In the final quarter of 2013, the number of advertised biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector jobs rose slightly in two of the three job databases tracked by Nature Biotechnology (Tables 1 and 2). Compared with the third quarter (Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 1053, 2013), listings on LinkedIn rose slightly and were mixed on Monster.

Table 1 Who's hiring? Advertised openings at the 25 largest biotech companies
Full size table
Table 2 Advertised job openings at the ten largest pharma companies
Full size table

GlaxoSmithKline said it will invest £85 million ($137.2 million) in a new manufacturing facility in India, creating 250 jobs. The facility is scheduled to open in 2017; however, a final site has not been determined. GSK also announced a £25 million ($40.5 million) investment to expand its manufacturing site in Montrose, Scotland, part of a £530 million ($859.2 million) spend announced in 2012 to boost UK manufacturing.

Several companies announced large job cuts in the fourth quarter. Merck announced it would cut 8,500 employees in addition to the 7,500-job cut announced in 2011. In addition, Teva said it would reduce its worldwide headcount by about 5,000, or 10%, to accelerate cost reductions first announced in 2012. And as a result of a decline in the sales of Incivek (telaprevir) for HCV infection, Vertex announced a reduction of 370 employees—15% of its workforce. Other notable third-quarter downsizings within the life-science industry are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Selected biotech and pharma downsizings
Full size table