John Carroll of FierceBiotech recently struck a chord when he wrote about the ever-present uncertainties that researchers face as a result of the constant restructuring and mergers occurring in the biopharmaceutical industry. The impact of industry consolidation has been discussed on this blog a number of times in terms of scaled down pipelines, impact on U.S. R&D competitiveness, and the potential social impact on R&D colleagues. While company executives will always offer a good business rationale on the need for these consolidations, there is no doubt that biopharmaceutical researchers are aware that, on any given day, they could hear that their particular laboratory is going to be shuttered. Just recently, Merck has announced the closure of the Lexington, Massachusetts labs they acquired in the Cubist acquisition, and
There is no doubt that consolidation is hurting R&D. However, there has been a redistribution of talent and facilities from bigger companies to smaller companies and start-ups that is, in my view, having a beneficial effect on the drug discovery ecosystem. Carroll accurately states that “
Thousands of jobs were lost as a result of these reorganizations. Some people took early retirement, others changed careers. But many moved on to new opportunities and are having great success. A number are now CEOs at places like Claritas Genomics, Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Mirati Therapeutics, Ziarco, and Confluence Life Sciences. Many are CSOs or R&D heads at Alexion, Array Biopharma, Esperion, Ferring Research Institute, Catabasis, Onkaido, and Tokai Pharmaceuticals. Even big companies have benefited with former colleagues now heading Genentech’s Research & Early Development,
This is not meant to be all-inclusive. (My guess is that I will hear from a lot of former colleagues whom I left out!) Nor does it acknowledge the hundreds of scientists who are plying their drug discovery talents across dozens of companies. Furthermore, this just takes into account the Pfizer experience. I am sure that similar success stories can be told about people displaced by closures or acquisitions by GSK, Merck, etc. Many of the people driving small or start-up biotech companies have emerged from the closures and consolidations.
It is also interesting to see what happened at the vacated R&D sites. As Carroll mentioned, the announcement that Pfizer was leaving Sandwich, UK, was devastating. All 2,400 jobs were to be eliminated. Eventually, Pfizer sold the 300-acre site in 2012 to a private consortium, but then decided to lease space to retain 650 colleagues. The site has been turned into “Sandwich Discovery Park” and it now is home to 108 different firms and more researchers than Pfizer had there at its peak. Its website now boasts that it is “Europe’s leading science and technology park”.
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Pfizer sold the 124-acre site with 28 buildings and 2.1 million square feet of space to the University of Michigan for $108 million – a tremendous deal for the university. Now called the “North Campus Research Complex” (NCRC), its executive director is David Canter, another Pfizer alumnus. While used largely for the University’s expansion and growth in the sciences and engineering, the NCRC also seeks to build private-public partners at this site. Its latest Annual Report trumpeted that the NCRC has created more than 300 new jobs and has co-located 14 new partnerships, demonstrating its commitment to collaborations and partnerships.
Clearly, the consolidation of the biopharmaceutical industry has not been good for new drug discovery and development. The reduction in R&D jobs, the time lost due to organizational redesigns, and the personal toll incurred by family dislocations or the need to find a new job have been terrible. However, in talking to people, particularly those who have found new opportunities, they have found their new challenges stimulating and the translation of their experience to new organizations rewarding. Whether the Roche Nutley site (or other sites being abandoned) can undergo the same transformation seen in Sandwich or Ann Arbor remains to be seen. But amid the carnage of research site closures and job losses, some benefits have emerged.
