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Wednesday, May 09, 2012
The life sciences or biotechnology industry is a large and diverse sector that is home to major firms such as Merck, Cargill, and Amgen. As of 2008, the industry employed more than 1.42 million people in the United States who work on everything from producing biofuels to innovations in medicine to cure cancer, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C.
The complex nature of biotech demands a significant investment of both time and capital. In pharmaceuticals, for example, it can take 10 to 15 years and cost an estimated $800 million to $1.2 billion to move drugs through the discovery process from early-stage R&D through clinical trials and approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The investment needed to bring products to market across the broader life sciences sector is fueling industry consolidation and increased pressure on operating efficiencies.
“What you have seen in the life sciences industry in general, and particularly in bio-pharma, is a challenge around innovation and bringing new products to market,” says Richard M. McBlaine, international director of Solutions Development and chairman of Strategic Consulting at Jones Lang LaSalle in Chicago. For example, several pharmaceutical giants have had blockbuster drugs come off of patent, and they have been challenged to bring in new drugs to fill the gap. That is driving a bigger issue of how to improve efficiency and profitability, he adds.
Compounding the problem is increased global competition from countries such as Korea, Singapore, and China. Those countries are battling the “brain drain” of scientists that once migrated to the United States. Now those emerging countries are spending money to keep scientists in their home countries and create their own clusters. “This is a globally competitive environment, which is why we work so hard with policymakers at the state and federal level to ensure that we are promoting the right policies to continue to make sure that American innovators continue to lead the biotech economy,” says Fritz Bittenbender, BIO’s vice president of Alliance Development and State Government Relations.
Growing Clusters
Although biotechnology firms certainly exist all across the nation, there are more than 15 U.S. clusters that are notable for their sizable concentration of life sciences firms and skilled worker base. “Access to basic research, access to pharmaceutical talent, and access to capital are the three things that really help to develop these clusters around the country,” says Bittenbender. So, it is no surprise that clusters have popped up around top universities, such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which were ranked as the top two universities for life sciences in 2011–2012 by Times Higher Education.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Friday, May 04, 2012
“This verifies what I have always thought was the case,” said Dr. John Pieper, president of St. Louis College of Pharmacy. “I think it speaks to the fact that pharmacy is viewed nationally as an exciting, challenging profession.”
The report stated, “Job prospects should be excellent in the field in the years to come, and the earnings potential remains relatively high.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field is expected to grow by 25 percent by 2020 and add nearly 70,000 new jobs.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Friday, May 04, 2012
Pharmacy schools have popped up all over the country in the last decade, but nowhere quite like Tennessee. Until 2006, the state had only one school of pharmacy. Now there are half a dozen.
Belmont University’s facilities are state-of-the-art and helped attract students to a brand new program. So did the stories of signing bonuses and six-figure jobs.
“There aren’t many jobs out there like just popping out at us,” says Benson Chiong. “You know, I really wanted to go back home to Chicago, however, I’ve heard that people are driving two to three hours out from Chicago, and I don’t know that I want to exactly do that. So I’m just hoping.”
Urban areas are more flush with pharmacists than rural regions.
Tennessee, which ranks high nationally on prescription drug use, is one of the top three states still in need of pharmacists, according to a recent survey. But even here students report difficultly finding openings.
Universities blame the profession’s recent crowding on baby boomers who were expected to retire en mass. Many held on to their jobs during the recession instead. Colleges, however, didn’t abandon plans to educate the next generation of druggists.
“Even the accreditors were concerned,” says Phil Johnston, Belmont’s Dean of Pharmacy.
Pharmacists Ask Why
Johnston says the governing bodies worried there weren’t enough drug stores and hospitals for students to train in. Pharmacists themselves have been leery of what an oversupply could do to salaries.
“I’ve been approached by the practitioners, friends, colleagues,” he says. “They said, ‘why are you starting this new program?’”
Pharmacy schools bring prestige and revenue. Tennessee’s newest program is run by a for-profit school in Knoxville. Johnston says Belmont just saw a need and wanted to fill it with Belmont grads.
Two miles down the street, Lipscomb University acted too. Now fourth-year students are prepping for professional board exams.
Lipscomb pharmacy students to begin a new tradition. The inaugural class of 71 leaves a “bench mark” inside the pharmacy building.
Lipscomb pharmacy students to begin a new tradition. The inaugural class of 71 leaves a “bench mark” inside the pharmacy building.
Many in Lipscomb’s inaugural class have found jobs as the quintessential community pharmacist. But Kayleen Daly looked all over the southeast and opted for another year of training – residency.
