Big Pharma Becomes a Smaller Employer While Biotech Booms
Big Pharma employment dropped by 3% in the decade 2003–2013, allaying fears that industry consolidation and restructuring would lead to significantly reduced headcounts and payrolls, a new jobs report published by EP Vantage reveals.
The new report shows that when it comes to pharmaceutical industry jobs, big biotech and specialty drugmakers are growing in significance, more than offsetting the loss of jobs in Big Pharma.
Headcount more than doubled over the last decade at companies with market capitalizations of more than $30 billion, but who are not traditionally considered big pharma. Some of those gains were the result of acquisitions — such as Valeant — but groups such as Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences and Regeneron have seen their staff double, triple, or even quadruple based primarily on organic growth, the report finds.
“Large drug makers such as Gilead are now not only out performing Big Pharma, but are out hiring it,” said Lisa Urquhart, EP Vantage Editor. “With the focus still on cost cutting in Big Pharma, if you want a long-term career in the industry you might be better off with a smaller player.”
Among the report’s key findings:
• Novartis is the biggest employer in the pharma sector, with a workforce of more than 135,000 people. Its 2010 merger with eye specialist Alcon brought on board nearly 16,000 new workers, but that explains only part of the 57,000 it added between 2003–2013.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer topped the industry in terms of shrinking headcount, each firing 36% of their employees. In the case of Pfizer, the reduction is dramatic because the decade saw it rationalizing the workforce of two companies it acquired, Pharmacia and Wyeth.
• Valeant and its acquisitions aside, the biggest hirer of 2013 in percentage terms was Pharmacyclics, which more than doubled its headcount to 484 to support the launch of cancer drug Imbruvica.
The “Big Pharma Becomes a Smaller Employer While Biotech Booms” report, based on market intelligence and analysis from EvaluatePharma, can be found at www.evaluategroup.com/PharmaJobNumbers.
Related News
-
News Patients vs Pharma – who will the Inflation Reduction Act affect the most?
The Inflation Reduction Act brought in by the Biden administration in 2022 aims to give better and more equitable access to healthcare in the USA. However, pharma companies are now concerned about the other potential costs of such legislation. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: What does the changing US Pharma market mean for industry and patients alike?
In this week's episode of the CPHI Podcast Series Lucy Chard, Digital Editor for CPHI Online is joined by James Manser to discuss the political and market changes in the US pharma field. -
News CPHI Barcelona Annual Report illuminates industry trends for 2024
The CPHI Annual Survey comes into it’s 7th year to report on the predicted trends for 2024. Over 250 pharma executives were asked 35 questions, with their answers informing the industry landscape for the next year, spanning all major pharma marke... -
News Which 10 drugs are open to price negotiation with Medicare in the USA?
The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services, under the Biden administration in the USA, has released a list of the 10 drugs that will be open to price negotiations as part of the new legislation under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). -
News EU Medical Devices Regulation causes unintended disappearances of medical devices for children, doctors state
Doctor groups and associations have appealed to the EU to correct the EU Medical Devices Regulation law that may cause unintended shortages of essential drug and medical devices for children and rare disease patients. -
News 10 Major Drug Approvals So Far in 2023
Last year, 37 novel drugs were approved by the FDA, this was a high number for such a category, and covered many fields including oncology, demonstrating how promising further research is, and how it is only continuing to build. To date, there are alre... -
News Detecting Alzheimer's disease with a simple lateral flow test
A novel rapid diagnostic test for early-stage Alzheimer's disease has been developed using a biomarker binder from Aptamer Group along with technology from Neuro-Bio, the neurodegenerative disease experts. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: outsourcing and manufacturing trends
Listen to the CPHI Podcast Series this June to hear Gil Roth of the PBOA speak with Digital Editor Lucy Chard about the biggest trends and topics to watch in pharma outsourcing and manufacturing at the minute.
Position your company at the heart of the global Pharma industry with a CPHI Online membership
-
Your products and solutions visible to thousands of visitors within the largest Pharma marketplace
-
Generate high-quality, engaged leads for your business, all year round
-
Promote your business as the industry’s thought-leader by hosting your reports, brochures and videos within your profile
-
Your company’s profile boosted at all participating CPHI events
-
An easy-to-use platform with a detailed dashboard showing your leads and performance