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35 Comments
- inactive, on 02/02/2009, -2/+20A big pharmaceutical company that makes billions! This is really bad news.
- philliposophy, on 02/03/2009, -0/+17Crap. I'm graduating this summer and was thinking about applying there. Oh well. I know a good bridge in a safe part of town that's dry underneath.
- Nephlabobo, on 02/02/2009, -0/+11And people are still going into business in uni and college......when they're likely to be made obsolete five years after their degree.
- mrno, on 02/03/2009, -0/+11This isn't a good sign when pharmaceuticals are getting rid of people. This recession is slowly becoming a depression.
- ThermiteTerrace, on 02/03/2009, -0/+10I wonder if the severance package will include a 3-month supply of Paxil or Wellbutrin to make the bad news go over easier.
- SuperCujo, on 02/03/2009, -0/+7Douche
You know, if it weren't for Britain, the US wouldn't exist. It would just be a bigger Mexico or a really huge Quebec. - Ninnux, on 02/03/2009, -0/+7And employ huge numbers of people..., so yeah it is bad news. With discovery getting more and more difficult, they're not as profitable as you might think.
- inactive, on 02/03/2009, -0/+7Hmm, let's see. GSK, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer/Wyeth.....looks like big pharma is feeling the crunch too. When big pharma feels the crunch rest assured the trickle down will be a waterfall.
- gparks, on 02/03/2009, -0/+7Discoveries in basic science are coming out very quickly, but the number of new drugs developed by big pharma is actually decreasing. This is due to a number of reasons
-The "easy" drug targets have already been taken
-Clinic trial standards have become much tougher in the last 20 or so years- all the companies getting sued- few drugs get approved & the companies have gotten more conservative about what they go after
-Pharm companies have slashed their internal R&D budgets and now tend to buy much of their pipeline by buying out smaller companies or merging with competitors
- Venture capital money has dried up for small startup biotech compaies because investors realized how risky they are
-There are much fewer small startup biotech companies now around to be bought out
- Pharm companies all merged- these mergers lead to a slashing of research jobs, thus less R&D going on at large pharm compaies
- Only big pharm companies can afford to bring drug candidates to clinical trials- since there are so many fewer large pharm companies, less drugs are going into trials
Pharm companies basically screwed themselves by handing management of the companies over to MBAs with no knowledge of how drug discovery works and focusing on very short term goals and not investing in the 10+ years it takes to make new drugs. Drug pipelines are now almost bare. - redoctane, on 02/03/2009, -0/+5Say what you will about big pharma, but this type of news is never good.
- MrSteamTank, on 02/03/2009, -0/+5You better hurry and take it while there's still time!
- Howtolitho101, on 02/03/2009, -0/+5But must of those 10,000 workers did NOTHING wrong to deserve this.
- rz8472, on 02/03/2009, -0/+4Yeah... pharmaceutical companies and software companies are two fields that are supposed to be resistant to a recession. But after this news and the fact that Pfizer and Microsoft are also laying off employees, this isn't a good sign.
- Howtolitho101, on 02/03/2009, -0/+3=\
- TheMachine1, on 02/03/2009, -0/+3The bodies are stacking up so high now that a fall is only 50% lethal.
Oh wait you peeps mean as a home. - Sharik, on 02/03/2009, -0/+3The phrase "really huge Quebec" gives me bad chills :(
- bakshi, on 02/03/2009, -0/+2Yes, get rid of the marketing and legal department so they won't have much talent to go against Obama's health care plans.
- Ninnux, on 02/03/2009, -1/+3Pfizer + Wyeth = Pfizer and less jobs. Acquisitions always equal layoffs... it's how they boost revenue, by eliminating redundancies and saving cash. Not that I enjoy watching people lose their jobs, but that's just the way it is.
