Mega Pharma.....

So here goes my first attempt to “blog” I have thought about it numerous times but was just not compelled enough to venture into this new world.

Well the news of recent days in the industry I specialize in, the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry has compelled me to try.

The economic climate and merger as a solution mentality has now created what I am terming Mega Pharma. These new companies will be too big to be simply be called big pharma.

Will these new companies bring drugs to market more efficiently? Will they only focus on blockbuster drugs for large patient populations? Will those who suffer from orphan disorders see even less compounds in development? Will creativity and science be lost to provide pathways of development?

And as a search professional I wonder will they move further from a model that appreciates the value one key person can add to the team. When talent acquisition in many large companies becomes more like the purchasing of staples, the value of critical staff is lost.

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Comment by See_Jane_Recruit on March 11, 2009 at 10:35am: Wow, very insightful, Denise. I can't comment much on the pharma industry but I think that mergers can be good for job creation! As companies merge they do audits of their departments and identify gaps in their workforce and they also build new initiatives requiring new talent. You are right, though, that in mergers there is devaluation of certain employees that have contributed ten-fold and don't get their due. However, in staffing as in life, there is a cylce of life and death and the "death" of a tenure at one company can plant a seed of life at another.

Comment by Michael Chavez on March 11, 2009 at 12:31pm: Hi Denise,

It's an interesting topic and I find myself wondering some of the same things. My particular experience is that while mergers may seem chaotic at times, for somone in our industry, if partnered with the right contacts it can be a time to leverage a key relationship. Who know's, many of the undervalued employees will land in another situation that may become a key contributor to a new company and thus another open door for you as the talent acquisition pro.

Comment by Steve Levy on March 11, 2009 at 1:55pm: Denise- Ah the wacky world of corporate process. The question I have is how many people will be leaving as the result of what I sense is a hasty shotgun marriage. Recruiting and M&A are often like oil and water - they can be mixed but it sure does require special equipment to make it happen.

What did Merck's talent department know about SP's talent ahead of time? Did they look at the patent portfolio? Conference speakers? Newsmakers? Given the speed of the transaction, I suspect not.

And it really isn't difficult to do.

Comment by Denise Milano Sprung on March 11, 2009 at 1:57pm: My guess is that talent was not look at... it was likely all about the compounds in the pipeline and no the people who built that pipeline.
Ok so I gave away tonight's theme... the real pipeline

Comment by Maureen Sharib on March 11, 2009 at 2:07pm: Back in the 90's in Silicon Valley I noticed that the small companies I would get tasked to source into/out of sometimes were "acquired" by larger companies for prices that seemed insane to me; someone who was not unfamiliar with the multiples involved in business sales prices...then I realized what it wasthey were purchasing that was driving sales prices through the roof of heaven - ASSEMBLED WORKFORCES.

There may be more than a little of that going on here.