G****a
发帖数: 10208 | 1 Locals were irate when the drug giant Pfizer closed its 70-hectare research
and development (R&D) facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2007. T-shirts
sporting the word 'Pfired' appeared on the streets; the governor called the
lay-offs a “punch to the gut”; and the state of Michigan pledged US$1
million to help the 2,100 displaced workers find new jobs.
The pharmaceutical industry has faced major upheaval in recent years, with a
disappointing drug pipeline, major revenue losses as patents expire on
blockbuster drugs, and a spate of mergers and acquisitions. From 2006
through to the first quarter of 2012, some 263,000 positions have been
eliminated from major pharmaceutical and large biotechnology companies, says
Kenneth Getz, a senior research fellow at the Tufts Center for the Study of
Drug Development in Boston, Massachusetts. R&D operations have accounted
for 7–10% of the lay-offs since 2008, which have been only partially offset
by new hiring, endangering what was once a stable source of jobs for life
scientists and chemists.
But despite such convulsions, there are positive signs in the job market. In
the Ann Arbor region, dozens of contract-research organizations (CROs),
many founded by former Pfizer employees, offer outsourced services ranging
from medicinal chemistry to toxicology testing. The abandoned Pfizer
facility has been reborn: the University of Michigan bought it and now uses
some of it as research facilities and rents out another part to Lycera, a
biotechnology spin-off from the university that partners with pharmaceutical
company Merck and employs some former Pfizer scientists.
“What we are seeing in front of our eyes is the slow-motion implosion of
the big pharma companies as we know them, and the rebirth of the industry
with different models and in different forms,” says Bernard Munos, founder
of the InnoThink Center for Research in Biomedical Innovation in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
Researchers looking for work in this environment need to adapt their skills
to an industry in flux, says Munos, and consider how to use their experience
to secure a new type of job. They should also be aware that laid-off
researchers may have to take jobs at lower salaries at CROs or biotechnology
start-ups, or in other industries. In short, to weather the cuts — which
show no signs of abating — pharma employees and new graduates “are going
to have to hustle”, says Munos.
R&D Breakdown
In the face of declining pharmaceutical revenues, a variety of strategies
has emerged to increase productivity and decrease costs. Companies such as
GlaxoSmithKline, headquartered in London, have broken up research
departments into smaller, more nimble units, and many firms are outsourcing
R&D that would once have been done in-house. Meanwhile, research areas have
been cut back. For example, Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, has
reduced development of drugs that affect the central nervous system,
considered a high-risk, expensive field
Firms, including Novartis, are shifting operations to areas such as Boston,
where they can mine academia and biotech companies for early-stage
discoveries, and China, an emerging market with a growing scientific
workforce. Outsourcing may account for much of the net workforce reductions
over the past several years, which occurred even as total investment in R&D
by major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies increased. An estimated
41,275 workers were employed in pharmaceutical- and biotechnology-industry R
&D worldwide in 2010, down from 50,750 in 2008, according to the Tufts
Center (see 'Outsourcing on the rise').
The closures affect all workers, from laboratory heads to technicians. But
some jobs seem to be more vulnerable than others. When Pfizer, which is
based in New York City, laid off employees in Ann Arbor, it offered jobs to
hundreds of them at other locations. Most were scientists with transferable
skills, such as computational biologists, or worked in hot areas such as
oncology, says John LaMattina, who oversaw the lay-offs as head of global R&
D at Pfizer and is now a senior partner at Puretech Ventures, a life-
sciences venture-capital company in Boston. Specialists in waning fields are
often most vulnerable, he says.
Bench scientists who work in the earliest stages of drug research may also
be at high risk, as many pharmaceutical companies turn to academia and
biotechnology companies for leads. “Major R&D organizations within big
pharma have just been slashing without a lot of regard in drug discovery,”
says John Archer, founder of Catalyst Advisors in New York City, which
recruits executives for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. People
who work in clinical research and regulatory affairs seem to be better
buffered from lay-offs, he says.
Staying ahead
It is difficult to trace where the jobs are going, but a lot of people do
manage to find work. In the United Kingdom, for instance, about 2,000
chemists at pharmaceutical companies were laid off last year, estimates
Charlotte Ashley-Roberts, a careers adviser at the Royal Society of
Chemistry, based in Cambridge, UK. More than 85% found jobs within three
months, and 60% in chemistry. “You are starting to see a whole different
cadre of opportunities,” says John Arrowsmith, a life-sciences adviser at
Thomson Reuters in London.
Many former pharmaceutical researchers are heading to CROs (see 'Prepare and
contrast'), which have been growing steadily in the United States, Europe,
India and China in recent years (see Nature 466, 280–281; 2010). In 2010,
46,550 people were employed in R&D at CROs worldwide, up from 42,687 in 2008
, estimates the Tufts Center.
Box 1: Prepare and contrast
Contract-research organizations (CROs) are increasingly taking on tasks
previously done within the pharmaceutical industry, from clinical-trial
management to medicinal chemistry. Many former employees of big
pharmaceutical companies are moving to CROs — and liking it. “I thought
the environment was going to be significantly different,” says Jim Kremidas
, who made the leap in 2008. But the change “was not as traumatic as I
thought it was going to be”.
Kremidas had spent more than 20 years in various jobs at Eli Lilly in
Indianapolis, Indiana, culminating in a role as head of patient recruitment.
But as the company downsized in preparation for patent expirations, he
accepted a severance package. Knowing what lay ahead, Kremidas had time to
prepare.
