The first quarter of 2012 saw the number of advertised biotech sector jobs jump significantly compared with the fourth quarter of 2011 (Nat. Biotechnol. 30, 195, 2012), as seen in one of the three representative job databases tracked by Nature Biotechnology (Tables 1 and 2). Monster.com showed 493 openings at the 25 largest biotech companies compared with 264 in the last quarter. Biospace's and Naturejobs's numbers, however, remained steady (175 and 19 in the fourth quarter to 155 and 20 in the first quarter, respectively). Pharma sector hiring numbers were likewise similar.

Table 1 Who's hiring? Advertised openings at the 25 largest biotech companies
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Table 2 Advertised job openings at the ten largest pharma companies
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Announced expansions include GlaxoSmithKline's new site at Ulverston, UK, which will cost $553.9 million as well as another $158.3 million to improve two sites in Scotland. Bayer has said it plans to open a life sciences incubator at its US Innovation Center in San Francisco by late summer. The incubator will house three to four companies in areas that align with Bayer's portfolio. Additionally, Ipsen Group said it will invest $45 million in its R&D and technical operations facility in Milford, Massachusetts. The company also plans to relocate its US headquarters from Brisbane, California, to Bridgewater, New Jersey, with 100 employees.

Meanwhile, several pharmas announced large job cuts in the quarter. Takeda said it will reduce headcount by 2,800 or 9% of its workforce by the end of 2015, mostly in Europe and the United States. AstraZeneca announced a new restructuring initiative that includes 7,300 employee cuts, with 2,200 R&D, 3,750 general/administrative and 1,350 operations positions affected. Finally, contract research and contract manufacturing organization Albany Molecular Research in New York announced a restructuring and headcount reduction as it winds down all internal R&D, saving about $10–11 million annually.

Other fourth-quarter downsizings within the life science industry are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Selected biotech and pharma downsizings
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