen’s went on something of a “buying spree” during Mr Shearer’s 11 year tenure at the company. During this time Amgen acquired eight companies including three high profiles and well known ones; Immunex (2002) a MAb development company; Tularik (2004) a small molecule discovery company and Abgenix (2006) another MAb development entity. The Immunex acquisition, clearly the most profitable one, gave Amgen access to Enbrel (etanercept) a tumor necrosis factor α MAb indicated for the treatment of various forms of arthritis. Enbrel is currently one of the world’s top selling biotechnology products.

Despite its lack of R&D productivity, Amgen was recognized until recently as the world’s largest and most profitable biotechnology company in the world. However, its lack of R& D productivity coupled with a recent, highly publicized regulatory and criminal inquiry into inappropriate marketing associated with its EPO franchise has seriously tarnished the company’s once impeccable reputation. Interestingly, it appears that Amgen is finally attempting to reinvent itself.

Last week, the company announced that its CEO, Kevin Shearer and Dr. Roger M. Perlmutter, head of R&D will retire early next year. Mr. Shearer will be succeeded by Robert Bradway, a former Wall Street executive who is Amgen’s current chief operating officer. Dr. Perlmutter will be replaced by Sean Harper, MD, the company’s chief medical officer. And, last month, Amgen announced that it plans on buying back up to $5 billion shares of its publicly-held stock in an attempt to return profit to shareholders. Finally, today, the company announced that it entered into a deal with Watson Pharmaceuticals, a leading generics company, to develop biosimilar versions of some of its competitor’s blockbuster cancer-fighting biotechnology drugs. The press release made it clear that the deal did not include developing biosimilar versions of any of Amgen’s currently marketed biotechnology products. Nevertheless, today’s announcement strongly suggests that Amgen is willing to use anything at its disposal (in this case its substantial expertise in biomanufacturing rather than new drug development) to generate additional revenue streams for the company.

The recent organizational changes and strategic decisions made by Amgen’s board of directors and management team tends to validate the need for change at the company so that it can remain profitable and possibly restore its reputation as a global biotechnology leader. That said, like most other things in life, only time can tell!

Until next time...

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

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I just returned from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) meeting in Washington DC where I gave three talks about biocareer development strategies. One of the talks, "Emerging Job Opportunities in the Life Sciences Industry" was reported on (see below) by a writer from Fierce Pharma.  While I don't usually "too my own horn." about my achievements, I thought a Number 2 ranking in the publications daily top 10 list was certainly worth a mention.  

 
New job opportunities emerging in Big Pharma
October 26, 2011 — 7:24am ET | By Maureen Martino

Since 2001, 300,000 pharma employees have lost their jobs, primarily in R&D and sales. That's according to Clifford Mintz, the founder of BioInsights, which develops and offers bioscience education and training. Mintz spoke at a session on new job opportunities in biotech and pharma at the annual AAPS meeting in Washington, D.C. While the losses have been steep, they're balanced by emerging, in-demand careers in the industry.

The industry's struggles are well-known: Many companies are facing loss of exclusivity on their biggest sellers but have little in the pipeline to pick up the slack. Productivity is dropping as the cost of bringing a new drug to market soars. Government and payors want more effective drugs for less money. The list goes on.

Developers are looking to new markets and new technologies to address these issues. But how do these trends play out for the pharma job seeker? Many people, particularly Ph.D.s, may have to consider getting additional training if they want to land their dream job. "Companies used to be willing to just hire smart people. But with the economic downturn and global competition, companies can no longer afford to invest in people who have promise. They need to see proven skills," Mintz explained. With the right blend of skills and experience, however, there still some pharma jobs that are in demand.

Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

"Clinical research is the lifeblood of the industry," Mintz said. As developers expand in emerging markets, there's a particular demand for people to manage and organize overseas clinical trials. "There's a huge need for clinical research professionals worldwide," he said, noting that most Phase I and II trials are conducted outside of the U.S.

Another one of the industry's perennial needs is regulatory affairs professionals. "Regulatory affairs experience is a skill that all companies large and small would die to get their hands on," explained Mintz. The increasingly complex and uncertain world of FDA regulation--particularly when it comes to new technology and science--means that companies are always on the prowl for individuals with solid regulatory knowledge and ability to interact with the FDA. You can read more about the demand for clinical research and regulatory affairs jobs here.

Biomanufacturing

The pharma industry's interest in biologics remains strong--just look at Sanofi's buyout of Genzyme, or Roche's purchase of Genentech. They're lured by disease-altering biologics that are less likely to face generic competition than traditional drugs. As a result, there's been increased demand for professionals who can navigate the complex world of biomanufacturing. Those with a background in upstream and downstream processes, large-scale protein purification, fermentation technology and bioengineering can make the transition to biomanufacturing.

