101 Reasons to be Upbeat (getting there and counting…)
By Samuel Toba - Last updated: Monday, May 25, 2009
FierceBiotech, May 1, 2009 Acceleron plans to increase its workforce by more than 50% in 2009 to support the continuing growth of its R&D and manufacturing activities. http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/acceleron-pharma-announces-expansion-cambridge-facilities-additional-25-during-formal?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal FierceVaccines, March 19, 2009 Rockville, MD-based Emergent Biosolutions says it plans to add up to 93 and invest $10.9 million in improvements at its Lansing, Michigan facility. The new jobs will be in manufacturing and chemical analysis, which a base salary around $62,000. The workforce expansion was made possible by the state’s approval of $3 million in tax incentives Tuesday. The incentives, which will be spread over 10 years, will offset the costs Emergent would have borne for the jobs over the 10-year period, the Lansing State Journal reports. http://www.fiercevaccines.com/story/emergent-expands-lansing-workforce-facility/2009-03-19?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FB&dest=FBRV
MarketWatch, March 10, 2009 ExxonMobil to Increase 2009 Spending to $29 Billion, an Industrial Info News Alert Chairman and CEO, Rex Tillerson, announced that in contrast to many other major companies in the oil and gas sector, ExxonMobil would actually be increasing its investment expenditure in 2009. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/exxonmobil-increase-2009-spending-29/story.aspx?guid=%7B8D10E5A0-6141-43FB-B891-9EEA3E44803F%7D
European Aids Treatment Group, March 10, 2009 Despite the nation’s economic slowdown, America’s pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies invested a record $65.2 billion last year in the research and development of new life-changing medicines and vaccines – an increase of roughly $2 billion from 2007, according to analyses by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Burrill & Company. http://www.eatg.org/eatg/Global-HIV-News/Pharma-Industry/R-D-spending-by-U.S.-biopharmaceutical-companies-reaches-record-levels-in-2008-despite-economic-challenges
Burrill News, March 10, 2009 R&D Spending by U.S. Biopharmaceutical Companies increases 3 percent in 2008 SAN FRANCISCO, March 10 — New statistics just released reveal that R&D investment in new medicines by the biopharmaceutical industry was $65.2 billion in 2008, an increase of 3 percent from 2007, according to a combined analysis conducted by Burrill & Company, a San Francisco based global leader in life sciences whose principal activities are in Venture Capital, Private Equity, Merchant Banking and Media and the Washington DC-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). http://www.burrillandco.com/news-359-RD_Spending_by_US_Biopharmaceutical_Companies_increases_3_percent_in_2008_.html
Xconomy.com, Jan 28, 2009 Novo Nordisk first let it be known it was coming to Seattle in August, when the company confirmed it was looking to hire about 80 people for a new immunology research center by 2010. http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2009/01/28/riding-the-diabetes-wave-novo-nordisk-sees-chance-to-scoop-up-biotech-talent-in-seattle/
FierceBiotech, Jan 27, 2009 Basilea Pharmaceutica is adding jobs in Europe and subtracting staffers in the U.S. as the developer positions itself to the conflicting regulatory responses it faces for a key new antibiotic. With a European approval likely for ceftobiprole, Basilea says it will add 100 jobs primarily in the EU to begin commercialization. http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/basilea-adding-100-jobs-prepares-drug-launch/2009-01-27
TheBody.com, January 8, 2009 Gates Foundation to Increase Spending in 2009 Despite Economic Crisis, Bill Gates Says The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase spending from $3.3 billion in 2008 to $3.8 billion in 2009 despite a 20% decrease in its endowment value last year, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Gates Foundation, said Monday in an open letter highlighting the organization’s progress, goals and challenges, the New York Times reports (Strom, New York Times, 1/27). According to AFP/Google.com, the value of the Gates Foundation’s endowment was $35.1 billion as of Oct. 1, 2008 (AFP/Google.com, 1/26). http://www.thebody.com/content/policy/art50276.html
The Boston Globe, January 6, 2009 Forma is using screening technology to hunt for known compounds that can influence genes newly linked to cancer. The company has 42 workers and has plans to grow its staff to 55 to 60 by the end of 2009. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/01/06/forma_therapeutics_bucks_trend_raises_25m_from_investors/
The Hartford Courant, October 9, 2008 The Hartford Courant takes a close look at Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D work underway in Connecticut. While other Big Pharma companies have been cutting R&D efforts, Boehringer has been beefing up its research staff every year over the past three years. It currently has 1,300 staffers working in the state, and it plans to open a new building and hire even more in 2009. “Being a private company, it is different,” Phil Vickers, senior vice president and head of research for Boehringer in Ridgefield tells the Courant. “It allows us to implement longer-term strategies for research.” http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/boehringer-r-d-work-booms-connecticut/2008-10-09