Bio Job Blog : Bio Jobs : Biotechnology Jobs : Biopharmaceutical Jobs : Bioscience, Biotech Jobs : Bio Job Blog : Biocareer : Bio-Business Training, Biotechnology Training : Jobs in Biology : Internships in Biology : Internships in Biotechnology

Yesterday, Genzyme announced it would cut about 1,000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring plan. In addition, company spokespersons indicated that the company may outsource some of the eliminated permanent position and impose a hiring freeze. As part of its restructuring plan, the company plans on eliminating about 10 percent of its 12,800-employee workforce by 2012. It is unclear how many of the 4,500 US employees will lose their jobs.

In addition to the job cuts, the company announced that it had agreed to sell its diagnostic testing unit (reproductive and genetic testing) to Laboratory Corp of America for $925 million in cash. Henri Termeer, Genzyme’s beleaguered CEO also announced that the company’s other two units, molecular diagnostics and pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing on also on the block and will be sold.

While Termeer insists that the job cuts and sale of non-core business units has nothing to do with Sanofi-Aventis’ attempt to purchase the company, many analysts believe that these measures are being taken to induce Sanofi to sweeten its $69 per share takeover bid. The additional monies garnered from the layoffs and division sales, will allow Genzyme to strengthen its stock position and bolster its cash reserves to defend against a possible hostile takeover attempt by Sanofi. 

The demise of Genzyme, once one of the most highly regarded and ethical biotechnology company in the world is directly linked to manufacturing problems at its Boston-based facility. The ongoing and protracted quality problems at the plant resulted in a consent decree by the US FDA and penalties totaling about $175 million. As most quality experts will tell you, systemic quality control and assurance issues generally stem from a lack of commitment to quality by senior management; in this case Termeer! 

Despite repeated request for his resignation, Termeer, who has run Genzyme for the past 25 years or so, has steadfastly refused to relinquish his post. Instead of stepping down to save the company, Termeer has chosen to “take the ship” down with him; the sure sign of an out-of-touch CEO who apparently was willing to sacrifice the reputation and worth of a company for entirely self-serving reasons.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For those of you who can’t tear yourselves away from the ongoing, nail-biting Sanofi Aventis-Genzyme saga, the head of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) R&D, Moncef Slaoui told a French newspaper that GSK will not “step in as a rival bidder for the US biotech Genzyme.”

Slaoui made his remarks at the christenings of a GSK research center in France. “An offer by GlaxoSmithKline for Genzyme does not make sense. It is too expensive” he said. Also, GSK already has a foothold in the orphan disease market through its partnership with JCR Pharmaceuticals. 

As negotiations between Sanofi and Genzyme began to stall over the $69 per share offer tendered by Sanofi, some analysts had predicted that a so-called white knight may enter the bidding war to drive the stock share price higher to the $75 per share wanted by Genzyme.

Today’s announcement by GSK likely produced a collective sigh of relief from Sanofi shareholders. Personally, I think Sanofi would be crazy to let this one get away; the deal is exactly what Sanofi needs to begin to compete in the lucrative biologics market. Until now, Sanofi’s focus has been almost exclusively on small molecule development.

Until next time..

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The New York Times reported today that French drug maker Sanofi Aventis has made a bid to purchase beleaguered orphan drug manufacturer Genzyme. According to the report, Sanofi approached Genzyme about two weeks ago about a possible sale. Sanofi is currently waiting for a response from Genzyme. If Genzyme rebuffs the takeover bid, persons close to the deal said that Sanofi may possibly try to acquire Genzyme via a hostile takeover bid.

Sanofi is facing revenue losses because many of its blockbuster products including the anti-clotting agents Plavix and Lovenox will or have lost patent protection. Plavix's patent expiry will occur in 2001 whereas Lovenox has already lost patent protection ( yesterday the FDA approved a generic version of the drug). Further, Sanofi, unlike most major pharmaceutical companies, is glaringly deficient in biotechnology products and has long been known to be seeking a quick entry into the biotech market. To that end, the Genzyme bid makes complete strategic sense to bolster sales and secure Sanofi's future.

Genzyme is the fifth largest biotechnology company in the world. Sales of it orphan drugs to treat Gaucher’s, Fabry and Pompe disease annually exceed $3.0 billion in sales even though they are used to treat small numbers of patients (<20,000).

Genzyme’s value has plummeted in the past year because of manufacturing problems and is currently operating under a US Food and Drug Administration consent decree after being fined $175 million by the agency. Many shareholders have called for the dismissal of Henri Termeer, Genzyme’s CEO for the past 25 years. To date, Termeer has refused to step down even though Genzyme’s stock continues to under perform. News of a possible takeover caused Genzyme’s stock price to soar; gaining more than 15 per cent on Friday to $62.50.