Healthcare Information Technology

The rise of bioinformatics and genomics coupled with the push for electronic medical records has created jobs in healthcare information technology. Health informatics--the intersection of healthcare and IT--is ideal for people with expertise in genomics, bioinformatics or software that understand how to work with and manipulate large data sets and databases. The Obama administration has made EHRs a priority, and there's a need for software engineers and biologists who are comfortable working with medical information.

Medical Devices

"The medical devices industry has been experiencing explosive growth for the past decade," Mintz said. Regulatory hurdles in the medical device industry are much lower than they are for biologics or small molecules, making the industry a more stable alternative to biotech and pharma. The demand for devices, which address problems that can't be treated with medicine, will continue to grow as the population ages. Job seekers with strong backgrounds in bioinformatics, genomics, engineering and translational medicine are best suited to this field.

Medical Communications

Medical communications--which includes medical writing, editing, graphic design and science journalism--continues to boom. The demand for these jobs has risen because companies need a slew of communication materials to send to patients, physicians, researchers, investigators and the general public about their products and business.

Patent Law and Technology Transfer

Recent changes to U.S. patent laws have increased the demand for patent agents and patent attorneys in the life sciences field. Pharma's growing reliance on basic research from learning institutions means that there's a need for technology transfer experts. These experts manage the patent estate and intellectual property of universities and colleges that may engage in licensing deals with the industry. A law degree is a must to compete in this field.

Until next time...

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

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Last week Amgen announced that it was reorganizing its R&D structure and that layoffs were likely. Today, the company announced that it had hired Tony Hooper, very recently the former senior vice president, Commercial Operations, and president, U.S., Japan and Intercontinental at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to overhaul commercial operations. Shortly after the Hooper announcement almost 400 Amgen employees learned that they would lose their jobs.

Hooper will replace Jim Daly as executive vice president of commercial operations at Amgen. During his 16 year tenure at BMS, Hooper ran commercial operations for all of BMS’ products in both mature and emerging markets.

Amgen is reorganizing its R&D efforts because its EPO franchise revenues are declining and it is preparing to launch its recently approved osteoporosis drug called Prolia. According to a post on today’s Pharmalot blog the R&D overhaul is not an across the board reduction but will affect multiple sites. At present, Amgen employs about 17,600 workers worldwide.

Until next time...

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

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) announced today that it had made major changes to its senior management team which is now headed by CEO Lamberto Andreotti.

Giovanni Caforio has been promoted to president, U.S. Pharmaceuticals. Caforio was most recently senior vice president, Oncology and Immunology Global Commercialization. In his new role, Caforio will report to Lamberto Andreotti, chief executive officer, and has been named a member of the Company's Senior Management Team.

In addition, Charles Bancroft and Béatrice Cazala have been appointed Executive Vice Presidents of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Bancroft will add to his role of Chief Financial Officer operational responsibility for the pharmaceutical business in Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Canada, Japan and several other countries in the Pacific Rim. Cazala will add responsibility for global policy to her role leading Global Commercialization, Europe and Emerging Markets. Both will continue to report to Andreotti and serve on the Company's Senior Management Team.

Anthony C. Hooper, senior vice president, Commercial Operations, and president, U.S., Japan and Intercontinental, has decided to leave the company. Hooper, a long time member of BMS's senior management team was obviously not on board with Andreotti's vision for the company's move to become a next generation biopharma company.

Until next time...

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

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I previously posted a piece about the growing need to manage the personal information about oneself on the Web. The amount of information that persons willingly (in many cases) provide about themselves without thinking is enormous. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that marketers, prospective employers, suitors and even criminals and stalkers can find information and use it whether or not the information correct or not. Unfortunately, the bad news is that once digital information makes it way onto the web, it is likely to remain there into perpetuity and in some cases can never be removed! According to an article in today’s NY Times:

“Snoops who take the time to troll further online may also find in blog posts or Facebook comments evidence of your political views, health challenges, office tribulations and party indiscretions, any of which could hurt your chances of admission to school, getting or keeping a job or landing a date. Many privacy experts worry that companies will use this data against users, perhaps to deny insurance coverage or assign a higher interest rate on a loan.”

Unfortunately, many web users are beginning to realize—the hard way—that providing personal information while building a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter profile may not have been such a great idea after all. To that end, reputation management or the ability to remove incorrect or unflattering information from the web has been transformed into a business opportunity for a number of new companies. In the past, the best way to determine the amount of personal information about a person on the web was to key a person’s name into a search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing.

For those of you who regularly “search yourselves” (it is a very smart thing to do), you know that it takes an inordinate amount of  time to follow each and every one of the links that come up on search results pages. Because of this, many people simply search the first two or three pages of each search. The bad news is that some of the most “juicy tidbits” about a person often do not appear on the first few search pages (mainly because they are not optimized for search) Not to worry, Spokeo.com—a personal information aggregation site that bills itself as “Not your grandma’s white pages”—can quickly find a person’s vital information including age, home value, marital status, phone number, photos and even a home address. 