Before his retirement, Kremidas began developing his contact network. He
also took on speaking engagements through the Drug Information Association,
an international industry trade group based in Horsham, Pennsylvania. The
exposure helped to build his reputation as a leader in patient recruitment,
he says, and in 2008 he was offered a job doing just that at Quintiles, a
CRO based in Durham, North Carolina. This February, Kremidas became head of
market development for digital patient recruitment at the firm, using the
Internet and online patient databases to gather volunteers.
Kremidas advises pharmaceutical employees who are worried about lay-offs to
broaden their experiences to prepare themselves for a variety of future
challenges. “I knew I had a skill set that was needed in industry, and
Quintiles seemed like a logical place for me to land,” he says.
Pharma and CRO work have similarities, but Kremidas says that CROs require
employees to be more flexible and nimble: “You have a lot of different
customers who have a lot of different ways of doing things.” Some customers
micromanage, whereas others let the CRO researchers make their own
decisions. “They respect your opinions and it's more collaborative,” he
says. C.S.
Expand
People with skills beyond bench work are moving into consultancy, as experts
in areas such as regulatory affairs, clinical-trial management and
biostatistics (see 'Use your skills'). But there are no hard numbers on who
is taking this route — or on how many consultants are effectively
underemployed.
Box 2: Use your skills
In many ways, Beat Widler was ideally placed to start a consultancy. He had
spent decades in regulatory affairs and clinical research at Roche, the
pharmaceutical firm based in Basel, Switzerland. Most recently, he was
global head of clinical quality, ensuring that clinical trials protected
human subjects and maintained data integrity. Now, he is a consultant in the
same area.
Working out of his home in Zug, Switzerland, Widler takes advantage of a
network of contacts in the pharmaceutical industry, contract-research
organizations and regulatory agencies. Even so, setting up a company was
risky. “If we are able to break even this year we can be extremely proud of
ourselves,” he says.
Widler had been thinking for years about starting a company. When Roche
offered him an early-retirement package in 2011, he took the plunge, setting
up Widler & Schiemann with former Roche colleague Peter Schiemann this year.
Widler says that the shifts in the industry are making it easier for former
pharma employees to set up shop, as big companies and small biotechs turn to
an outsourcing model with low overhead costs. And cost pressures are
leading companies to rely on experts to help them trim the fat from their
clinical trials, while keeping standards high.
Widler's network includes connections at professional organizations such as
the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice in Brussels and the Drug
Information Association, based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, where he has served
on committees and given talks. That experience, he says, helped him to
build his reputation and meet clients.
Without the infrastructure of a large organization, Widler has had to adapt.
For example, he spent hours creating the template for a form for auditing a
client. “You do everything from scratch. It's pretty intense, but it's
pretty fun,” he says.
He has no regrets and remains optimistic, but is mindful of how long his
personal funds can last while he builds up his business. “Be very realistic
about finances,” he says. “It is critical to do your homework.” C.S.
Expand
Yet other workers are retooling their skills for related industries that
remain strong, including development of medical food (such as 'gut-healthy'
yogurt), medical-device engineering and biomanufacturing, says Clifford Minz
, founder of BioInsights, a career consultancy in Princeton, New Jersey.
Patent specialists and medical writers are also in demand, he adds.
The great leap sideways
Alex Flood is a former pharma researcher who has successfully made the
transition to one growing niche sector: non-profit work. He “cut his teeth
” at Wyeth and weathered that company's 2009 buy-out by Pfizer, but for
many years he had aspired to a job in public health. Since 2010, he has been
employed at PATH, a global-health non-profit organization in Seattle,
Washington, where he works on vaccine stabilization — by, for example,
devising ways to keep vaccines fresh over time. To find new work, “you have
to be flexible”, says Flood, who adapted his pharma training to his new
job.
Peter Corr, co-founder of Celtic Therapeutics, a private-equity drug-
development firm in New York City, hires senior and junior pharmaceutical
professionals with a wide range of experience, from outsourcing to finance.
He was head of science and technology at Pfizer until 2006, and says that it
helps if candidates have an understanding of the whole drug-development
pipeline. “Spend some time in your off hours in other parts of the company,
” he advises potential applicants. For example, bench scientists should
expand their skill sets by learning about regulatory affairs or business
development. Being open to relocation also helps, says Archer, given the
geographic shifts in the industry.
The best candidates show passion for what they do and have taken on
challenges, says Corr. “You see people who are moving to gain new
experiences,” he says. “These people are constantly stretching themselves.” | A***u
发帖数: 3714 | 2 个人怎么溶入这个趋势呢？
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the
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says
【在 G****a 的大作中提到】
: Locals were irate when the drug giant Pfizer closed its 70-hectare research
: and development (R&D) facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2007. T-shirts
: sporting the word 'Pfired' appeared on the streets; the governor called the
: lay-offs a “punch to the gut”; and the state of Michigan pledged US$1
: million to help the 2,100 displaced workers find new jobs.
: The pharmaceutical industry has faced major upheaval in recent years, with a
: disappointing drug pipeline, major revenue losses as patents expire on
: blockbuster drugs, and a spate of mergers and acquisitions. From 2006
: through to the first quarter of 2012, some 263,000 positions have been
: eliminated from major pharmaceutical and large biotechnology companies, says
| p**********u
发帖数: 15479 | 3 主动下岗，然后全国范围内投简历。这趋势你也要融入？
【在 A***u 的大作中提到】
: 个人怎么溶入这个趋势呢？
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