- Ninnux, on 02/03/2009, -0/+2Basic research discoveries are happening all the time... what genes do, how the body reacts under certain conditions given a particular stimulus, etc. It's truly remarkable actually. The problem is translating these discoveries into drugs that effect large percentages on the population and increase their general health. It's relatively easy to find a drug that will affect a biological pathway in a favorable way, but it's quite another thing to make it safe for a large number of people to use it. Stated another way, it's really hard to make a drug with very low risk of side effects. But that exactly what the company needs to do to recoup the cost of the development and testing process. It's like 2 billion dollars to go from discovery, through phase three trials, to FDA recommendation, to marketing. In order to get the money back, you better be damn sure a lot of people can take the drug safely. This is in essence the long and short of the problem
- mrno, on 02/03/2009, -0/+2To vaccumpony.
Yea, maybe when it is around 100, but when it is 10,000. It is the recession. - pinaymommy, on 02/03/2009, -0/+1this is just sad. pharma giant now cost cutting.
- TimDigg, on 02/03/2009, -0/+1Keep in mind I'm uninformed on this issue.
But could you explain how discovery is getting more and more difficult? It seems to me every week I read about some new discovery...in medicine, biology etc... - kd1s, on 02/03/2009, -0/+1But what about Medicare Part D, wasn't that supposed to make all sorts of money for the pharma? Nope, the insurance got that money.
- Ninnux, on 02/03/2009, -0/+1Actually, most of the C-suite and upper level management are only hired if they have profound expertise in Pharmaceuticals, Medicine, or both. Wharton has a healthcare specialty MBA that was expressly designed to fill the PMP ranks with those that know what they are doing. Most of the students are Ph.D's or MD's or both, many have post-doc experience, and some even worked in the field first before returning to b-school.
The pipeline is dry for many reasons, but incompetence is not among them. If it were, then the share holders would have made corrections to the management long ago.
So, please don't embarrass yourself by making statements like this. - Ghostalker, on 02/03/2009, -0/+1This is what happens when you put the [previously] almighty dollar above people's well-being. But hey; as long as the CEO's get rich who gives a ***** about everyone else suffering.
- Metasquares, on 02/03/2009, -1/+2If you're learning what you're supposed to be, it's very difficult for a degree to become obsolete, because you should be learning how to reason about the problems you're presented with rather than just memorizing facts.
- philliposophy, on 02/03/2009, -1/+1@TheMachine1 I will keep your idea in mind too.
- vaccumpony, on 02/03/2009, -2/+2 I wouldn't put it past some companies to reduce staff and blame it on the economic climate, even if it has no real relation tot eh economic activity of the company. Not all companies, just some. Large companies do it all the time to make the bottom line look better. . .
- ijobspro, on 07/04/2009, -0/+0It's just a temporary situation , i think.
- latterdaysinner, on 11/02/2009, -0/+0Thats terrible, I wonder who will pick up the slack?
- gparks, on 02/03/2009, -1/+0That sounds like the type of circular argument typical of the MBA crowd I was speaking of. Incompetence absolutely has been one of the problems in the drying of the pipeline.In the 90's and through much of the 2000's decisions on which targets to terminate for non technical reasons have come from marketing departments. Shareholders applauded most of these decisions because they boosted short term earnings and stock prices. New drugs are a often ten year + investments which is not something most shareholders and marketing folk tend to focus on.
The decision of several of companies to focus only blockbuster drugs has been a large part of the problem. The majority of huge successes has come from fortuitous side effects of drugs that were not anticipated. The killing of compounds so early in the preclinical process due to the decisions that they were not "economically viable" has lost companies billions. It is very very difficult to predict which compounds are going to make money down the road. Training scientists & physicians in business is a step in the right direction, but the damage has already been done. - IvesMozart, on 02/03/2009, -6/+2Never trust in big companies.
- scamper22, on 02/03/2009, -5/+1Britain: Financial crises, pension crises, big brother crises, identify crises, manufacturing crises, and now... a big pharma crises... and to top it off it snowed.
Wow... talk about your fall from greatness. - greeniemeani, on 02/03/2009, -10/+1It's Bushes fault that stuff like this is happening...in the UK.
- Devilboy666, on 02/03/2009, -15/+1Who cares about Britain?
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