Novartis remains the largest employer in the sector with more than 135,000 people. The report also shows that jobs are growing in biotech and hyper-specialized companies, more than offsetting the loss of employees in Big Pharma.
Employment levels in Big Pharma fell by only 3% in the decade 2003-2013. An estimate – contained in an Ep Vantage report – which seems to allay fears that the consolidation of the sector and past and present corporate restructurings lead to huge personnel cuts. The report also shows that jobs are growing in biotech and hyper-specialized companies, more than offsetting the loss of employees in Big Pharma. Headcount has more than doubled in the past 10 years in companies with market capitalizations of more than $30 billion but that are not traditionally considered Big Pharma. Some of this increase is the result of acquisitions, although this factor has not affected groups such as Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences and Regeneron, which have seen personal gold double, triple or even quadruple, just thanks to the growth.
Novartis remains the largest employer in the industry, employing more than 135,000 people. Its 2010 merger with Alcon brought nearly 16,000 new employees on board, but this only partially explains the 57,000 additional jobs between 2003 and 2013. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer hold the record for contraction workforce, having cut the 36% of their employees.
Finally, in addition to Valeant, the company that hired the most in 2013 in terms of percentage was Pharmacyclics, which more than doubled its headcount of 484 people to support the launch of a new cancer drug.
“If you dream of a long career in pharmaceuticals – advises Lisa Urquhart, editor of Ep Vantage – today it is better to focus on slightly smaller companies”.
Barbara Di Chiara – 07 July 2014 – PharmaKronos
TO