After entering my name into the Spokeo’s search box (located on the company’s homepage) I pressed enter and viola the location of four persons who shared my name were retrieved. I selected the appropriate person (the one who lives in New Jersey), and as billed, the search results included my name, my address, home phone, the estimated value of my home and even my wife’s first name (she has a different last name)!  The dat were presented in a convenient Web 2.0-lkie profile box. The search that I conducted on me was free. However, for an additional fee I can get a full report from Spokeo that includes additional information about my age, e-mail address, income, hobbies, photos, videos, and even my lifestyle (?). 

While this is pretty shocking and creepy (especially if you don’t want people to find you), the unfortunate thing is that most of the information that the Spokeo search found was likely willingly provided by me while registering or signing up for things at various shopping and social media websites. To wit, there is a lot of information out there on the web about many unsuspecting persons and finding it can be easily accomplished using tools like Spokeo.

In my previous post, I mentioned Reputation.com, a start-up that offers a paid service to clients who want to expunge inaccurate or damaging information about them from the web. Like Reputation .com Abine offers a personal service  called Delete Me but takes the personal data search and privacy paradigm a step further. Abine charges $99 a year for quarterly reports detailing the information available about you online. Further, the company has developed a suite of  personal privacy software designed to “allow regular people to regain control over their personal information while continuing to browse, interact and shop online.”

Its main software product is a web browser add-on called Privacy Suite that according to a blurb on the Abine website “combines disparate privacy tools into a comprehensive privacy system. By putting all the controls in one place, the Abine plug-in makes it easier to control the amount of personal information being collected and stored about you online. Some features include:

• Stopping tracking by hundreds of advertising networks and websites
• Manage all cookies (regular & Flash) and trackers in one place.
• Easily create distinct online accounts for different uses
• Pre-fill registration forms with limited subsets of information
• Shield your real info with disposable emails and phone numbers

So, if you don’t have the time or cannot afford the $400 per year to use Abine’s Delete Me service or its Privacy Suite, you can always try to manage your online reputation by yourself by routinely Googling yourself and manually removing all inappropriate or compromising information about you. Sometimes, you may have to negotiate (or pay) bloggers or data brokers—companies that buys data from other companies and then sells it to companies that collect it— to remove a post or a name from people database sites like 123people.com, MyLife.com, Spokeo, US Search, WhitePages and Peoplefinder.com. If a blogger or data broker refuses to comply with a removal request, one privacy consultant suggests “creating more good content about yourself, like starting a LinkedIn profile and a personal blog, to push down the bad to the third or fourth search results screen where few people bother to look. If the content is defamatory — both false and damaging — or otherwise illegal, hire a lawyer.”

Typically deleted information should drop out of search engine sites with a few weeks. If it doesn’t, you can request for it to be removed. For example, Google offers instructions to accomplish this, but Goggle rarely removed items or content that is not illegal unless the owner of the website where the material is published allows it. Also, despite your best efforts, it may not be possible, in some cases to completely expunge all offensive or damaging online information from the web; you will just have to learn to live with it! Having said that, it may be a good idea to think twice before your provide too much personal information while entering a contest to win a free iPad or free service, joining multiple online shopping site or creating a profile on a social networking site unless the company’s privacy policy is easy to read and understand. 

While most smaller online networking sites like BioCrowd will not sell or share a members personal information to online data brokers or marketing companies, some of the larger ones will allow third parties to access their databases for the right price!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (be careful out there)

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For the past few years, I have been warning jobseekers to be careful about what they post to Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. This is because many professional recruiters and employers routinely scour social media sites and conduct Google searches on job applicants and to vet prospective new hires. There is nothing more likely to kill a job offer than a photo of a drunken job candidate holding a bottle of Jagermeister or one that depicts a candidate in lingerie or a compromising sexual position. Unfortunately, information posted to the Web has a tendency to exist into perpetuity whether you want it to or not! In other words, once it is published it may not be possible to remove or retrieve the offending material.

While the inability to erase one’s digital past was once mainly a problem of younger and college age persons, the growing use of social media by older individuals has catapulted the problem into the mainstream. Many older adults and celebrities involved in divorces, lawsuits and sensitive business transactions are increasingly finding it difficult to escape their digital past unscathed.

It is possible for those who are haunted by unflattering tags in Facebook photos or ill-advised tweets to “clean up” their reputations themselves. However, this can be an extremely labor intensive and anxiety ridden undertaking, which in many cases —due to the sheer volume of Facebook updates, tweets, Flickr photos and blog posts—might not be successful. This has resulted in the creation of a new type of Web specialists known as reputation managers who work at companies like Reputation.com and Metal Rabbit Media. These companies offer their clients’ services designed to expunge negative blog posts, tweets and photos, bury unfavorable Google search results and monitor clients’ “virtual image.”

Unlike individual users who manually try to remove incriminating information by themselves, reputation management companies actually write code or develop algorithms to expunge or reduce the impact of potentially damaging material. Not surprisingly, these services are not free and they typically cost $120 to $600 per year for the “average person.” Celebrities, politicians and corporate executives are usually charged $5,000 to $10,000 per month (fame is expensive so be careful what you wish for).

