Next week

[Anonymous]

Are there any pharma companies that have not layed off?

 

[Anonymous]

Its amazing and somewhat sad that many posters feel that appalling behaviour by a scumbag company is OK and normal and no one should complain...
Valeant are destroying this once great company that took decades to build...through the hard efforts of many tens of thousands of people..
So companies do lay off folks, we all get that...its the way they do it and their attitude based on their own fat wallets and planes, whilst destroying the family lives of good honest hardworking people.
I left, and got a great new role elsewhere for a real, honest company...but I can still feel concern for my old colleagues and resent the way Valeant are taking B+L apart...
If you feel this all normal and no one should complain, then that says something about your own morality and you deserve Valeant and what you will get...

 

[Anonymous]

Its amazing and somewhat sad that many posters feel that appalling behaviour by a scumbag company is OK and normal and no one should complain...
Valeant are destroying this once great company that took decades to build...through the hard efforts of many tens of thousands of people..
So companies do lay off folks, we all get that...its the way they do it and their attitude based on their own fat wallets and planes, whilst destroying the family lives of good honest hardworking people.
I left, and got a great new role elsewhere for a real, honest company...but I can still feel concern for my old colleagues and resent the way Valeant are taking B+L apart...
If you feel this all normal and no one should complain, then that says something about your own morality and you deserve Valeant and what you will get...

While I understand and agree somewhat with what you are saying, its not Valeant. This is the corporate world we live in. It has hit B + L much later than other places. B+ L carries a good bit of the blame as they were running way too "fat". Seriously, for the size company, why so many home offices? And, they are theones who sold. They didnt have to sell out- it was not a hostile take over. Everyone involved knew and knows how Valeant operates. They (bausch) put everyone in this situation. Look at the last 10 years across the country-lay offs lay offs lay offs! Haven't you been watching? Maybe you and others thought they were immune? Thought that you would be taken care of by a corpration/company? Today, that's less likely than relying on government. Noone retires and gets the timex and lifelong pension.
Life!
Now, i'm not cold hearthearted. I was layed off from my previous company after MANY years- with no warning. Remember back in July, Valeant put out the notice they were cutting the fat-cutting back to run the business the way they see fit. Their right to do. Seems like everyone knew the risks of sticking around. That was NINE months ago. Everyone had the option to find other work. Sometimes that is hard-means uprooting and moving, but at least they gave a huge amount of notice.
Oh wait! Didn't B + L buy ISTA and lay off tons of people just a few years ago? I have friends who were reps from both sides who lost their jobs-NICE!
Sorry for those who were cut. It was nothing personal and ANY COMPANY that bought us would have done the same. Too many un necessary jobs. Unfortunate.
Going forward ALL of us across the country need to understand this is going to be the norm. Employers will be cutting workforce. When the corporate side of Obamacare kicks in we will see more people out of work. Be prepared! Pay off yor bills & save save save.

 

[Anonymous]

While I understand and agree somewhat with what you are saying, its not Valeant. This is the corporate world we live in. It has hit B + L much later than other places. B+ L carries a good bit of the blame as they were running way too "fat". Seriously, for the size company, why so many home offices? And, they are theones who sold. They didnt have to sell out- it was not a hostile take over. Everyone involved knew and knows how Valeant operates. They (bausch) put everyone in this situation. Look at the last 10 years across the country-lay offs lay offs lay offs! Haven't you been watching? Maybe you and others thought they were immune? Thought that you would be taken care of by a corpration/company? Today, that's less likely than relying on government. Noone retires and gets the timex and lifelong pension.
Life!
Now, i'm not cold hearthearted. I was layed off from my previous company after MANY years- with no warning. Remember back in July, Valeant put out the notice they were cutting the fat-cutting back to run the business the way they see fit. Their right to do. Seems like everyone knew the risks of sticking around. That was NINE months ago. Everyone had the option to find other work. Sometimes that is hard-means uprooting and moving, but at least they gave a huge amount of notice.
Oh wait! Didn't B + L buy ISTA and lay off tons of people just a few years ago? I have friends who were reps from both sides who lost their jobs-NICE!
Sorry for those who were cut. It was nothing personal and ANY COMPANY that bought us would have done the same. Too many un necessary jobs. Unfortunate.
Going forward ALL of us across the country need to understand this is going to be the norm. Employers will be cutting workforce. When the corporate side of Obamacare kicks in we will see more people out of work. Be prepared! Pay off yor bills & save save save.

