MANCHESTER, England, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Some of the
world's largest pharmaceutical firms announced this month they would be cutting
thousands of medical sales jobs in order to slash costs and keep investors
happy, exposing the worrying dilemma facing the industry.
Biopharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca were the first to announce further job
cuts with another 7,300 positions to be axed in 2012. The company has already
seen an extraordinary amount of job cuts over recent years with some 12,600
posts removed between 2007-2009 and a further 9,000 last year.
The company blames a mixture of a rise in generic drug firms, pricing
pressure and falling returns on drug discovery as the main causes for the
increase in job losses in recent years.
The UK currently prescribes some of the cheapest medicines and drugs in
Europe according to the Department of Health and the Government has planned to
switch to a system of 'value-based pricing' in a bid to promote innovation
within the industry.
Another major firm to announce a series of job cuts worldwide was medical
devices group Smith & Nephew. In an effort to save £94.9million, the company said it would have to lose
7% (800 jobs) of its workforce over the course of three years after profits
fell 5.3% to £536million in 2011.
However medical sales and marketing recruitment specialists, Advance
Recruitment, remain optimistic with regards to new job opportunities within the
sector and instead believe the news regarding job cuts has simply caused the
competition for new places to increase.
Nick Langley, Managing Director at Advance Recruitment stated, "The
announcement of job cuts from a series of major pharmaceutical and medical
device firms does not mean the industry is closed to job seekers, but instead
is likely to cause the competition for each available placement to rise.
"The medical sales industry remains particularly popular for graduates
and job seekers, and medical sales firms will be looking for those who can
offer an extensive knowledge in medicine as well as the natural ability to
persuade and sell."
Many major firms within the sector also share the same optimism, with
GlaxoSmithKline insisting it is in a strong position to reverse falling sales
after revealing as many as thirty new drugs likely to be released within the
next three years.
The company also stated sales and profit margins will return to growth in
2012 as its efforts to invest heavily in new drugs begin to pay off. As a
result the firm is yet to announce any job losses unlike its competitors.