Obviously, unfortunate digital fiascos can easily be averted if you stop and think about the content before you post it. This bit of advice is extremely important for those who are actively involved in a job search. To that end, I highly recommend that active jobseekers routinely Google themselves to get a “digital snapshot “of the information about them on the Web. However, if you determine that “genie is already out of the bottle” (and you can’t force it back in by yourself) then it may be time to call in the professionals!

For more information on digital reputation management please read the post “Erasing the Digital Past.”

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (be careful out there)

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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!!!!!!!

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Project management (PM) is growing as a career option for life scientists. This is mainly because life sciences companies have begun to realize that team projects with professionally trained PMs at the helm (as compared with research scientists lacking in PM skills) are conducted more efficiently and cost effectively.

Because of the “newness” of the PM option, in the life sciences industry, there is no formal training or a direct pathway to become a PM. However, Bruce Fieggen, Vice President of Project Management and Training at QPharma— who has over 25 years of experience as a project manager (and trainer) in the life sciences industry—offers some ideas and insights on how to become a PM.

On Becoming a Project Manager in the Life Sciences Industry

By Bruce Fieggen

By now you have probably worked as a team memberon several projects and may be thinking that a career in project management may be right for you. So, how does one become a project manager in the life sciences industry?

The best first step is to obtain some formal training in project management (PM). There are many courses designed as evening programs, university classes or three day workshops. You can take them in person or online. While some of these training options may not be as comprehensive as others, it will help interested persons to determine whether or not a career in project management may be right for them. Once you have obtained some formal training, the next step is to take an honest look at your personality. Are you an extremely introverted person who feels uncomfortable talking with others on a regular basis? Do you fear speaking in public? Are you a good listener?  

If the answers to these questions are a resounding “no” or maybe, then PM may not be a good career choice. However, if the answers are yes, then volunteer to run a small project or a sub-project of a larger team effort. Be prepared to learn from the mistakes that you undoubtedly you will make. And, also be prepared to do other people’s work in order to get your small project finished on time! Once you have exhibited some aptitude as a PM, you may be asked to take on larger projects and if you are successful you may be on track for a lifelong career as a PM.

People become successful project managers from almost any discipline or field. In my almost 25 years as a PM (and PM trainer), I have seen PMs hail from jobs in R&D, manufacturing, marketing, purchasing, engineering, quality, and regulatory affairs. No particular group produces better PMs than another. That said, all successful PMs:

• Are great communicators and know how to listen
• Know the process of managing projects and can show you the schedule, scope and budget at any time
• Are rarely at the extreme introverted end of the extraversion – introversion continuum
• Understand how to motivate people to work for them when they don’t actually report to them
• Implicitly understand that the project (not their egos or kudos that they may receive), takes precedent over everything else

To learn more about a possible career as a PM, I highly recommend that you join PMI.org and attend monthly meetings at a local PMI chapter. Network with fellow PMs and learn from them. Pretty soon you’ll be in the thick of things and understand what being a PM is all about! 

Please check out my Round Table Project Management blog for additional information and feel free to contact me.

Until next time...

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

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Despite what you may have been told, managing a career and finding new job opportunities is all about networking. Yes, I know that scientists and many other bioprofessionals loathe networking, but that is the way the game is played and if you want to win you have to play by the rules (written or otherwise).

Thankfully, the advent of professional social networking sites like LinkedIn and BioCrowd helps to take some of imagined or real discomfort associated with “in real life” networking where face-to-face communication is required. Despite the growing popularity of professional networking sites, many scientists and other bioprofessional have little idea about what they are and how they ought to be used! Because of this, Laura Hales, PhD, put together a mini-primer on how to use LinkedIn to maximize exposure to promote a business, find a job or advance a career.

Laura is the Founder and President of The Isis Group, a scientific communications company. She regularly blogs on tips for writing scientific manuscripts and grants at www.isis-editing.com/blog. Mention BioCrowd and receive a 10% discount on an overhaul of your CV or LinkedIn profile!

Five Strategies To Advance Your Career Using LinkedIn

By Laura Hales

OK, so you posted your profile on LinkedIn, connected with some colleagues, got a few recommendations … now what?

Tip 1: It’s your profile; here’s how to make it feel that way in five easy steps.

• Upload a good headshot. Crop out the background so that your face survives the shrinkage in quality and size required by LinkedIn.
• Accurately define yourself in your professional headline — along with your headshot, these shows up in LinkedIn whenever you do.
• Update your status frequently with a tweet, a new blog post, an interesting article you read, or a seminar you’re thinking of attending. This will keep you appearing in the digest of network activity that is sent to your connections every week.
• Fill your “Specialties” section with industry-related keywords so that people can find you in a targeted search.
• Customize your profile’s URL. This makes it easy for people to find you quickly (hit the “Edit” button next to “Public Profile” on your homepage and choose your own URL. Mine is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramhales). Add it to your email signature.

