Roche to Cut 4,800 Jobs Over 2 Years to Help Save $2.4 Billion

Swiss Drug Maker Roche To Cut 4,800 Jobs over 2 years to help save $2.4 billion

GENEVA -- Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche will cut 4,800 jobs over two years, mostly in the U.S., to help save 2.4 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion) by 2012, the company said Wednesday.

Pfizer is firing but Roche is hiring

Who can keep up with the world of pharma/biotech? Pfizer had some major lay offs in the area of Research and Development (R&D). According to the PharmaExec Blog, Roche Pharma Research is preparing to hire scientists in New Jersey.

Pharma and Twitter

We've started seeing more articles related to the topic of Twitter and the corporate world of Pharma/Biotech. Pharmavoice recently published an article titled, "What is the business case for Tweeting?" (to read the article, click here)

Is Twitter simply a cocktail party where you can mingle and exchange information with others? Or, is Twitter much more than that?

According to this article, 18 pharma companies were using Twitter as of last month. J&J (Johnson and Johnson) appears to be the most active, but you'll also see other large pharma companies such as: AstraZeneca, Novartis, GSK, Pfizer, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novo Nordisk, and several others.

So while we're on this topic of Twitter, let me throw out a few questions:

• Is Twitter simply another marketing tool in this new wave of social media?
• Will the FDA regulate how pharma uses Twitter to communicate with consumers and healthcare professionals?
  
• Is Twitter an effective way to communicate safety issues to healthcare professionals? (the FDA and CDC are using Twitter)
• Is Twitter a way for consumers to send messages directly to Pharma?
• Is Twitter a temporary fad, or is it here to stay?

I encourage you to explore social media and try using Twitter for a few weeks. You won't be impressed if you only try it for a few days. However, give it a few months and see what you think. You have to be willing to follow some people back and exchange ideas (imagine that you're at a social event).

You can start by following my Tweets here: http://twitter.com/DrJosephKim

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?