1. pandora on January 30, 2009 3:07 PM writes...

or Roche just wish all these "brainy, headstrong" scientists find somewhere else to go, so it can save some money on severance pay?

2. Hap on January 30, 2009 3:25 PM writes...

I'm missing a lot. How does the tender offer force the Genentech board to deal?

If the employees have nowhere else to go, they can always subtly take "in-cubicle" vacations of some sort. They don't even have to consciously decide to lower their productivity - unhappy people will probably not produce as much, thereby eliminating the advantage Roche is hoping to gain. I guess that part of the merger is predicated on the "If you love a bird, set it free - if it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it" relationship theory.

3. George Laszlo on January 30, 2009 5:34 PM writes...

A key component of the seemingly desperate moves by Roche is the deep commitment it has made to its own staff to reshape the organization. They have already announced exactly how the company will be reorganized, including the physical relocations of discovery, development, marketing and sales organizations. So, both Genentech and Roche employees know exactly what will happen once the merger becomes reality. In other words, Roche has reached the point of no return. Genentech shareholders will hold out and Roche will have no choice but to up the price. So, who is in a weaker position? Genentech, the company that probably already knows what the outcome of the Avastin studies will be or Roche, the company that has employees on both sides wondering what is going on.

On a separate note, with the large number of layoffs going on in the Bay area from Biotech companies, it's unlikely that the Genentech scientists will leave before all of this plays out. Remember, there is a bigger world out there and it's not looking very good right now.

4. anon on January 31, 2009 3:35 PM writes...

DNA has been in limbo for many months; lots of job postings, but no action-- it's like Dead Man Walking.

What of the rumor Roche wanted to add more Discovery in New Jersey? True or not?

5. lucifer on February 1, 2009 3:20 PM writes...

Sunday's newspaper round-up: GSK, Rio Tinto, Lloyds
Sun 01 Feb 2009

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Britain's largest pharmaceuticals company, GlaxoSmithKline, is poised to axe thousands of jobs in order to cut costs and boost profits, reports the Observer.

GSK is putting the finishing touches to plans which will see in the region of 6,000 global positions axed as it faces up to the growing challenges in the industry, adds the Sunday Telegraph.

6. anon on February 1, 2009 4:20 PM writes...

I would be interested to know how many Ph.D. Med Chemists 1) PFE 2) GSK still has left. My sources tell me that some of the research sites are already quite thinly staffed.

7. The Pharmacoepidemiologist on February 2, 2009 4:55 AM writes...

Word is that DNA's Board will equivocate until April, when the next major batch of Avastin data is due. If that batch is positive, then DNA probably doubles and Roche won't buy it. Otherwise, Roche will bring this deal to closure by June. The accounting gnomes in Basel see the cash flow improvement from the purchase and shut down of Palo Alto as providing the next round of profit increases. That Roche will effectively kill the goose laying those golden eggs doesn't see to have occurred to anyone over in Switzerland.

8. The Pharmacoepidemoilogist on February 2, 2009 5:03 AM writes...

Curious no one is mentioning the massive job cutting going on in big pharma--Pfizer-Wyeth will effectively gut whole towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Probably north of 25K jobs will disappear from those two states.) If Bristol-Myers Squibb goes, there's probably another 5-10K jobs lost. That's a lot of jobs. Derek usually writes about such things...

9. pi* on February 4, 2009 6:49 PM writes...

@ the Pharmacoepidemoilogist
presumably he's bored writing the same damn thing over and over again. there was an earlier post about self plagiarism, there's only so many ways to rearrange these sentences.
I am interested in knowing what the rumors are, one of the reasons i look at this site, although understand that it must be tough to write the same things and then read the same comments.
I think some interesting blogging can be done on the effects of these job cuts on workers though.
What exactly can workers do?
Go on strike (seems pretty much against the politics here)?
Government regulation against mergers that aren't in the best interest of society (seems pretty much against the politics here)?
(curious thing, you would assume that most pharma workers have spent a solid 10 years in university. Funny the politics aren't a little bit more to the left)
Start our own companies? I would if I had a clue.
Sitting around and bitching about how mba's don't have a clue seems to be the favored course of action.