Tip 2: You can join up to 50 groups. Max yourself out!

Use keywords to search for groups to join that can help you accomplish your goals, whether that’s finding a job or your next client. To avoid looking like a LinkedIn Groups “Junkie” (or to keep that job search under wraps), you can choose to hide a group on your profile. You can either do this when you join the group (by unclicking “Display the Group Logo on My Profile”) or at a later date (go to your Edit Profile page, hit “Change Visibility” next to the group’s name). If you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, you could even start your own group! Spam all your connections and see who joins.

Tip 3: Now that you’ve joined these groups, participate

There are so many ways to do this. Here are a few I’ve tried that really work:

• Start a new discussion asking for thoughts on a current trend in your field.
• Post interesting articles and include your opinion, or a thought-provoking question to the group about the article.
• Publish a link to your latest blog post, including an attention-grabbing headline about it (use bit.ly to shorten the blog post’s URL, and go back to bit.ly later to get analytics and see how many people clicked on your link).
• Subscribe to a digest of the activity in your groups and post comments on others’ discussions. This is a great way to gain exposure in your field and showcase your knowledge about various topics.

A related tip: To share a network update such as a blog post or article with multiple groups at once, hit the “Share” button after the update appears on your profile, then check the “Post to Groups” box. This allows you to enter in multiple group names to post your update.

Tip 4: Add applications to your profile (found under the “More” tab on your profile page)

LinkedIn users can incorporate a multitude of add-ons into their profile, with more being added all the time. These applications include:

• Reading List by Amazon: Not so much for the book you’re reading about potty training your two-year-old, but more about books relevant to your field or profession. Include your opinion about the book in a few sentences.
• WordPress/BlogLink: This automatically posts the title and the first few sentences of your latest blog entries.
• Tweets: Get on Twitter!
• Events: Let your network know what seminars, conferences and other events you’re planning to attend.
• Box.net/SlideShare: This application lets you share files such as your résumé or a recent presentation you gave. 

Tip 5: Use LinkedIn Answers (also under the “More” tab)

Subscribe to an RSS feed of the discussion groups you want to follow. Post answers to questions in your field of expertise, and if the asker of the question indicates your answer is the “best,” you’re on your way to gaining “expert” status in the community.

LinkedIn boasts that a new member joins every second of every day, making it a powerful networking tool. Good luck using these tips to help advance your career using LinkedIn!

This blog post originally appeared on the HiredPens Blog

 Until next time...

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

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During the course of my long and somewhat varied career, I have had the opportunity to work at a variety of different companies and organizations. Admittedly, while I am generally a “half-empty” kind of guy, the places where I enjoyed working the most were the ones where people treated one another with respect and management made a concerted and obvious effort to create a positive workplace environment. It didn’t matter whether I was a manager or a contract worker; I enjoyed going to work every day and I worked hard for the company. 

Unfortunately, many companies don’t understand the importance of a positive and supportive workplace. And, not surprisingly, the workplace environments and corporate cultures at these companies are toxic and destructive. They are frequently rife with dictatorial managers and nasty co-workers who are intent on sabotaging one another to “get to the top.” No one who works for these companies is happy or productive and most employees are intent on getting out when they can. However, until they leave, they are unhappy, stressed and generally miserable on a daily basis. With this in mind, it is important that these employees learn or develop skills to protect themselves against the toxic effects of a dysfunctional workplace.

To that end, Robert Sutton provides insights and ideas on how to accomplish this in an article entitled “How Bad Apples Infect the Tree” that appeared in this Sunday’s NY Times Business section.

It is definitely worth a read!

Until next time...

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

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Looking for a job can be overwhelming, time consuming and emotionally draining. Recognizing this, BioCrowd founders Cliff Mintz and Vincent Racaniello began searching for a tool that would help to reduce the pain associated with looking for a job. To that end, BioCrowd in association with Career Management Source, Inc— an emerging, life sciences recruiting management software company —are pleased to announce the launch of the BioJob Center at the BioCrowd.

The BioJob Center offers both job seekers and employers ‘real time,’ current job listings, application tracking, and e-mail job alerts. Job seekers can search for jobs (based on job title and/or location) and directly apply for them from the job center.

Employers can list job openings; advertise jobs; call out ‘hot jobs’ or search candidate resume databases. Jobs posted to the BioJob Center are also simultaneously listed on other job sites including www.JobJobHealth.com and Twitter Jobs. Other job boards and sites will be added in the near future.

The search engine that powers the job center was specifically designed to automatically ‘pull’ thousands of job listings from life sciences corporate websites, bioscience job boards and other sources. Job search results are updated in real time and positions that have already been filled are automatically eliminated from search results. This feature prevents job seekers from wasting time applying for jobs that no longer exist!