I believe that Sanofi is approaching Genzyme at the right time. Recently, Genzyme reached an agreement with Carl Icahn, who owns a substantially amount of stock, to prevent a proxy battle to reshape Genzyme’s board and oust Termeer. Also, another major shareholder, Ralph Whitworth, is unhappy with recent events at the company. Sanofi’s acquisition of Genzyme would provide a quick entry into the biotechnology and orphan drug markets and also appease shareholders like Icahn and Whitworth if the deal is rich enough. Also, Sanofi’s manufacturing experience would help Genzyme overcome its problems in that area.

Stay tuned for updates.

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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!!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

IMS Health, a market intelligence company that tracks US drug prescriptions, reported that the US sale of prescription drugs grew 5.1% in 2009 to $300.3 billion.

IMS identified the following key trends among the major therapeutic areas:

• Antipsychotics remained the top-selling class of medications in the U.S., with 2009 prescription sales of $14.6 billion, equal to the 2008 level.
• Lipid regulators continued as the largest therapy class in the U.S. by dispensed prescription volume, growing at a 5 percent pace to 212 million prescriptions dispensed in 2009. Sales of lipid regulators declined 10 percent last year to $13.1 billion, reflecting an ongoing shift toward lower-cost generic alternatives. Lipid regulators ranked #3 in overall sales in 2009.
• Proton pump inhibitors replaced lipid regulators as the second-largest therapeutic class in sales last year. Proton pump inhibitors sales totaled $13.6 billion, a 2 percent decline year over year, while dispensed prescription volume for this therapeutic class rose 5 percent.
• Antidepressants became the fourth-largest class in 2009, up from its #5 ranking the prior year, with U.S. prescription sales growth of 3 percent to $9.9 billion.
• Sales of antineoplastic monoclonal antibodies, a leading oncology class that includes Avastin^®, Rituxan^® and Herceptin^®, grew at a 9 percent pace in 2009 and ranked #6 in therapeutic class sales.

IMS also reported that use of generic products, including branded generics, continued to rise last year and now represent 75 percent of all dispensed prescriptions in the U.S., up from 57 percent in 2004. The total number of generic prescriptions dispensed increased 5.9 percent in 2009, while the number of branded prescriptions dispensed declined 7.6 percent.

While the US pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries continue to cry poverty, it appears that sale of prescriptions drugs continues to grow at a pretty good rate. Look for increased growth until 2014 when healthcare reform begins to kick in.

Until next time…

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Biogen Idec today announced that Dr. Eric K. Rowinsky and Dr. Stephen A. Sherwin have been appointed to its Board of Directors pursuant to an agreement with Icahn Partners. Dr. Rowinsky was proposed as a nominee to the Board by Icahn Partners and Dr. Sherwin was selected by the Company as part of its process to identify new directors.

"Under the terms of the agreement, Icahn Partners has agreed to vote its shares at the 2010 Annual Meeting for Biogen Idec's nominees, who will include current directors Nancy L. Leaming and Brian S. Posner as well as Drs. Rowinsky and Sherwin. In addition, under the terms of the agreement, Icahn Partners will withdraw its notice of nomination of persons for election as directors and its proposal to amend Biogen Idec's Bylaws to limit the size of the Board."

As you may recall, Icahn tried to wrest control of the company from its current management team in an attempt to force the company to sell itself because Icahn believed that its stock price was undervalued. Since that time, it appears that Biogen Idec executives are seeking to appease Icahn rather than publicly fight with him over the value of the company. Don’t be surprised if Biogen Idec is sold to a large pharmaceutical company by the end of this year.

Until next time…

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Merck of Germany announced on Sunday that it had agreed to purchase Millipore, an American supplier of laboratory products and reagents for biotechnology companies for $7.2 billion. The offer comes in the wake of the $6.0 billion offer made last week by Thermo Fisher Scientific one of the largest supplier in the world of laboratory reagents, supplies and equipment. While somewhat of an unconventional move for a healthcare company, Merck executives hailed the acquisition as a strategic move for customers, stakeholders and share holders of both companies.

In other news, Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Japan’s second largest pharmaceutical company said today that it tendered an offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Long Island, NY-based OSI Pharmaceuticals for $52.00 per share or approximately $3.5 billion in cash. OSI, which manufactures and sells Tarceva (erlontinib) a treatment for non-small cell lung and pancreatic cancer (which it co-markets by Genentech in the US and globally with Roche), has a strong oncology pipeline and is also developing treatments for diabetes and obesity. Despite early success with Tarceva, cash-starved OSI has been struggling of late. The acquisition of OSI provides Astellas with a strong pipeline and entrée into the growing US oncology market. OSI would also complement Astellas’ existing strength and franchises in urology and immunology.

