NEWS OF THE WEEK
UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN, SALARIES UP ECONOMY: Full-time employment for
ACS members is highest in five years
E
MPLOYMENT AND SALARY TRENDS in the
U.S. chemistry enterprise reflect the moderate recovery under way in the economy as a whole, according to survey results reported this week by the American Chemical Society. Salaries for U.S. chemists have edged up 2.2% in 2013 compared with 2012, while unemployment has continued to fall, from 4.7% TO A DEGREE Joblessness is easing. in 2011, to 4.2% in 2012, and 3.5% in 2013. 2013 2012 Over the past decade, the unemployment rate B.S. for chemists has ranged from a low of 2.3% in M.S. 2008—early in the recession—to the 2011 high. Ph.D. David Harwell, assistant director for career NOTE: Data for ACS member chemists as of March 1. management at ACS, SOURCES: Annual ACS salary and employment surveys which publishes C&EN,
5.9%
4.6%
5.4%
4.7%
3.4%
3.0%
AMGEN WILL BUY ONYX ACQUISITION: Biotech leader finally nabs cancer drug firm with a $10.4 billion offer
W
N O
ITH A SLIGHTLY SWEETENED offer of
$10.4 billion, Amgen has persuaded Onyx Pharmaceuticals to submit to a takeover. On June 30, the small-molecule drug developer rejected an unsolicited $10 billion cash offer from Amgen. The deal will give Amgen a stronger position in the growing oncology market—particularly in kinase and proteasome inhibitors. It also will add to Amgen’s pipeline of smallmolecule drugs at a time when its O O O biologics are facing generics comH N N petition. Amgen’s cancer drug N N H H H pipeline has several biologic drugs O O O in late-stage development, but any small molecules are still in Phase I. Onyx brings a wholly owned multiple myeloma drug, Kyprolis (carfilzomib), that was FDA Carfilzomib approved a year ago. Although Kyprolis sales in the first CEN.ACS.ORG
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cautions that the latest number might be affected by unemployed chemists who have given up on new job searches and thus are no longer counted in unemployment statistics. But overall, the survey results are encouraging because the jobs that chemists are finding are full-time rather than part-time, says Elizabeth C. McGaha, assistant director of ACS’s Research & Brand Strategy (RBS) department, which conducted the survey. Full-time employment—defined as at least 35 hours of work per week—rose from 90.0% in 2012 to 91.1% this year, the highest rate since 2008. The trends reported by ACS are consistent with government data on the rates of employment and unemployment for U.S. chemists. The ACS data are drawn from responses to the 2013 Comprehensive Salary & Employment Survey of the society’s members in the U.S. workforce, including bachelor’s-, master’s-, and Ph.D.-level chemists. The ACS data show that “the higher your education level, the better off you tend to be,” Harwell says. Some 4.6% of chemists who hold a B.S. degree are unemployed and looking for a job, while 3.0% of those with a Ph.D. are out of work and looking. Similarly, the overall improvement in the median salary for chemists can be attributed entirely to a rise in pay for Ph.D.s, who saw a 1.4% boost over last year, the data show. Chemists who hold a bachelor’s degree actually suffered a 2.6% drop in median salary from 2012 to 2013.—SOPHIE ROVNER
half of 2013 totaled only $125 million, analysts predict that the drug could bring in more than $2 billion annually within six years. “Kyprolis is at an early stage in its life cycle, and that’s important to us as we feel that this is a point where we can still help maximize the full potential of the product,” Amgen CEO Robert A. Bradway told analysts in an Aug. 26 conference call. “We think Onyx fits well with our commercial oncology portfolio and with our pipeline generally.” Onyx also gets income from two drugs sold in partnership with Bayer: 50% of sales of Nexavar, a kidney and liver cancer drug approved in 2005, and 20% royalties on Bayer’s sales of the stomach and colon cancer treatment Stivarga, approved in late 2012. Onyx also has an 8% royalty interest in the breast cancer treatment palbociclib, which Pfizer is developing. Citigroup stock analyst Yaron Werber is optimistic about the future of palbociclib and anticipates that sales could exceed $2 billion annually within 10 years. Onyx’ “promising” pipeline includes another myeloma drug, oprozomib, he adds. For Amgen, acquiring Onyx will “restore muchneeded top-line growth until the internal pipeline begins to deliver in 2015,” Werber says. Given the overlap in the oncology area, he anticipates that Amgen will cut 25% of Onyx’ R&D costs and 50% of its operating costs.—ANN THAYER
SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
