Pharmaceutical industry leading job cuts: "Job Cuts Surge 60% to 16-Month High"

Do you think the recession is ending, or are we seeing a second dip? According to a recent report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the pharmaceutical industry is leading all the other industries in job cuts:

The pharmaceutical led all other industries with 13,493 job cuts in July, most of which (13,000 to be exact) resulted from a multi-year reduction in force announced by New York-based Merck & Co.

The 66,414 job cuts last month were up 60 percent from the previous month, when employers announced plans to shed 41,432 workers. The July figure was 59 percent higher than the 41,676 layoffs recorded in July 2010. It was the largest monthly total since March 2010, when 67,611 job cuts were announced by the nation’s employers.

You can read their report here (PDF)

Merck to close 8 research sites and 8 manufacturing sites

In Chinese, the number 8 is considered a lucky number. Today, Merck announced that they'll be phasing out operations at eight research sites and eight manufacturing sites. They will also continue to consolidate office facilities worldwide, as part of the global Merck and Schering-Plough merger restructuring program.

Here are some interesting snippets from the press release today:

As part of today's announcement, Merck plans to phase out operations at eight research sites over the next two years. These sites include: Montreal, Canada; Boxmeer (Nobilon facility only), Oss, and Schaijk, Netherlands; Odense, Denmark; Waltrop, Germany; Newhouse, Scotland; and Cambridge (Kendall Square), Massachusetts, U.S.

Beginning in the second half of 2010, the company will phase out operations at eight manufacturing facilities and these sites will exit the global network as activities are transferred to other locations. Specifically, the company intends to cease manufacturing activities at its facilities in Comazzo, Italy; Cacem, Portugal; Azcapotzalco, Mexico; Coyoacan, Mexico, and Santo Amaro, Brazil, and intends to sell the Mirador, Argentina and Miami Lakes, Florida, facilities. In Singapore, chemical manufacturing will be phased out at the legacy Merck site, but it will continue at the legacy Schering-Plough site. The company's extensive pharmaceutical manufacturing operations will continue at these two Singapore facilities.

Don't miss this:

Merck continues to expect its total workforce to be reduced by approximately 15 percent across all areas of the combined company worldwide as part of the initial phases of its merger restructuring program. The company said it will continue to hire new employees in strategic growth areas of the business as necessary.

BusinessWeek Top 50 companies to launch your career

BusinessWeek has a list of 50 companies that are considered the "best places to launch your career." This guide isn't just for college grads. It could really apply to people who are in transition as well. I glanced at the list of 50 companies and I'd like to highlight a few that might be relevant for healthcare professionals who are interested in making the switch into the non-clinical world of medicine. Here are some of the companies that may interest you:

• Goldman Sachs (investment banking): ranked #6
  
• J.P. Morgan (investment banking): ranked #9
• Accenture (consulting): ranked #11
• Abbott Laboratories (health): ranked #13
• Merck (health): ranked #37
• Johnson & Johnson (health): ranked #41
• Protiviti (consulting): ranked #49

I realize that most physicians don't end up getting careers in investment banking. However, if you go into market research or if you pursue opportunities with venture capital firms, then you may have some significant interactions with investment banking clients. Who knows, maybe you'll even want to get an MBA in finance and go into investment banking.

We all know that consulting is very popular. Have you considered the companies listed above? If you can't work at McKinsey, would you consider other options?

Finally, in the health industry, the companies listed are no surprise. With all the mergers occurring in the world of biotech and pharma, we're sure to see displaced people in the upcoming months. Where will they end up settling?

The Health Industry and the Stock Market

So much is changing in the healthcare industry. Have you spoken with your stock broker? If you're like me, then you probably try to do everything online. I'm a big fan of Online Trading. Why? Because it's so convenient and you can easily make changes easily by getting on a computer and logging in to your favorite Online Broker. It's easy for me since I'm always carring some type of computer around (usually an ultra-mobile PC that is connected to the Internet). The Internet has simplified so many things, including Stock Trading. It's hard to imagine what the world was like before we had the World Wide Web.

Who do you use to trade Stocks, Options, Mutual Funds, ETFs and Fixed Incomes? Pharmaceutical companies are merging, others are downsizing to reduce costs. Pfizer is merging with Wyeth. Schering-Plough is merging with Merck. Roche is aquiring Genentech. This may not be the best time to leave a job in clinical medicine to join the folks in pharma. With all these mergers and acquisitions, Stock Trading must be going crazy these days. The stock market has been in a downhill tumble and no one seems to know what's going to happen in the market. There is so much uncertainly about the current economy. What services or tools do you use for Online Trading?

Pharma Job Fair

Pharm Country Career Fair
Monday, March 30, 2009, 2pm to 7pm
Radisson Valley Forge
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

Looks like you can get information about business school if you're interested in getting an MBA during these difficult economic times.

Companies include:

Aerotek Scientific, LLC
Almac Clinical Technologies
CSL Behring
Fox School of Business - Temple University
Globus Medical, Inc.
Merck Research Laboratories
Morphotek
Octagon Research Solutions, Inc.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Shire
Siegfried (USA), Inc.

Find out more at BioSpace: http://www.biospace.com/

Merck, Schering-Plough, and now J&J/Centocor

The Merck/Schering-Plough merger/reverse acquisition may hit some problems according to some because of J&J/Centocor and the co-marketing of Remicade (infliximab). Golimumab is a similar biologic agent that is currently in development. It is supposed to be co-marketed with Schering-Plough, but I guess we're not sure what's going to happen if Merck and Schering-Plough join forces. All these pharma merges/acquisitions are starting to get pretty crazy. Some are forecasting that thousands of jobs may get cut, but no one seems to be sure where those cuts may occur. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens here. These are some incredibly dramatic times in the pharma industry.

Merck to Acquire Schering-Plough

It looks like Merck will be acquiring Schering-Plough in a $41.1 billion deal. But wait, it's a bit confusing. People are referring to this as a "reverse merger" and Merck's top executive, Chairman and CEO Richard Clarke, will lead the combined company, but Schering-Plough will be the surviving public corporation. The new company will be called Merck.

VGX Pharmaceuticals: PENNVAX and CELLECTRA

Dr. J. Joseph Kim (no, not me) is president and CEO of VGX Pharmaceuticals. We're both MIT alumni, so we share one similar connection. There have been some exciting news from VGX recently.

Here's the headline from a recent press release: "VGX Pharmaceuticals Proprietary DNA Vaccines Delivered with Electroporation Achieve Immune Responses Superior to Recombinant Adenovirus Serotype 5 (Ad5) Vectors"

That sounds very exciting to me because there is such a need for better vaccines. Plus, we really need an HIV vaccine. This press release deals with some results on the PENNVAX HIV Vaccine Program. Researchers have been working on delivering the PENNVAX™ DNA vaccines using a novel electroporation device called CELLECTRA®.

Collaborators include the University of Pennsylvania, VGX, and Merck. These results are truly exciting and they reflect what can happen when you apply novel technologies in healthcare. Perhaps we will see a safe and effective HIV vaccine someday.