“Because of all the pharmacists that are coming out, it’s best to have that year of clinical experience under your belt,” she says.
John Deason says he has some leads, but will be relieved when one becomes an offer. Students often have a couple hundred thousand dollars in loans. Deason says if push comes to shove, he could put them off.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
The National Bioeconomy Blueprint, as the plan is called, discusses a variety of measures and strategies to spur research and development of medical treatments, crops, biofuels and biological manufacturing processes that would replace harsher industrial methods.
Use of biology “can allow Americans to live longer, healthier lives, reduce our dependence on oil, address key environmental challenges, transform manufacturing processes, and increase the productivity and scope of the agricultural sector while growing new jobs and industries,” the report says.
Much of what is in the 43-page-report, which the administration released before its planned announcement on Thursday, is a list of government programs that are already under way. So it is not clear what concrete changes, if any, will result.
Still, some biotechnology industry executives and scientists welcomed the plan as a sign of the government’s commitment, saying it would now be easier to push for specific new programs to foster biotechnology development.
“This may be the first time the country has recognized the total impact that biological sciences has for the current and future economy,” Dr. Phillip A. Sharp, a Nobel laureate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the project, said in an e-mail.
The government is expected to announce some fairly new efforts on Thursday that fit with the blueprint. One would strengthen a program that encourages federal agencies to procure bio-based products, like lubricants made from soybeans. Another would allow a repository of clinical trial data at the Food and Drug Administration to be used for disease research.
President Obama is under pressure to create jobs and has long supported innovation as a key to the future of the American economy. But some people in the biotechnology industry have grumbled that the White House’s idea of innovation focused on electronic devices, social media and solar energy.
“We’ve been ringing the bell saying, ‘Don’t forget us,’ “ James Greenwood, the president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group, said in an interview. The blueprint is “a sign that the message has been received,” he said.
Other countries are also pursuing bioeconomy plans. The European Commission adopted its strategy in February.
But the term bioeconomy is not that well defined. The European strategy focuses on sustainable industrial processes. The White House blueprint is aimed at fostering all biology-based businesses, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
President Obama announced last September that the administration would develop the blueprint. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy then sought public comment on what such a plan should contain, including whether there were particular “grand challenges” that should be tackled. It received 135 comments from individuals or organizations.
But the blueprint does not commit the government to embark on any particular grand challenges, like curing cancer.
The report says that advances in genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, computing and other disciplines might make possible things like liquid fuels produced directly from carbon dioxide, biodegradable plastics made from biomass, tailored foods to meet specialized dietary requirements and personalized medical treatments based on a patient’s genetic makeup.
The plan lays out five strategies, all of which are already being pursued.
One is to support research and development, including by offering prizes for innovation. Another is to better move discoveries from the laboratory into commerce, in part by having companies get more involved with universities.
Two others are to improve education and work force training, and to encourage collaborations between the public and private sectors.
The fifth strategy, to make regulation faster and more predictable, is likely to be most welcomed by the biotechnology industry. Some pharmaceutical and medical device industry executives have complained that the F.D.A. can be too stringent and nontransparent, discouraging investment in their fields.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Patricia Koziol, a consultant in the life sciences industry, will explain the various career possibilities and occupations which include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and medical device companies.
In 2010, New Jersey life sciences industries employed over 122,000 workers and paid over $14 billion in wages. Over the past five years, the life science industry has expanded by 13.2 percent in New Jersey, outpacing the nation by 3.6 percentage points.
Some examples of life science industry occupations include: medical writers, chemists, software developers, microbiologists, paralegals and biological technicians.
If you are interested in a job or a career in the life science industry, this program will provide tips on how to best search out opportunities.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bernadette “Bonnie” Fendrock joined with two scientists five years ago to launch a firm that is improving the way drug companies bring new products to market. Hepregen Corp., building off technology developed by Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia and Salman Khetani, is developing a micro-liver model that measures drug toxicity in humans — without testing them in humans. It’s a unique, proprietary method that will allow pharmaceutical companies to test their drugs outside the human body, improving safety and efficiency in the testing process. The venture-backed firm already has more than 20 customers. Fendrock has a master’s in science from MIT, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a distinguished career as a business leader in a variety of life sciences and biotechnology firms, but this is her first venture as a founder. The entrepreneurial life suits her well.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in molecular biology; Wellesley College; S.M., interdisciplinary science; MIT; MBA, management; The Wharton School
What drives her: “I’m motivated by operating a little on the edge. I like the challenges that come from creating something that has never existed before. I think that’s where the entrepreneurial piece comes in. That, in combination with making an impact on people’s lives, doing something for patients or this industry that’s never been done before, based on stellar science. I am not a person who’s motivated by doing routine things. I need that challenge. When things are hard, I’m motivated.”