While mergers and acquisitions were largely anticipated in the US biopharmaceutical sector over the past few years, the acquisition of American companies like Millipore and OSI Pharmaceuticals by foreign companies suggests that there may be chinks in the armor of once dominant US biotechnology companies. The economic crisis coupled with America’s waning innovation in the life sciences sector suggests that other US-based biopharmaceutical companies may be at risk. Although most foreign governments stumbled when attempting to develop the own internal biotechnology expertise, many cash-rich foreign companies recognize that purchasing US companies with marketed products offers them an opportunity to quickly and strategically gain a foothold in the ever-expanding biotechnology market.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Buying!!!!!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Carl Ichan, the billionaire, activist investor notified Genzyme that he will seek shareholder approval to seat four handpicked directors including himself to be appointed to the company’s board of directors in an attempt to remove embattled Chairman and CEO Henri Termeer who has led the company for the past 25 years.

The move was widely anticipated by industry analysts because Icahn own one percent of outstanding shares of Genzyme’s stock.  Icahn and other large shareholders believe the company would be better off under new leadership. Termeer has publicly stated that he has no intention of resigning.

Until recently, Genzyme’s standing and reputation in the biopharmaceutical and orphan drug industry was second-to-none. However, the company’s inability to quickly correct ongoing manufacturing problems at its biomanufacturing facilities for the past year has been extremely embarrassing and costly. Sloppy manufacturing and quality control problems this past year led to major shortages of two main products, Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. Consequently, in 2009 sales revenues dropped and company earnings were almost flat. Further, Genzyme shares lost 26% of their value in 2009, sinking to a five-year low.

Icahn is no stranger to hostile corporate takeovers and company sales. In spring of 2008, he unsuccessfully tried to gain control of the Biogen/Idec board to force the sale of the company (Ichan owns 5.6% of Biogen/Idec’s outstanding shares). Later that year, Icahn engineered the sale of ImClone to Eli Lilly for $7.0 billion; after getting into a very public and often acrimonious fight with Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Jim Cornelius who tendered a “low-ball offer” (according to Icahn) to purchase ImClone.

According to my calculations, Icahn is batting .500 for his recent corporate takeover attempts. Do you think he will be able to go 2-for-3? I bet Henri Termeer is hoping that he can’t!

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

While Genzyme has begun to address its manufacturing woes and its CEO and top leadership have managed to keep their jobs, the specter of a possible forced sale of the company has emerged. This is because Carl Icahn, the billionaire, activist investor with a history of forcing the sale of financially-challenged and underperforming public biopharmaceutical companies like ImClone and MedImmune, owns 1 percent of the outstanding shares of Genzyme.

Speculation is rife that Icahn and Ralph Whitworth, a founder of Relational Investors which owns 4 percent of Genzyme’s stock, may force the company to put itself up for sale. While many experts contend that this may not be in the best financial interests of Icahn and Whitworth (or other institutional investors), the threat may allow both men to get themselves or their representatives on Genzyme’s board. This would allow them to control the direction of the company and better position the company (the fifth largest biotechnology company in the world) for future sale. Henri Termeer, Genzyme’s embattle CEO, said he has had no contact with Icahn.

Investors have not been pleased with Genzyme’s current management team’s decision to plow profits from its orphan disease business into R&D activities that have been unsuccessful. According to a recent Citigroup financial report, the company may have squandered over $1.0 billion (throughout its history) by investing into unprofitable, non-core research areas including kidney disease diagnostics and surgical products. Conventional wisdom suggests that if Icahn and Whitworth gain control of the Genzyme board that they could sell off Genzyme’s unprofitable kidney disease and surgical lines which would allow management to focus on orphan diseases drug development and allow the company to fix its recent highly publicized manufacturing problems.  Relational’s Whitworth hinted that this is one scenario that he may be interested in pursuing. To date, Icahn has been uncharacteristically mute on a possible takeover attempt.

Stayed tuned for more details.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!! (try Genzyme, they are probably looking for a few good biomanufacturing executives and managers)  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Just when you thought things couldn’t get much worse for New Jersey, Merck and Pfizer today disclosed that it will eliminate 900 more jobs in NJ. While the job cuts were expected, it is still bad news for New Jersey’s life sciences workforce.

