Corrections or additions?
This article by Bart Jackson was prepared for the December 4, 2002
edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Garden State: Biotech Boomtown — Howard Solomon
In the face of dwindling farmlands and a pharmaceutical
industry that is powering 40 percent of the state’s economy, it is
not too surprising that some financial wags have replaced New Jersey’s
“Garden State” nickname with “America’s Drug Capitol.”
While this moniker might easily burden our state with a misconstrued
image, the facts are undeniable. Of the $179 billion our nation made
in pharmaceutical sales last year, $127 billion came right from New
Jersey businesses. And on a more personal note, life science
professionals
working in the Garden State are earning $7,500 above the national
average.
Both employers and potential employees seeking to profit from this
boom are the focus of “Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation
in the Life Sciences and Biotech Industries” on Thursday, December
5, at 4 p.m. at Ortho Biotech in Bridgewater. Cost: $20. Call
856-787-9700.
The New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC), sponsor of the event,
presents
panelists from all aspects of the industry, including Howard
Solomon,
co-founder of Advanced Biologics in Lambertville, Bill
O’Callaghan
of Ken Clark Associates, and attorney Richard Rosenblatt of
the law firm Morgan Lewis.
“Exactly what part of the biotech arena a person goes into,”
notes panelist Solomon, “depends primarily on his state of
mind.”
After a boyhood in North Bergen, Solomon took a straight forward hard
science route, earning a biochemistry B.S. from Drew University and
a microbiology Ph.D. from Rutgers. He even taught at Loyola University
for eight years. As a research director at Merck and then at Johnson
& Johnson, Solomon headed the development of such prime drugs as
Mevacor
for cholesterol and Fosomax to fight osteoporosis. By 1995 Solomon
decided to “step out of big pharmas” and become an
entrepreneur.
With Michael Corrado, he founded Advanced Biologics, a service
company, which guides drug inventors large and small from the first
clinical trials right through to the retailers shelves.
As Solomon sees it, life science and biotech professionals are people
who can put their skills to work in three major business milieus:
The big pharmas. Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Merck, Johnson& Johnson and the other major players in the pharmaceutical field,these are the big players, and by in large they have laid claim toa justifiable reputation for generosity. Typically these employerslavish the most extensive array of benefits on their employees,rangingfrom outstanding medical insurance to on-site dental and dry cleaningpick-up to gourmet take-home dinners. Working equipment is unlimited.So too is travel time and compensation for conferences and educationalseminars. These firms have grown huge by being on technology’s cuttingedge and they want their employees to remain optimally informed.Also job stability remains unrivaled. They don’t call it”first”aid for nothing. America’s love affair with new drugs, unlikecomputersor hula hoops, is not based on consumer whim, but rather liespermanentlyrooted in a real need for self-preservation.Even when such perceived threats as homeopathic medications loom onthe medicinal horizon, the big pharma players have shown themselvesadaptable enough to incorporate the newcomers and translate them intoa handy profit.Solomon, however, suggests asking some serious questions beforesigningon. What are the stock options like? In some cases they turn out tobe little more than payroll savings with less growth than a governmentbond. What are the promotion opportunities and will you find yourselfliving in six different locales in the next five years just to keepyour position? What are the reward/compensation packages forindividualand team invention? Finally, for how long does your contract lockyou into a non-competition clause?Smaller biotech companies. Bigger doesn’t invariably meanbetter. Solomon admits that while very cozy for some, the big pharmafirms do not offer everyone a research Eden. The individual seekinga less constrained atmosphere may well find a home in a smallersector.Bench chemist Niel Lister, who moved into a small biotechcompany,recalls his two stints with major drug firms: “Three times a weekI would spend most of my afternoons with 11 other guys all of whomwanted to know why I wasn’t producing. They were all management andspent most of their lives in meetings. I always felt like tellingthem that if they’d let me out of their conference room, I could goback to the lab and produce.””These early-discovery, small biotechs are definitelyexciting,”Solomon says, “but they are definitely for the risk takers.”Generally the up and coming bio techs are setting their business planon one drug that can boom or bust. This means they are also hitchingyour star to that same substance. There’s nothing necessarily wrongwith putting all your eggs in one basket, warns Solomon, just makesure you examine that basket. “Look not only at the drug’sefficiency,”he advises, “but its marketability and production capability.Conduct a one-person business audit of its potential success.”Compensation at such smaller, early-stage discovery firms is oftenheavily weighted with stock options. Yet how much of this untriedbusiness’ stock do you want as part of your pay package? Medical andother benefits will probably be a bit tighter, but on the other hand,here is the chance for a scientist to cross the line and become apartner and a real entrepreneur.Service companies. Since the 1990s New Jersey businesseshave lavished over $20 billion on clinical research. Current estimatesclaim that between 30 and 40 percent of that is outsourced from majormanufacturers to smaller, specialized firms. For scientists likeSolomon,who co-founded Advanced Biologics in l995, this path combines theentrepreneurial excitement and thrill of scientific discovery witha little more stability than the smaller biotech startup.Service companies stay afloat by contracting research chores of allsizes from huge drug manufacturing firms. “This provides a wholebroad spectrum of employment opportunities,” says Solomon.”Servicecompanies hire medical writers, biostatisticians, management teamsto deal with the FDA, everyone, including scientists from the benchchemist and technician right on up.” It is a wide, varied, stable,and comparatively high-salaried industry.One other form of Garden State life science compensation has beenfound by chemist Chris Welsh, who has recently moved to Cranburyand taken a position at Merck. “You aren’t alone here,” hesays. “You feel a whole community of scientists — a tangiblenetwork. I mean yes, you can telecommunicate in other areas, but here(in New Jersey) there is always someone you can talk to and shareideas with right down the road.” Regardless of your mindset orbusiness milieu, this is definitely a valuable form of compensation.— Bart JacksonPrevious StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