What drives her company: “Every step of progress you make is an incredible moment. Every step is very, very rewarding. You have to enjoy every single milestone. Having said that, we’re not done yet. What’s success? Success is when you create a new gold standard for the industry, and until we get there, we’re not settled, we’re not satisfied.”
On working with the right people: “The team is incredibly important. Having a group of people who have that shared ability to navigate their way out of something, into something new, and not destroy the company in the process … it’s a rare thing. I’ve seen very successful teams and very dysfunctional teams, and the team can make all the difference between success and failure.”
On work/life balance: “The wonderful thing is that I see fathers much more involved in family life today, whether it’s home life or the kids’ lives. It’s an incredibly important part of how and why I’ve been able pursue a challenging and demanding career — my husband. He has been incredibly supportive and has played a significant role. You need help around you to be able to do what you want to do ... and I think the next generation is already figuring this out. I’m hoping that the burden women have is going to be shared by their partners. I actually think it’s already happening, I see it with some of the young men I work with, and it’s just going to get easier for women to have these demanding careers.”
On the next generation of scientists: “That experience of rolling up your sleeves and doing something with your brain and your hands has tremendous impact — feeling the rewards of creating something. We need to encourage our young people to create and innovate and make messes and take things apart and blow things up and put them back together again. I think it’s incredibly important.”
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Friday, April 20, 2012
It could just be another boom, soon to be followed by another bust—no one can rule out that possibility—but these are good days for computational biologists. Even as scientists in other fields struggle to find jobs, computational biologists are being snapped up as soon as they graduate with lucrative salary offers, says Russ Altman, a professor of bioengineering, genetics, and medicine and director of the biomedical informatics training program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Altman doesn’t think we’re just at another high point in the boom-bust cycle. The reason computational biology never fully got off the ground before now, he says, is that pharmaceutical companies weren’t yet grappling with the kinds of problems that are best-suited to computational biologists: finding useful signals in tremendously large sets of unsorted, noisy data.
Welcome to big data
Bioinformatics is hardly new to the pharmaceutical industry. The problem is that until recently, those companies weren’t thinking big enough, Altman says. Traditionally trained chemists and biopharmacologists mostly studied their own data sets with no formal training in the computing side.
“Now there are these amazing data sets from extremely clever experimentalists who’ve figured out how to do things in high-throughput [experimentation], and they represent a substantial challenge to people who aren’t trained in computation because it passes what I call the ‘Excel barrier,’ ” Altman says. “I’ve been amazed at what a biologist with Excel can do, but we have now exceeded the Excel barrier in terms of the number of rows and columns and the computational powers of Excel.”
For the pharmaceutical industry, big data is the copious and ever-growing collection of human genome data available freely and publicly. Instead of systematically testing the effects of known compounds—the pharmaceutical industry’s basic model for more than a century—scientists can now investigate backward, combing through genomic data to find links between specific genotypes and diseases and then screening drug data to identify therapeutic candidates. But that kind of data simply won’t fit into an Excel spreadsheet.
“I think the old paradigm of ‘one drug, one target’ is quickly becoming outdated,” says Nicholas Tatonetti, a computational biology graduate student in Altman’s lab who is finishing his Ph.D. this year and who recently accepted an assistant professorship at Columbia University. “It [was] a smart way to think about it originally … and they took it really far and made billions of dollars. But what’s happened is, people forgot that biology is not so simple. The systems are really what we’re playing with here, not one protein doing one simple function.”
“If we can understand [these systems]—and the only way to really do that is through modeling with computational biology—then maybe we can predict the adverse effects of a drug or the therapeutic effects of a drug,” Tatonetti says.
Boom or bubble?
As the pharmaceutical industry’s blockbuster drugs fall off the patent cliff, with precious few drugs in the pipeline to replace them, there are signs that big pharma could turn more of its attention to biologically derived medicines. If that happens, computational biologists will likely play a leading role in their discovery, Altman says.
It’s not a job for traditional computer scientists. “They have no intuition for why they’re doing what they’re doing, so you’d have to train them in-house in a boot camp on the basics of biology, why certain assumptions are not OK, and why other assumptions are,” he says. “The comfort with ambiguity and fuzziness that we introduce in our training programs and, most importantly, the biological vocabulary,” mean that people with computational biology training “wind up being extremely valuable to these companies.”
