Worried about the future of the pharmaceutical industry do to the current state of the economy and losses the pharmaceutical industry has experienced over the past decade? Well no need to worry much because many positive events have been occurring recently in the industry.
The pharmaceutical industry has experienced a lot of losses over the past decade due to the recession. Many jobs were lost, plants closed, and the development of new medication put on hold. Among all of that, recently the government has been requesting effective drugs for a cheaper price, drug companies are losing their patents, and productivity is falling due to the creation of new drugs. But even with all the losses that the pharmaceutical industry has experienced and the hardships they are currently experiencing, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Recently things have been looking up for the pharmaceutical industry as far as the employment sector is concerned and things are getting better. According to Pharma Fierce, new job opportunities have surfaced in the pharmaceutical industry, and now is the time for the public to take advantage of this opportunity.
There are currently several job opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry. According to Pharma Fierce (2011), “since 2001 300,000 pharma employees have lost their jobs, primarily in R&D and sales.” With a loss in jobs as large as this, it is a good sign that new job opportunities have emerged in this industry. Some of the jobs they are offering are Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs, Bio-manufacturing, Healthcare Information Technology, Medical Devices, Medical Communications, and Patent Law and Technology Transfer. Even with all these dream job opportunities though, employee-seekers are not only looking for people with PhDs, but they are also encouraging them to get additional training do to the simple fact that these pharmaceutical companies can not afford to just hire “smart” people. They need people who they are positive will do the job above and beyond the standards they request.
Another positive event occurring in the pharmaceutical industry today is that GlaxoSmithKline’s sales have grown. According to Pharma Fierce, GlaxoSmithKline posted a sales growth of 4% for the third quarter, which beat the sales growth assumption analysts had estimated. With the record of their company’s third quarter sales growth, the outlook for 2012’s sales growth is looking good. In fact, GSK is so confident that they will do well in the year of 2012 that they have recently increased their dividend and increased their stock buyback plan by 15% in order to keep investors interested and holding on. It is the success of companies like GSK that gives hope for the future of the pharmaceutical industry even with all the challenges they will be facing with their patents expiring.
~ Zenas
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My question is did pharma companies cutting back on R&D back in 2001 hurt their pipeline of new drugs and if R&D is so important why did these companies feel they can cut back on it?
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