From the Financial Times: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) aims to sign up 10 academic “superstars” this year for long-term partnerships to help develop medicines more effectively and cheaply . . . The move comes as the UK pharma group cuts back on costly but unproductive early-stage in-house research and attempts to shift from investment in fixed assets towards more flexible partnerships with external developers. GSK has recently finalised its first such contract with Professor Mark Pepys, head of medicine at the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, designed to develop a treatment for a rare form of amyloidosis. (Glaxo senior VP Patrick) Vallance said he planned to sign 10 such deals this year . . . “It’s a wonderful idea,” said Prof Pepys. “We all agree that big pharma is useless at discovering new drugs and has to get its ideas from somewhere else." Were I working for GSK, I would be very, very excited. Finally, a clear statement of what the company thinks of its own employees. The Sirtris (SIRT) deal (and others) have hinted at the contempt under the surface, but it's good to get it out into the open. Isn't it?
Bravo! I love it! At first I thought this was a joke but there it is in black and white in the FT. I thought nothing from GSK would surprise me but once again I have been proven wrong. Nothing to motivate Drug Discovery like bringing in outsiders who openly refer to the insiders as "useless." Morale in GSK R&D was already at rock bottom but they just brought in excavators and blasting equipment to take it much, much lower.
MONCEF THE USELESS The dried out, crusty old MONÇEF is blind to his uselessness. He stumbles about shrieking: "MOISTURE...BRING ME MOISTURE...moisture..."
Some great comments on Derek Lowe's blog about this, including one from Pepys himself: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/02/15/noted_through_massive_selfrestraint_with_almost_no_comment_whatsoever.php Great stuff, crap company but great comedy!!
Heres to your pledge of no layoffs in 2011 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK (WTVD) -- GlaxoSmithKline confirmed to ABC11 Wednesday that it will cut an undetermined number of jobs in Research Triangle Park as it scales back a neurosciences division. GSK's U.S. headquarters is located in RTP. The pharmaceutical maker reported a 60 percent drop in 2010 profits earlier this month. Since 2007, the company has cut about 22,000 jobs worldwide and reduced its U.S. workforce by about 4,000. In addition to slowing sales, the company also paid out billion to settle legal claims related to its controversial diabetes drug Avandia following allegations it increases the risk of heart attacks. GSK has said it intends to sell off some of its lesser-known brands and buy back some of its own stock from investors.
Like Maxinutrition? LOL! Gotta love CEO Witty. Buy a bunch of companies that are peripheral to GSK's core business, then dump them at a loss when GSK's cash flow gets tight.
The moncef troll has been trolling for at least 5 years!!!!!!!!!!!! How pathetic to troll but to waste 5 years on it...
5 years later, what have these "superstars" produced? Anything that could stack up against a single achievement of the late, great RTP R&D?
Slow down Speed Racer, they have achieved an awful lot. Most of them have bought second homes and stocked away palettes of cash. Quite an achievement for a bunch of egg heads.