The latest numbers from the Washington, D.C.-based Computing Research Association’s annual Taulbee Survey, which tracks employment statistics for new Ph.D. computer scientists, show that last year fewer grads in the “Informatics: biomedical/other science” category took postdoc positions; instead, more took positions in industry, says survey director Stuart Zweben. The data will be released in May.
Altman says that according to his own observations, demand for computational biologists far outstrips supply. “I was just talking to a colleague the other day from a major drug company who came in with a piece of paper with 15 bioinformatics jobs that they’re ready to hire tomorrow,” he says. The job listings, posted by Merck, were primarily for positions in Boston and in various cities in Pennsylvania.
The need is even more pronounced in California’s Silicon Valley area, Altman says. It’s not big pharmaceutical companies driving the demand there, he says, but small biotech companies who’ve realized they can capitalize on the enormous amount of publicly available health and genomics data.
Joel Dudley, a former student of Altman’s who last year founded NuMedii, one of Silicon Valley’s numerous biotech companies, agrees that computational biologists currently have a wealth of opportunities. Every person in his graduating class at Stanford received at least one job offer before graduation, he says, and most received more than one. “The job market is amazing,” he says.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Friday, April 20, 2012
What do you do, exactly?
I work on cleaning wastewater, specifically sewage, as it is a huge social issue. But instead of just cleaning it, what I take out of the water – the nutrients – I am trying to turn into a valuable product, so as to improve the financial model that sewage runs on. Sewage runs on municipal funding alone, because no one likes to fund things they cannot see. And no one sees waste. So I’m trying to change this.
Wastewater has so many nutrients. A sewage plant, such as the one in Mitchell’s Plain, emits hundreds of tons of carbon, nitrogen and phosphate that people pay good money for as a raw material – as wasted gas that escapes into the atmosphere. And so I’m like, “dudes, it’s free! Let’s use that”. So turning our wastewater into something that is re-usable and valuable is the work that I do.
I’m now doing my PHD at UCT, developing the technology to clean our water using biological organisms (bugs).
How did you get into this line of work?
At varsity in Pretoria I discovered biochemistry, which is to do with the tiny, tiny cells in your body and what they do. I found that fascinating, but soon realised that we study so much and yet often do so little with it. I remember a lecture by a company that made enzymes that could break the molecular fibre in a pair of jeans and create the “washed out” look, without having to put them into washing machines with a pile of stones – which is what they used to do. The jeans were just as strong, it was cheaper for the manufacturers, and it was better for the environment.
My studies led me to try to understand the role of water in society. In a way, water is a solvent. But humans aren’t very kind to their solvents – we use it once to clean something and then discard it. But if we can keep our water clean, ie don’t put in anything that we can’t take out again, we can re-use it again and again. Water, like everything in nature, is a cycle, and we need to help that cycle flow.
What are some of the challenges?
The work that I do is challenging because I work with living organisms at ambient temperatures. If you heat them up to get results, they just die. Then there are things that shouldn’t go into our waste stream, things like heavy metals, which are just killing the bugs that we are trying to grow. We need to have a good relationship with the industries upstream to prevent them from polluting the water to begin with. Industries downstream also need to be happy, so it becomes a huge industrial ecosystem.
I do a lot of work with TEDx (conferences), facilitating between big industry players and the environmentalists, so that they all start talking and so that there is no secrecy and conspiracy as to what the other is doing. A lot of these big industries have to pay to get their waste taken away. As they start to see the financial benefits of our work, they become more amenable to discussion. Building relationships and getting different industries together in a safe environment where they can all talk and listen is hard work though.
If people knew what was going on with science in the first place, and it wasn’t such a freaky concept, my job would be easier. We need to get the man on the street inspired by the work that we do. We need to do this because we all have a problem: even though we recycle our water, the quality of it is decreasing, and there is simply not enough of it. We need better technologies, better understanding and better awareness.
Opportunities?
Water is a very trendy topic at the moment, so people are throwing money at anyone who might have a solution. But it’s the same thing with climate change and the dotcom bubble – people expect immediate results. But this is a long-term thing, so we need to be honest about the time that it will take. There are going to be mistakes along the way, that’s just science. But the bugs are growing, and they’re creating product. That is very, very exciting.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, News
Monday, April 16, 2012
When it comes to marketing and selling pharmaceutical products - winning and keeping the consumer’s trust is extremely important.