Job seekers can post their resumes and join the BioJob Center for free! One of the cooler features of the new tool is customized candidate e-mail alerts. Job seekers who use this feature receive alerts when new jobs (that meet specifications) are posted to the BioJob Center or added in real time by the search engine. This helps to save time by avoiding multiple visits to job boards and conducting an endless number of Google searches.

Whether you are a job seeker or employer, Vincent and I believe that the BioJob Center will help to expedite and alleviate some of the stress associated with job searches.

Please visit the BioJob Center today and let us know what you think! Also, those of you who may have suggestions, ideas, kudos, kvetches, etc please feel free to contact me!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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Some of you may have noticed that a new tab entitled “BioCareers” has been added to the BioJobBlog navigation bar.  If you click on the tab you will be taken to the BioCareers a new  job board and search engine agent created by Career Management Source and BioCrowd. 

BioCareers offers real time job listings, application tracking, and e-mail job alerts. Employers can post jobs, advertise jobs, search resume databases and have jobs listed on other jobs like Job Job-Job Health and Twitter jobs. 

The search engine that powers BioCareers automatically pulls life sciences jobs in real time and updates job searches when positions are filled or new ones become available. Candidates can search for jobs by location or job title. One of the nicer features of BioCareers is candidate e-mail alerts that are automatically generated when new jobs are posted or added in real time by the search engine.

To check out BioCareers click on the BioCareers tab or here.  We are in beta right now; so let me know what you think!

Until next time...

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

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The past couple of weeks have been awful for employees at AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline after both companies announced massive worldwide layoffs. Interestingly, the downsizing that has taken place at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in recent years has escaped notice; mainly because media attention has been focused on the sale of two of its non-pharmaceutical divisions, Convatec and Mead Johnson. The sale of these two divisions brought in roughly $8.0 billion giving BMS one of the largest cash reserves among major pharmaceutical companies. 

BMS announced two years ago that is would cut its global work force by 10 percent by 2011. Layoffs and cost cutting measures at BMS have been mainly driven by the impending patent expiry of the blockbuster anti-clotting agent Plavix and several other drugs. Plavix reportedly accounts for a disproportionate amount of the company’s annual sale revenues. Despite its new found largess, the company continues to eliminate jobs and shed employees. To make matters worse, BMS confirmed today (as reported on both Pharmalot and the WSJ Health Blog) that it will eliminate pay raises in 2010 for the people who still have jobs at the company. Luckily, bonuses were not eliminated. But as most people who work at big companies will tell you, bonuses are not guaranteed and discretionary. Check out the 2008 total compensation packages (salary, stock options, stock awards, pension etc).

While I don’t profess to have the credentials to be the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, it doesn’t make sense to me to freeze the salaries of employees who are already overly anxious about whether or not they will have jobs when the next round of layoffs take place. Isn’t morale already bad enough?  Does management think employees will be at the top of their games and willing to work hard if they are constantly worrying whether or not tomorrow may be their last day of work?  Of course, naysayers will say that BMS employees should suck it up because they at least have jobs. However, I contend that management ought to invest a portion of the $8.0 billion in its employees rather then use it to buy several more companies to convince Wall Street analysts that BMS is truly a “next generation biopharmaceutical company.”  After all, employees are any company’s most valuable asset!

Until next time....

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

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The Pharmalot blog authored by the intrepid Ed Silverman today reported that Dan Vasella is out as CEO at Novartis and there has been an executive shake up at the company. According to the post, Vasella is reliquishing his post a CEO but retaining his chairman title For a complete run down and a glimpse at the new Novartis org chart read Ed's post

Vasella has come under fire (literally and figuratively) over the past year or so.  Industry insiders and Novartis shareholders contended that he couldn't manage the day-to-day operations of companies and succeed as Chairman. Also, Vasella was the victim of  unwarranted, vicious attacks by animal rights activists who publicly denounced him and set his home on fire!

Vasella, one of the few physicians to head a pharmaceutical company, held the top position since 1996 following the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis. The company has expanded in to new therapeutic areas and markets and performed well under Vasella's stewardship. However, many industry experts contend that ten years is the optimum tenure for most life sciences CEOs. What's four years in the scheme of things?

Until next time....

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

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Over the past year or so, more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have been asking me about management consulting careers in the life sciences. I spent several years working as an independent management consultant and while it was a great experience the revenue stream was unreliable at best and the ability to work was highly contingent upon the economy. However, I can assure that my experiences as an independent management consultant were marketing different than those of consultants who work at the consulting firms like McKinsey or the Boston Consulting Group. For those of you interested in life style of a high-powered management consultant I highly recommend you visit their websites for more info. 

I invited Susan Colilla, PhD, MPH, President of the consulting firm Integrative Epidemiology LLC describe her experiences about becoming a life sciences consultant so that BioJobBlog job readers (who may be considering this as a career option), might get an idea and appreciate what it takes to get into and be successful in this line of work.