Thank you very much for spelling this out with very plain language. I hope plenty of people read this and it soaks in. B&L was way too fat for way too long and during the times when many other companies were slimming down B&L kept getting more and more top heavy especially with an excessive amount of non-value added marketing, regulatory, and quality management and executives. To make matters worse, R&D had become so slow to market, there are many of us who have long wondered how they managed to justify so many R&D people. Yes it is sad to see hardworking, people who are our friends let go. That is never pleasant. B&L carries the burden of this responsibility. If they'd done a better job of tightening their belt over the past several years, there wouldn't have been so much fat to trim post buy-out, and wouldn't have been on Valeant's radar screen.

 

[Anonymous]

Since valeant everything has gone to shit!

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for spelling this out with very plain language. I hope plenty of people read this and it soaks in. B&L was way too fat for way too long and during the times when many other companies were slimming down B&L kept getting more and more top heavy especially with an excessive amount of non-value added marketing, regulatory, and quality management and executives. To make matters worse, R&D had become so slow to market, there are many of us who have long wondered how they managed to justify so many R&D people. Yes it is sad to see hardworking, people who are our friends let go. That is never pleasant. B&L carries the burden of this responsibility. If they'd done a better job of tightening their belt over the past several years, there wouldn't have been so much fat to trim post buy-out, and wouldn't have been on Valeant's radar screen.

While this is true to an extent, some of what Valeant thinks is fat is actually veins, muscles, and internal organs. They can cut the appendix and survive. But they are also tossing out the kidneys thinking that they'll be fine living on dialisys.

This IS going to catch up with them. It's a matter of how soon and how hard.

 

[Anonymous]

Since valeant everything has gone to shit!

I have to disagree. I've been w/ B&L for over 20 years. And, we're meaner, leaner, very focused and getting things done quite effectively and certainly more efficiently than I've ever seen. Gone are all of the typical peripheral things and people that used to cause distractions. I miss my work friends, but right now this just feels right. Maybe I'll change my tune in a couple years. Don't know.

 

[Anonymous]

Since valeant everything has gone to shit!

That's like saying it's Bush's fault.

 

[Anonymous]

While this is true to an extent, some of what Valeant thinks is fat is actually veins, muscles, and internal organs. They can cut the appendix and survive. But they are also tossing out the kidneys thinking that they'll be fine living on dialisys.

This IS going to catch up with them. It's a matter of how soon and how hard.

But what you dont seem to understand is they have an entirely different philosophy-actually similar to the Bausch of many years ago. They are not too interested in R& D, but rather in letting others sink the money there. Instead they will buy companies that still have a little life in their branded products. And actually at this point its really a great idea to be in a different type of market position. With much of Obamacare ahead of us, still to be rolled out, this new concept may be even more valuable-yes, I'm talking about value and not a sweet, kind, "we just love our employees" kind of business. But those are gone anyway. There is NO incentive for pharma companies to bring new drugs to market and the money can no longer be recouped under the new government managed care plans that will require generic usage and destroy profits necessary to keep company door open. If you recall many years ago, bausch was pretty much a generic company. There was not anything going on in R & D. On the pharma side, the blockbuster drug we now carry came from...ISTA! Ok, so enough of that. If you will study up on the changes in the industry, the companies that learn to morph and roll with the punches will be the survivors. Valeant may not be what YOU want, but they are employing TONS of people that wouldnt have jobs if we were a Merck, or Astra Zenica or other pharma company that have layed of a much higher percentage across the board-R&D, marketing, sales, home office.
Instead of the constant whining and crying about he changes, look around and see what has been going on for YEARS everywhere else and consider yourselves lucky you had the bausch teat to suck for so long. Other pharma company employees have NOT been so lucky.
So apples to apples, we've had a much better ride here than almost any other.

But then again so people will spend their life complaining no matter how good they've had it.

 

[Anonymous]

Bravo. Spot on. Brilliant. Amen.

 

[Anonymous]

But what you dont seem to understand is they have an entirely different philosophy-actually similar to the Bausch of many years ago. They are not too interested in R& D, but rather in letting others sink the money there. Instead they will buy companies that still have a little life in their branded products. And actually at this point its really a great idea to be in a different type of market position. With much of Obamacare ahead of us, still to be rolled out, this new concept may be even more valuable-yes, I'm talking about value and not a sweet, kind, "we just love our employees" kind of business. But those are gone anyway. There is NO incentive for pharma companies to bring new drugs to market and the money can no longer be recouped under the new government managed care plans that will require generic usage and destroy profits necessary to keep company door open. If you recall many years ago, bausch was pretty much a generic company. There was not anything going on in R & D. On the pharma side, the blockbuster drug we now carry came from...ISTA! Ok, so enough of that. If you will study up on the changes in the industry, the companies that learn to morph and roll with the punches will be the survivors. Valeant may not be what YOU want, but they are employing TONS of people that wouldnt have jobs if we were a Merck, or Astra Zenica or other pharma company that have layed of a much higher percentage across the board-R&D, marketing, sales, home office.
Instead of the constant whining and crying about he changes, look around and see what has been going on for YEARS everywhere else and consider yourselves lucky you had the bausch teat to suck for so long. Other pharma company employees have NOT been so lucky.
So apples to apples, we've had a much better ride here than almost any other.

