Merck Scientist went all Breaking Bad.

Ha ha! Not a chance, Merck wont do a thing.

I heard there were entire buildings in Rahway stripped of all their copper and they didn't even look into it.

 

And I made a bundle of cash!

 

But if we don't have scientists what will happen to our great pipeline. Wait a second.... We would have to buy other companies. We are going that anyway..........

I guess it's not a big deal.

 

Solution. It happens everywhere.

 

Solution: Our scientists are the worst in the business. Fire them (already happening) and hire real one. This way we would have a pipeline and not have to overpay for other companies because we are so desperate. You can't compare the scientists from 25 years ago to the ones we have now. We lowered our standards around 15 years ago. We used to hire the best in class. We paid them well and the produced ten fold. Now we have a bunch of "this is the best we could get" scientists. The problem is the "this is the best we could get" translated into "no one wanted them anyway"

 

Seems true these days. Lowering standards. A sad sign of the times.

 

Can I offer another theory? And yes, former MRL basic chemist here. Merck promoted their inept chemists (don't know about biologists) into management positions. And there were too many queen bees and not enough worker bees. They hired Ph.D. chemists from top notch universities--Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc.--but they didn't want to work at a bench anymore. They wanted to sit and think in their offices. Also, a bonus system that pit one chemist against another to the exclusion of collaboration was the death blow. Everyone hoarded their ideas and sent out territorial memos with said ideas to lay claim to hopefully a potential goldmine--a potential pipeline candidate.

I worked in this rat race, but not as a Ph.D. I had a B.S. and was merely a pair of hands. Since Merck recruited B.S. chemists from elite schools, they didn't stay around long. Most moved on to grad school or other areas of the company (none I know of went into sales...at least I don't think so). I too left, as did most of the people who worked in my building. The ones who stayed were laid off in 2008 or around that time. Research was already a shell of itself.

Sad.

 

Thank you Peter Kim.

 

No, thank Ed Skolnick.

 

When they replaced an Md (Roy Vagelos) for an MBA (Ray Gilmartin) it was the beginning of the end for for any quality research at Merck

Then came tricky dick with his platinum parachute
And now we are stuck with a lawyer in charge. Yea that will work out well in the end...


Merck hit an iceberg and the band is still playing.

 

No, it really went stupid with Peter Kim.

 

Roy was a long time ago. He was great but those types of leaders don't come along often. Around 2000 is when we lowered our standards. Kim took over in around 2003. It's been all downhill from there.

Simple solution. Buy a few more companies for big money. Fire all the scientists here. Everyone including the lab technicians and the pilot plant idiots. Give them one week severance for every three years worked. Import the process, procedures, and scientists from the newly acquired companies. Problem is solved.

 

promoted the wrong people or had extra merger slots which infected the landscape and way Merck discovered too many good people cut. scientists are not what had years ago. Project team lead is poor because no more training due to downsizing and no one speaks up or guides because people will cry. Do you remember scientific review with ED or Roy? Sharp and if you did something dumb they spoke up. department heads self saving and average. Discovery almost dead. Silo of capabilities a productivity killer

 

Are you still posting?
It's, Nailed you!, not Nailed you !
Nailed you!

 

WTF?
idiot !!

 

I no longer work for Merck but recognize his face. He worked in Summit at the same time I did. I think we may have said hello in the hallways before.

 

Many years ago Merck marketed Myochrysine a gold injectable for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Gold thiomalate was the compound utilized. A chemist began stealing gold, by just heating the compound over a bundson burner the malate would disassociate and leave pure gold. It took awhile for security to realize why the inventory was disappearing but they did catch him.

 

Not true. Our scientists don't know how to use a bundson burner.

 

say its not so Joe