My Life as a Life Sciences Management Consultant

by Susan Colilla

After doing a second postdoc at University of Pennsylvania as an Instructor (nebulous junior non-faculty type position) and becoming frustrated with all the extensive work requirements for a tenure-track position, I started searching for a job in pharmaceutical industry.

While searching for a position, a potential employer, who didn’t have an opening at the time, asked if I would be interested in consulting.  As I was interested in this area, I started consulting for industry and realized that I enjoyed working on different projects in epidemiology and genetics, and loved that I could work from my home office and give up a commute. 

The flexibility in consulting is great.  I plan the work around my schedule, and the pay has been rewarding as well.  Last year, I formally incorporated my business, Integrative Epidemiology, LLC.  I offer services in literature reviews, study planning/design, data analysis and grant or manuscript writing in the areas of human genetics or epidemiology. 

As I build my business, I have learned about how to run a business, bookkeeping/billing, taxes, legal issues/contracts, and marketing.  Moving from academia to pharma/industry is tricky unless you have connections with those who hire in the industry.  One of the biggest challenges for me as a self-employed consultant is dedicating a good proportion of my time to networking with others and marketing my services, rather than doing science-related work.  It helps that I am very social by nature and enjoy meeting new people.

 I am also fortunate to be married to someone who makes a good income and receives benefits as this helps support our family.  There can be a sporadic flow of income with consulting, especially during a recession and new business slows down.  I have also partnered up with another consulting group (Venebio, LLC, based in Richmond, VA) to expand the pool of potential clients and work with a group of scientists to offer a broader range of services. 

For those of you who want to learn more about getting into the consultant business, Susan highly recommends an article that recently appeared in the Scientist. She shared with me that the article offers a great list of things to consider before starting a consultancy and that she “wished that she had seen it a couple years ago when I started out in this business!”

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!  

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By now, I think that most BioJobBlog readers understand that the job market for life scientists is lousy and that it isn’t likely to improve anytime soon. I know that many of you have spent close to 10 years training for a shot at an R&D job but the reality is that everybody needs to work to put food on the table—whether or not you find a job in your chosen profession. To that end, now may be a good time for those of you who are finding it difficult to land a job to consider one more year of training to get a certificate in a field that keeps you in science but not in R&D.

I came across interesting post today at the Resume Bear blog that discussed 10 certificate programs that can help people transition to new careers to find jobs. Interestingly, four of the programs are good fits for life scientists who are willing modify their careers to be gainfully employed. They are:

Clinical Trials Design and Management

“Pharmaceutical drug and medical device development is one of the premier industries of the 21st century, and the success of this vital industry depends upon the complex process of studying new products to verify their effectiveness and safety.”

Regulatory Affairs

“Professionals are needed to guide drug development and medical device companies through FDA imposed regulation issues pertinent to the pharmaceutical and biological industry.”

Project Management

“As project cycles get shorter – and budgets get leaner – project managers are vital to the success of organizations today.”

Copyediting

“Bridging the gap between writers and publishers – especially technical and nonfiction copyediting – is one of today’s most marketable skills for both full-time and freelance work.”

Another one that was not on the list biotechnology certificate programs in which students learn about product development, regulatory affairs and best business practices in the life sciences industry.

Not surprisingly, many certificate programs are offered at local community colleges and frequently online. For regulatory affairs training you might try the Drug Information Association and Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society. The Project Management Institute offers training in project management and the Editorial Freelancers Association offers its members courses in copyediting. Mercer County College in West Windsor NJ in association with a local clinical research organization developed a “hands-on” certificate program in clinical trials design and management. 

In my opinion, certificate programs are worth checking out. They are designed for working professionals (courses are typically given in the evenings and weekends); usually only take 12 months to complete (what is one more year in the scheme of things) and improves the likelihood of finding a job because you now have a marketable skill set! It certainly beats collecting unemployment or sleeping in your old bed at your parent’s home—or not?

Hat tip to Resume Bear

Until next time...

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Roche announced Tuesday that it will replace Arthur Levinson, PhD, Genentech’s current CEO and American biotechnology pioneer, with Pacal Soriot, DVM, MBA who currently leads Roche’s worldwide commercial operations.  Dr. Levinson will become Chairman of Genentech’s newly configured board of directors but no longer have control over day-to-day operations at the company.  Mr. Soriot will become CEO of Genentech and head all of Roche’s pharmaceutical activities in the US. Some of the other changes that will occur at the company include: Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Genentech’s president of product development, will move into an advisory role after the middle of this year. Genentech CFO David Ebersman is leaving the company and Ian Clark, who heads commercial operations for Genentech, will be chief marketing officer of Roche’s pharma division.

Dr. Levinson and Mr. Soriot will lead the efforts to combine all of Roche’s North American operations which ultimately will be run from Genentech’s South San Francisco location. Many of the activities at Roche’s previous North American headquarters in Nutley, NJ will move west, which means downsizing, more layoffs and possible closure of the Nutley site. 

