Biotech hirings and firings

Small and mid-size biotech companies continue to reel from the ongoing global financial crisis. Since November, ten biotech firms have declared bankruptcy, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and one-third of 360 public biotech companies have less than six months of cash on hand, according to Burrill & Co. Meanwhile, one in five of Europe's small biopharmaceutical companies are at risk of bankruptcy by the end of 2009, according to a study released by the trade group European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises.

A search of three job databases for the 25 largest biotech companies (Table 1) and ten largest pharmas (Table 2) reveals that openings are few and far between for most companies, large and small. By contrast, a snapshot of job reductions in March shows that micro and small-cap biotechs are feeling the brunt of the downturn (Table 3). Nature Biotechnology will continue to follow trends in the coming year.

Table 1 Who's hiring? Advertised openings at the 25 largest public firms

Table 2 Advertised job openings at the ten largest pharma companies

Table 3 Recently announced job reductions in the biotech sector