Based on information provided by the New Jersey Department of Labor website Pfizer will eliminate 400 jobs from Monmouth Junction, NJ where Wyeth previously maintained research offices. Similarly, Merck plans on cutting 500 jobs in Kenilworth, NJ where Schering Plough’s maintained its former headquarters. While it isn’t clear what types of jobs will be affected, cuts are expected in both R&D and sales continuing an ongoing trend that began almost three years ago. In case you haven’t been paying attention, most major American pharmaceutical companies have been eliminating R&D jobs in the US and either outsourcing those activities or building new research facilities in India, China, Brazil and Eastern Europe where there are lost cost, highly trained pharmaceutical scientists.

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Belgian chemical manufacturer Solvay announced today that it had agreed to sell its pharmaceutical business unit to Abbott Pharmaceuticals for $6.6 billion. By purchasing Solvay, Abbott gains access to emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Asia along with new therapeutic areas, including hormone therapies and vaccines. Solvay's flu vaccine Influvac will give Abbott an entrant in the burgeoning vaccines market, which is currently dominated by European pharmaceutical giants like GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

Abbott already holds U.S. marketing rights for Solvay's Trilipix and TriCor, drugs which raise "good" HDL cholesterol while reducing triglycerides and "bad" LDL cholesterol.

Solvay's other top-selling drugs include the Parkinson's disease treatment Duodopa and hormone therapy drugs AndroGel and Duphaston. It is not clear whether or not the Solvay purchase will affect ongoing pharmaceutical operations or staffing decision in the US. However, I suspect that there will be management changes and layoffs in Europe.

In other news, Johnson & Johnson bought an 18 percent stake in Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV, which is trying to develop a universal flu vaccine, while competitor Merck acquired the rights to sell Australia-based CSL Ltd.'s Afluria flu vaccine in the U.S.

The Solvay deal is the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions, as cash-rich pharmaceutical companies race to acquire new products amid looming patent expiry on blockbuster drugs. Earlier this year Swiss drugmaker Roche acquired Genentech following similar deals uniting Pfizer Inc. and Wyeth, and Merck & Co. Inc. with Schering-Plough.

Expect more M&A activity in the life sciences sector before year’s end.

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to a post over at Pharmalot, BMS may be positioning itself for sale or readying itself as a potential M&A target.   

Although BMS has been rumored for years to be a takeover target, the impending loss of revenues generated by its anticlotting drug Plavix (co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis) due to patent expiry in 2011 is wreaking havoc at the company.  As much as 50% of BMS’s revenue is generated by the Plavix franchise. The impending loss of Plavix suggests that thing must drastically change at the company in order for it to remain independent.

Time will sell….I mean tell....!!!!!

Until next time….

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Chalk up one for the good guys (good is a relative term). Carl Icahn has given up on his quest to gain control of the Cambridge-based biotechnology giant, Biogen/IDEC. Actually, he was forced to give up because the slate of board members that he hoped would be elected to the Biogen/IDEC board failed to gain shareholder support and lost its bid for the board at a recent shareholder meeting.

Icahn, who owns about 4% of outstanding shares of the company, wanted to gain control of the Biogen/IDEC board so that he could force the company to try once again to sell itself to a large pharmaceutical company (rather than remain independent). As you may recall, the company tried to sell itself late last year but failed to find any buyers. Icahn accused the company of not trying hard enough! Give it a break Carl…its not always about you!

Despite the fact that Carl has his name on a molecular biology building at Princeton University (he is an alumnus), he knows very little about the biotechnology business. My advice to him is to raid companies that make commodities that he knows something about—widgets, plastics, automobiles — maybe even oil.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try Biogen/IDEC)!!!!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Bristol-Myers Squibb is quietly seeking a buyer Mead Johnson division, its baby formula business which is estimated to be worth around $7-$9 billion. According to word on the street, BMS may have approached PepsiCo, Danone, Nestlé, Kraft and Heinz as prospective buyers. BMS has also put out feelers to pharmaceutical companies which have nutritional divisions, including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

The search for a buyer of Mead Johnson comes less than three months after BMS said it would conduct a strategic review of both its nutritionals business and ConvaTec, its wound care products division. Both divisions are highly profitable but are not consistent with the company’s strategic goal of refocusing corporate assets on its pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical businesses. Both companies are located in New Jersey and sale of either or both companies could have a negative impact on its fragile economy which is already reeling from inordinately high property taxes.

BMS declined to comment on the sale, but said it "continued to evaluate its strategic options with Mead Johnson and ConvaTec". The company could also decide to spin off the units to shareholders, or do nothing.

Mead Johnson is best known for its Enfamil and Enfalac range of infant formula. ConvaTec sells a variety of wound care and ostomy products.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (not New Jersey)!!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link