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Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe, an Arkansan by birth, got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc. He's worked for several major pharmaceutical companies since 1989 on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases. To contact Derek email him directly: derekb.lowe@gmail.com Twitter: Dereklowe

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In the Pipeline: Don't miss Derek Lowe's excellent commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry in general at In the Pipeline

In the Pipeline

« The Problem With Research on Aging | Main | Privileged Scaffolds? How About Unprivileged Ones? »

March 25, 2010

If You Need Some Lab Equipment. . .

Email This Entry

Posted by Derek

. . .now's a heck of a time to buy. I just noticed this in my e-mail - thanks to Pfizer, and their appetite for closing down research buildings, you now have the opportunity to buy massive piles of once-useful instruments at auction.

Don't let the fact that a massive drug company has no need for all this equipment put you off. You might be able to find a use for it! It's good stuff: high-field NMRs, LC/mass spec machines of all sorts, liquid handlers, robotics platforms, cell culture apparatus, spectrophotometers, microscopes, centrifuges. . .the list is a long one. Removal of evil spirits is, as far as I can tell, not included. But otherwise, there's everything you'd need to start a productive research company, except the employees. And there are plenty of those on the market, too, you know.

Comments (17) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business and Markets


COMMENTS

1. PharmaHeretic on March 25, 2010 12:22 PM writes...

Evil spirits don't 'rightsize for innovation' unlike MBAs.

Permalink to Comment

2. David P on March 25, 2010 12:25 PM writes...

"Removal of evil spirits is, as far as I can tell, not included."

Perhaps, but a friend of mine got a microwave without a hard drive, which is close.

(companies tend to wipe the hard drives, but occasionally just remove them as it is ...um... easier? safer?)

Permalink to Comment

3. processchemist on March 25, 2010 1:00 PM writes...

Last year on the same site J&J sold (buried in a long list) an entire kilolab/small pilot plant, and all the items (reactors, filters - hastelloy!, mills) were almost unused, o never used. What a waste of money (on the J&J side), and what an opportunity for US buyers...
But maybe all the pieces crossed the pacific ocean. I keep hearing of overcapacity in the western world.

Permalink to Comment

4. HelicalZz on March 25, 2010 1:18 PM writes...

So if you are remodeling your garage ....

Zz

Permalink to Comment

5. coprolite on March 25, 2010 3:16 PM writes...

That whole garage biotech topic has had me thinking about doing just that, but I'm not really skilled enough to produce anything useful.....is vermiculture profitable these days?

Permalink to Comment

6. Heck No on March 25, 2010 3:46 PM writes...

So like where's the "If You Need Some Chemists" post?

I envision a warehouse with lines of several hundred chemists. Each wears a placard around their neck with their expected hourly salary.

Disdainful executives poke and prod the chattel, checking their teeth.

Perhaps top tier candidates can be thrown into an arena to fight it out for a job? (I'd pay to see that).

Permalink to Comment

7. dearieme on March 25, 2010 3:58 PM writes...

@Heck no: would you get to own their children too?

Permalink to Comment

8. Sili on March 25, 2010 4:42 PM writes...

You keep the children in a cage in your basement to ensure the parents' perform well.

Permalink to Comment

9. milkshake on March 25, 2010 6:42 PM writes...

so you are basically saying that these days chemists fetch a taxi ride from the airport to their interview? In 2000 Merck Rahway actually sent a black limo for me, and I was only a bench technician...

Permalink to Comment

10. Anonymous on March 25, 2010 6:57 PM writes...

Heck No,

My kid who is a toddler wants to know why Daddy is laughing so much. The fact that Daddy is sick and coughing while he is laughing is adding to the confusion.

You have my nomination for the funniest and most creative inside joke of the year.

Cheers!

Permalink to Comment

11. China.Bonding on March 25, 2010 8:01 PM writes...

Oh would love to give my group some nice high end equipment! But we are back to prep-TLC. It's all about the margins, you know.

Dreaming of the big pharma salad days we were forced, forced mind you!, to let the analytical group do the purifications for us and big SUV sized mass triggered prepHPLC systems gulped solvent like it was gas in the 1980s.

Permalink to Comment

12. Anonymous BMS Researcher on March 26, 2010 6:52 AM writes...

I got the same bulk email from these folks yesterday; I presume most of the industry did. Unfortunately, like most of the industry I also know some people who have been laid off.

Permalink to Comment

13. petros on March 26, 2010 7:51 AM writes...

Yeterday there was an add on a site (Fierce Pharma?) for an auction of used lab equipment in Harlow, UK (GSK and/or Merck?)

Permalink to Comment

14. dealmaker on March 31, 2010 8:42 AM writes...

Got me an 1100 HPLC for 11K !

Permalink to Comment

15. Pfired on March 31, 2010 4:59 PM writes...

Some of that used to be in my lab, I suspect. Sigh.

Permalink to Comment

16. Kris on April 2, 2010 7:26 PM writes...

More stuff ended up in the dumpsters.

Permalink to Comment

17. Cleopatra on February 28, 2012 5:24 AM writes...

I was just seeking this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your site. I wonder what's the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this kind of informative websites in top of the list. Usually the top websites are full of garbage.

Permalink to Comment

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