But then again so people will spend their life complaining no matter how good they've had it.

Just wanted to make sure you knew I was referencing YOUR post...so Bravo. Spot on. Brilliant. Amen. Again!!

 

[Anonymous]

drivel, and likely written by a vrx executive. extremist mckinseyism aside, at its core valeant is nothing but a tax avoidance scheme; one which the government will likely put a stop to soon. when it does their model crumbles. add in the non gaap reporting and the fact that all of wall street recognizes their credit is junk and it's pretty clear the wheels are coming off... just look at the stock price through the last month. it's also clear that they can no longer acquire anything with cash or new debt, so MP's commitment to get the debt ratio down below 4 by the end of the year can only happen if he finds a sucker "equal" willing to merge with nothing but paper equity while he takes the reigns. good luck with that.

 

[Anonymous]

It ain't gonna last

But what you dont seem to understand is they have an entirely different philosophy-actually similar to the Bausch of many years ago. They are not too interested in R& D, but rather in letting others sink the money there. Instead they will buy companies that still have a little life in their branded products. And actually at this point its really a great idea to be in a different type of market position. With much of Obamacare ahead of us, still to be rolled out, this new concept may be even more valuable-yes, I'm talking about value and not a sweet, kind, "we just love our employees" kind of business. But those are gone anyway. There is NO incentive for pharma companies to bring new drugs to market and the money can no longer be recouped under the new government managed care plans that will require generic usage and destroy profits necessary to keep company door open. If you recall many years ago, bausch was pretty much a generic company. There was not anything going on in R & D. On the pharma side, the blockbuster drug we now carry came from...ISTA! Ok, so enough of that. If you will study up on the changes in the industry, the companies that learn to morph and roll with the punches will be the survivors. Valeant may not be what YOU want, but they are employing TONS of people that wouldnt have jobs if we were a Merck, or Astra Zenica or other pharma company that have layed of a much higher percentage across the board-R&D, marketing, sales, home office.
Instead of the constant whining and crying about he changes, look around and see what has been going on for YEARS everywhere else and consider yourselves lucky you had the bausch teat to suck for so long. Other pharma company employees have NOT been so lucky.
So apples to apples, we've had a much better ride here than almost any other.

But then again so people will spend their life complaining no matter how good they've had it.

You are sadly misinformed. The contrarian model that MP and his board are following is a completely short term strategy that has absolutely no sustainability because he has created a goal to get to the top 5 by market cap.

The docs who use our products expect enduring relationships at many levels. That is not possible at Valeant because there is no loyalty to the existing talent pool and the disruption is bad. Look at Medicis as an example. Every department is too small; attrition leads to poor performance when anyone decides to go on their own. Infrastructure is not well developed or maintained; look at the finance software change, where any other business would have piloted it for 12 months.

Other companies are copying our approach. They are making it even harder for MP to merge with companies. Make no mistake; one should expect a big merger this year, but even if VRX makes it to the top 5 in market cap, it will only last for a moment.

 

[Anonymous]

But what you dont seem to understand is they have an entirely different philosophy-actually similar to the Bausch of many years ago. They are not too interested in R& D, but rather in letting others sink the money there. Instead they will buy companies that still have a little life in their branded products. And actually at this point its really a great idea to be in a different type of market position. With much of Obamacare ahead of us, still to be rolled out, this new concept may be even more valuable-yes, I'm talking about value and not a sweet, kind, "we just love our employees" kind of business. But those are gone anyway. There is NO incentive for pharma companies to bring new drugs to market and the money can no longer be recouped under the new government managed care plans that will require generic usage and destroy profits necessary to keep company door open. If you recall many years ago, bausch was pretty much a generic company. There was not anything going on in R & D. On the pharma side, the blockbuster drug we now carry came from...ISTA! Ok, so enough of that. If you will study up on the changes in the industry, the companies that learn to morph and roll with the punches will be the survivors. Valeant may not be what YOU want, but they are employing TONS of people that wouldnt have jobs if we were a Merck, or Astra Zenica or other pharma company that have layed of a much higher percentage across the board-R&D, marketing, sales, home office.
Instead of the constant whining and crying about he changes, look around and see what has been going on for YEARS everywhere else and consider yourselves lucky you had the bausch teat to suck for so long. Other pharma company employees have NOT been so lucky.
So apples to apples, we've had a much better ride here than almost any other.

But then again so people will spend their life complaining no matter how good they've had it.

To be clear, I wrote the post you responded to.

