People Make the Difference

I came across a post on Pharma Conduct today that referenced an article that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor entitled: People making a difference: Steve Korman.

The article details how Mr. Korman, the CEO of Korman Commuications, has been appealing to his fellow CEOs to resist mass layoffs. The article goes on to say that:

"Korman recoiled earlier this year when he heard Pfizer Inc. CEO Jeffrey Kindler on CNBC explaining that despite the company's $16 billion profit, it planned to cut 8,000 jobs to boost that profit to $20 billion....It was just so cold," Korman says, though in true Korman form, he adds, "I'm sure [Mr.] Kindler didn't mean it to sound that way." But then he returns to his point: "These are not widgets we're talking about.... These are not jobs. These are people, families.... Where are you going to go to find a job these days?"

So, as a Pfizer shareholder, Korman wrote to Kindler and to the CEOs of other companies in which he held stock. He placed ads in The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer."

What is the message that Korman is sending to these CEOs?:

"Stop the "herd mentality" when it comes to mass layoffs. Forgo some short-term profits and stock value and keep people working....His point was that maybe we don't need to make the last dollar."

Now that is a message that we all should be embracing as we roll into the Holiday Season.

Big Pharma - still hungry for Biotech

Big Pharma's appetite for Biotech deals has apparently not been sated. According to an article on Reuters today.

According to the article:
"Even amid aggressive cost-cutting, many big pharmaceuticals companies continue to seek biotech acquisitions in the hope of finding new drugs to replace those lost to generic competition."

However:
"....they will have to pay more than they did a year ago. The average value of U.S. biotech companies is increasing as funding flows back into the sector after a drought caused by the credit crisis....executives at the Reuters Health Summit said they need to make acquisitions and form partnerships to fill holes in their pipeline of new products, even if the terms are not quite as advantageous as they were a year ago."