The consumer wants to know that the product is safe to use, will be effective in treating whatever ailment they might have and won’t have any unforeseen negative effects. The latest Johnson & Johnson calamity emphasises the importance of trust when it comes to medication. If you haven’t heard the news - Johnson & Johnson were fined $1.1bn for misleading doctors over the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal.
All of a sudden - the Johnson & Johnson brand doesn’t seem that trustworthy anymore. The far reaching effects of this will have to be seen. Loyal Johnson & Johnson customers will in all likelihood, not suddenly stop using their products - but, it’s that fleeting thought when a mother powders her baby’s bottom with a J&J product, that she wonders if there isn’t some unforeseen risk associated that J&J might have conveniently forgotten to mention.
Trust in itself is a fairly abstract thing. It’s fragile and hard to earn and easy to lose. So, is trust earned or manufactured? In my opinion it’s a little of both.
The product itself needs to earn the consumers trust by consistently delivering on what it promises to do. But there is another step in the pharmaceutical circle of trust. Before a consumer even tries a product - the design and marketing surrounding the product needs to build a sense of trust and familiarity among potential consumers.
Pharmaceutical Packaging Design
Let’s focus on packaging design and how it can have an influence on trust. There are a few key factors to consider when designing pharmaceutical packaging:
1. High Quality Production
Pharmaceutical packaging of a higher quality and more professionally produced can give the consumer a sense that the actual content has also been produced with more care. A good example of this is the Panado brand. In essence, Panado is nothing fancy - it’s just Paracetamol. If you take some time to wade through the masses of products in the pharmacy - you will notice a huge amount of pain killers on the market that are exactly the same as Panado.
Yet consumers prefer to put their trust in a product that they are familiar with albeit more expensive than other products that are also just paracetamol.
2. Rather the devil you know…
This brings me to my next point regarding pharmaceutical packaging design. Creating a sense of familiarity with the packaging is important. Consumers are skittish to try new medication - especially if they have been using a product that has been fairly effective for years. When designing the packaging - it’s important to use familiar visual associations consumers have with certain pharmaceutical products.
The trick here is to pull in enough of the trusted visual cues - and update and reinvent the look to create a unique stand alone brand.
3. Clean, Modern Design
When it comes to pharmaceutical packaging - clean, modern designs evoke a sense of sophistication and seriousness. Obviously the overall design direction depends on the actual product and what it’s for and who it will be targeting.
But in general, when it comes to medication, consumers want to feel that they’re using a sophisticated, modern product. If the packaging design looks like it was designed by someone on Microsoft Paint in a home office somewhere in the 1970’s - it doesn’t really evoke a great amount of trust.
4. Overall Brand scale
When designing pharmaceutical packaging - it’s important to incorporate a sense that this specific product is part of a much bigger family of products.
This is where the overall brand names such as Johnson & Johnson, Aspen or Adcock Ingram start to play a pivotal role. When the overall brand name isn’t incorporated in the design in a strong manner - it makes the product a little less trustworthy.
Think about it. Would you rather swallow pills that have been funded, researched and tested by a multi billion dollar pharmaceutical company that has a lot to lose - or pills that are being manufactured by a no-name brand company in a little chemical lab somewhere?
Even though the no-name brand company might have a superior product on the market - it’s likely that consumers will opt to use a similar product that is backed by a major pharmaceutical company. It’s easier to trust.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National
Monday, April 16, 2012
This month, researchers from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse, N.Y., are planning to plant 10 chestnut trees with a tweaked gene that they believe will help the trees stave off the pathogen that brought their ruin.
William Powell, a plant biotechnology expert at ESF, and his colleague Charles Maynard, have incorporated a gene into the test trees that they derived from a breed of wheat. The gene has been shown to increase resistance in hybrid poplar trees to fungal pathogens.
The American chestnut tree was once a dominant species in the forests of the eastern United States; it accounted for 25 percent of the trees in the forest. A healthy chestnut tree can grow more than 100 feet (30 meters) tall and measure 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter.
Not only do the trees produce chestnuts — great for feeding wildlife and humans alike — but their wood is rot-resistant and fast-growing, Powell said, which was important for the lumber industry.
“We really want to bring [the chestnut] back. The only way it can come back is to make a resistant tree, because no one has been able to control the blight any other way,” Powell said in a statement.
The hybrid chestnut trees are slated to be planted at a test site in the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx on April 18. The location is significant.
posted in: Blogging, EmployerNews, National
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