Dr. Levinson, one of Genentech’s early employees, joined the company as a senior scientist in 1980 and has been its chief executive since 1995. During his tenure, Genentech became the largest, most profitable and perhaps the most innovative biotechnology company in the US. Unlike Dr. Levinson, who is a molecular biologist and has over 30 years of experience in developing successful protein-based drugs, Dr. Soriot, a former Sanofi-Aventis financial and commercial operations executive has little or no experience with biotechnology products.

With this in mind, I suspect that many things will change at Genentech as Roche attempts to transform the once heralded biotechnology company into a subsidiary of its pharmaceutical division. Don’t be surprised if you see a mass exodus from company. Farewell DNA, all good things must end!

Until next time...


Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try Genentech, there will be openings soon)
 

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While I have never been layed off, I understand how awful and painful it must be. After all, unlike people who were fired for cause or otherwise, most people who are layed off are performing well but they simply became too expensive or expendable to remain with a company facing financial exigency.

Most of us feel for employees who have been layed off—anyone who has experienced a layoff will tell you that it can be a life altering or changing event. But, what about the people who are charged with delivering the bad news to the employees who will be layed off? How do you think they feel and what impact does it have on their lives? 

There was a poignant and heartfelt piece in this past Sunday’s New York Times that was written by a company executive who made the decision to layoff workers and then delivered the news to them himself. While his plight doesn’t compare with that of the employees who lost their jobs, it shows how difficult and disruptive layoffs can for companies that are forced to downsize.

Until next time…

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

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I had many discussions with undergraduate students at the ABRCMS in Orlando last week who were interested in pursuing PhD degrees in the biomedical sciences. I felt that I had an ethical and moral responsibility as a former academic and career development professional to tell them that the job market for PhDs is not good and that it is likely to get worse over the next few years. These discussions prompted me to revisit the role and contributions of tenure to the lack of academic jobs in the US today.

As I stated in a previous post, systemic changes must be made to the current academic paradigm to increase the likelihood that PhDs will be able to find jobs at the end of their training. In that post, I suggested that abolishing tenure and replacing it with renewable, performance-based five year contracts may help to reduce the glut of jobless PhDs by freeing up a small percentage of new faculty positions every five years. While this approach has been tried at several academic institutions, it has been largely been deemed unsuccessful. That said, I came across a provocative article in today’s New York Times about a bold new tenure proposal put forth by Michelle Rhee, the new, 38-year old Chancellor of the Washington, DC school system.

Ms Rhee’s revolutionary proposal offers tenured teachers salaries raises of up to $40,000 per year to give up tenure. It is important to note she has not proposed to completely abolish tenure. Under her proposal, teachers would choose between two compensation options—the green or red plans. Salaries for teachers in the green plan would rise meteorically, nearly doubling by 2010, but they would have to give up tenure for one year, after which they would need a principal’s recommendation to keep their job or face dismissal. Teachers who choose the red plan would also get big pay raises but would lose seniority rights that allow them to bump more junior teachers if their school closes or is overhauled. Red plan teachers who are not hired by other schools would either have to take early retirement, a buyout or face eventual dismissal. I like her plan because poorly- or under performing teachers can opt to take the cash and then either drastically improve to keep their higher paying jobs or do nothing, get paid well for a year or two and then get fired.

While Ms. Rhee’s proposal may work at the primary and secondary school levels, it likely would not be effective at the college and postgraduate levels, where salaries vary widely and are largely grant driven. Instead, I propose that tenure-for-life should remain intact at these institutions but be replaced with a “for cause” tenure review system. This system is tried and true and similar models have been successfully used for over 100 years by employers and labor unions. In this model, management and its unions agree upon the job responsibilities and performance metrics for individual that must be met each year, e.g. an annual performance review.  If a person is under performing or fails to meet his/her performance metrics, an employer can attempt to dismiss the employee “for cause” reasons.  However, before a dismissal for cause can occur, the employer must convince a judge or arbitrator in a hearing that the employee in question has violated the “dismissal for cause” provisions.  Because an employer must prove that an employee has violated the provisions that constitute for cause dismissal, the “for cause” claims against individual employees must be fastidiously documented and vigorously substantiated. This prevents employers from arbitrarily firing employees who are either outspoken troublesome or disruptive. According to my wife, who has been a union-side labor lawyer and union representative for 20 year, this system works well because the players (management and unions) all understand, abide by and play according to the rules of the game.

So what are some of the performance-based “for cause” metrics that I think ought to be considered for yearly evaluations of tenured professors? They are not much different than those currently used to adjudicate tenure decisions. That said, I propose the following five categories: 1) teaching, 2) publication record, 3) grant support, 4) institutional service and 5) commitment to innovation. In my opinion, adoption of the “for cause” tenure review model would help to do two things: improve the overall performance of tenured faculty members and provide newly minted PhDs and postdoctoral fellows with regularly occurring new job opportunities.

Until next time…

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

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