Everything you said about R&D being a poor investment isn't new or in dispute. I can recall a study published in HBR or similar journal 20 years ago saying the exact same thing about Pharma R&D. I don't like that we lost R&D. But from a financial perspective, I completely understand the reasoning.

But what you don't seem to understand is I was never referring to R&D. I was referring to the nuts and bolts that keep a company running. You just assumed that I was talking about R&D and missed the bigger problem. Valeant knows how to build a company through acquisition. But they come up short when it comes to running it. They are making decisions that will cost it money and opportunity in the not to distant future. Ignore this at your own peril.

As for sucking on bausch's teat: F that. You seem to think that all bausch employees were overpaid slackards. Almost everyone willing to move had no problems finding other companies willing to pay them. I am very comfortable with the services I provided bausch in exchange for a salary. It was a fair arrangement for both parties. One that has been reinforced by other companies.

But then again people will spend their life discounting dissenting opinions as whining because they know more than anyone else.

 

[Anonymous]

I have to disagree. I've been w/ B&L for over 20 years. And, we're meaner, leaner, very focused and getting things done quite effectively and certainly more efficiently than I've ever seen. Gone are all of the typical peripheral things and people that used to cause distractions. I miss my work friends, but right now this just feels right. Maybe I'll change my tune in a couple years. Don't know.

Ok I'll rephrase, from a sales standpoint everything has gone to shit. There is NO support. It takes forever to get anything approved or done. Managed care has fallen off dramatically (especially smaller local plans). Six doctors to a dinner program? Are you insane?

 

[Anonymous]

drivel, and likely written by a vrx executive. extremist mckinseyism aside, at its core valeant is nothing but a tax avoidance scheme; one which the government will likely put a stop to soon. when it does their model crumbles. add in the non gaap reporting and the fact that all of wall street recognizes their credit is junk and it's pretty clear the wheels are coming off... just look at the stock price through the last month. it's also clear that they can no longer acquire anything with cash or new debt, so MP's commitment to get the debt ratio down below 4 by the end of the year can only happen if he finds a sucker "equal" willing to merge with nothing but paper equity while he takes the reigns. good luck with that.

You people crack me up. Every time someone posts something that is not a valeant slam you immediately try to discount it by posting that its written by upper management or HR. Nope! Im a lowly employee. Not in any decision making capacity at all. Just little ole me who does not play your follow the leader game.
If valeant's credit is no good, how in the hell did they defy all and purchase this company and others? And, any time a company purchases another they put debt on the books. Did you make it past high school? Check into your local colleges for a few good finance courses. In the meantime, consider there could be other options for ways companies operate. New day. New plan.
Your anger is getting in the way of your logic

 

[Anonymous]

Ok I'll rephrase, from a sales standpoint everything has gone to shit. There is NO support. It takes forever to get anything approved or done. Managed care has fallen off dramatically (especially smaller local plans). Six doctors to a dinner program? Are you insane?

I am going to dispute your claims. Yes, six to a dinner. Perfect. If you understand this, you will no longer be "forced" to do these ridiculous slide shows with no ROI and no purpose other than to have "busy work". Why would you spend the money to have a speaker come in for the same old three of four docs who come because they want a free meal? There have been no significant changes in managed care. The changes that have been made with the national levle companies (AARP) were decided back in the summer months and were submitted prior to the buy out. If you understand managed care you would know this. Valeant is a larger company. Usually there is protocall for approvals. Maybe your manager is not pushing hard for you. We have gotten several things approved that we needed, like more samples, extra monies for projects, etc. dont blame your woes on the wrong entity. Or possibly the things you want approved are just plain not worth it!
If you would go forward with a more positive attitude inatead of whining about the little things, maybe you and those around you would be a bit happier.
If you expect to work in this industry, get used to change. Its (change)been a mainstay everywhere else for years. Bausch was stuck in antiquity. Time to enter the current marketplace.

 

[Anonymous]

You both have valid points, however I can also state that some things seem to have changed in the managed care arena. Many in my district have also noticed step edits and prior auths that have recently popped. Not a huge deal but it is a headache and it is a change so to discount because they are not the BIG plans like aarp doesn't mean it's not valid.

Not forced to do dinners? Explain this because I'm fairly certain we have to do them, or are expected to.

 

[Anonymous]

You both have valid points, however I can also state that some things seem to have changed in the managed care arena. Many in my district have also noticed step edits and prior auths that have recently popped. Not a huge deal but it is a headache and it is a change so to discount because they are not the BIG plans like aarp doesn't mean it's not valid.

Not forced to do dinners? Explain this because I'm fairly certain we have to do them, or are expected to.

If you cannot get 6 docs then I guess you cant do it.

 

[Anonymous]

Since valeant everything has gone to shit!

Valeant is shit.
But shareholders don't see that. and they do not care.