Oncology Opportunity?

Hey all,

I have a recruiter reaching out to me about an opportunity in oncology for the blue division.

I am curious about culture, base pay (I was told 117-135+) seeing that I have 8 years of oncology experience and opinion about products being at the end of their life/biosimilars.

What is the outlook on oncology? Comp plan doable quarter over quarter? Micromanagement etc?

Thanks in advance any information is appreciative. I am looking to make a jump, but likely want it to be a long term one. Thanks in advance.

 

Every rep in oncology is either looking to transfer to a new business unit, looking for a new job or has already left

 

What's the reasoning? Product life almost over? Incompetence from management? Unattainable comp plan? Concern of biosimilars?

Be curious to know the reasons.

Thanks

 

Incompetent leadership, constant reorgs.

 

great products, horrible place to work

 

Believe the negative posts if you want. However, my experience has been extremely positive here. Although some of our big products are facing biosimilar threats, we will soon have our own oncology biosimilars to sell (and they are blockbuster therapeutic products). So, I am not worried about downsizing. Amgen is a smart company- they are constantly looking to fill the profit funnel with new products and/or small oncology company acquisitions in order to keep money rolling in.

The best advice I can give is to take the IV and see how you mesh with the DM. I love my DM and we have a great working relationship. He leaves me alone to run my territory and does not stress me out. I have heard of other DMs that don't have onc experience and they run their district more like a primary care division (which everyone hates that approach when you come from oncology). That being said, only you will know what the DM brings to the table and whether or not it is a good fit for you.

Finally, something no one ever brings up here is that Amgen is one of the best in the industry for promoting its own people and helping them to get to other roles within the company. This may or may not matter to you- but I think it's a big deal. I have worked for companies where everyone above the rep role came from the outside. That is definitely not the case here.

Good luck to you.

 

Good for you but your experience is not typical. Oncology has been in a constant state of flux from a leadership standpoint and the culture is so toxic we have to do this stupid Ozone thing to try to build a good culture. Our oncology pipeline is based on generics versus novel therapies. Not sure that is all that exciting. There are some good DM's but no matter how good they are the metrics we use are very primary care for oncology, hence why we rarely attract tenured oncology talent. I agree that Amgen promotes from within unfortunately we have a good ole boys club and you must kiss the ring, promise your first born and mainline the kool aid. Generally they take home office MBA's with little to no sales experice and 'promote' them into field leadership roles where they try to 'lead' sales people. It's weird and contributes to our awful culture. If you don't have oncology experience it's a good place to break in. If you have any oncology experience you should already know better.

 

what that guy just said

 

Oncology deals with cancer.

Cancer kills.

Amgen is cancer.

Amgen kills.

If you want to work in Oncology, I would find an organization that has a serious focus on oncology. Amgen is not that company.

 

Amgen treats the sales and the field as an afterthought. You feel it everyday. It is better to stay where you are.

 

I'll add this warning. If you think coming to Amgen is going to have the culture and feel of a "biotech" you will be very disappointed. It will feel like any of the big pharma's most of you will be coming from-at least in the OBU(I can't speak for the other BU's but would assume they are the same). From the top down the leadership all hail from big Pharma-GSK, Pfizer and Lilly just to name a few of the more common ones. You will find very few from the oncology biotech space. This leads to having the same policies and metrics that the big pharma's have as they know no other way of going about their business. There is nothing wrong with that as people do what they know. I will say this Amgen was very resistant to any changes that the Onyx team was bringing to the table. And that resistance was generally based on fear in many of our minds. Lastly Amgen "oncology" for the majority of its life was a supportive care company where contracting drove the business. We've had one therapeutic in Vectibix that was utterly ignored until about a year and half ago. Therapeutics is not our forte. Not knocking the importance of supportive care it's just a very different sell and skill than selling therapeutics. Not so much at the rep level but from the commercial team's understanding. We have recognized this and have allowed legacy Onyx to lead Kyprolis and Onyx was given Blincyto to launch. This has only made the OBU culture worse and more divided. That's just the infighting within the OBU. The other BU's at Amgen dislike the OBU as we come off as being 'better' and we make more money.

I give you this warning and information to make an informed decision as moving companies is a big deal. You should know what you are getting yourself into.

 

Don't listen to that crusty old dinosaur of a man. Amgen is top notch company. The young peeps are driving business. If you're over 55 you can't and won't cut it. Amgen wants to discard these lazy old whiners.

 

Not in the least!

 

She'll be gone soon. Mark my words.

 

So Amgen has never successfully launched a therapeutic and the Genentech folks have launch some of the biggest oncology drugs ever...Amgen is filled with big Pharma primary care....er I mean supportive care hacks.

 

really depends on who will be your manager

 

Which market?

 

Keep living your "Amgen is Big Pharma" delusions. It may be big Pharma compared to Onyx...but there aren't a lot of Onyx-like companies out there. The problem becomes whether you want to take the chance on some small, start-up oncology company and hope your gamble pays off. Most reps I know aren't willing to do that. There are a TON of big pharma companies that have great drugs (Roche/Genentech, Novartis, BMS, Merck) but some of you hacks think a big, successful company has too many rules. That is such BS! Try your luck somewhere else if you think this gig is so tough. My first job was in "Big Pharma" at GSK. Working in oncology at Amgen is NOT AT ALL like big pharma. This is a rewarding therapeutic area to sell in and I think Amgen has a lot to offer. If you don't, than go look for your perfect, small biotech experience elsewhere. You may be looking for a job in two years when your little company is bought by a Big Dog. The grass is not always greener.

 

Genentech is way better than the OBU not only in products but culture.

 

And if you like selling old supportive care products and then gener...oops I mean biosimilars. Place is a joke.