Best & Worst JNJ companies

What about Ethicon Women's Health and Urology?

 

As a sales rep, I'm laughing all the way to the bank. There are too many of us making top bank and doing nothing all day. I don't see the companies wising up much and getting rid of us anytime soon. The perks in this job are unlike any other. Jnj has no idea how much money is being wasted and stolen in the field by the reps and managers. If the company turns a blind eye to everything going on in the field, then it's their own fault and they deserve what they get.

 

Keep meeting and expensing all your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with your reppie friends in the field while other people work an honest day. You reps are getting away with murder. Everyone knows physicians and hospitals don't allow reps through the doors anymore. Keep faking your calls and padding your numbers while you're at it to make like you're actually out there accomplishing something while the rest of the world 9 to 5s it. How long do you think this all-expense paid charade is going to last for you and your manager buddies? J&J needs to wake the hell up and realize what's going on (actually what's NOT going on) in the field.

 

The whole company is a joke, including that incompetent ceo!

 

I've made a fortune working for this company and plan on milking jnj dry until I'm laid off. I have no guilt. If they're stupid enough to pay us and allow us to get away with everything, then that's their problem. Don't see my gravy train ending anytime soon.

 

Thedays are numbered for anyone within JNJ's pharma sector. It is too top heavy and we can be just as productive with less field support. Your talking to the number one gravy train supporter within JNJ

William the gravy train Weldon

 

If you find a "best company" within JNJ keep it to yourself; otherwise Weldon will target it for nuclear destruction.

 

Things may be shaky for jnj's pharma sector, but the biotech division is another story entirely. The academic reps within centocor ortho biotech all got automatic salary increases across the board this month. All the centocor ortho biotech reps were already overpaid compared to biotech standards. They keep raising their salaries while their products tank. Their oncology division is a laughingstock yet all the reps remain onboard and intact while biotech companies like Genentech and Biogen Idec are laying all their reps off this month. Crazy times with this recession and all the other companies are proactive and trimming needless expenses and costs. Guess JnJ is in denial and beats to it's own drummer.

 

What about MENTOR?

Good place to be? I know they are in the middle of an expansion. How is MENTOR viewed within J&J?

 

Analysis: Pharma's woes not over, more restructuring seen
By Esha Dey

NEW YORK | Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:52pm IST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global drugmakers have cut tens of thousands of jobs ahead of patent expirations on their top-selling products, and the pain is not yet over.

Divisions across these companies -- from sales to research to manufacturing -- are still seen as vulnerable to additional cuts. Marketing expenses will likely continue to be slashed the most heavily.

"We will see even more restructuring as we near the patent cliff ... selling, general and administrative expenses will take the hardest hits, also manufacturing and research and development," Morningstar analyst Damien Conover said.

He estimated additional cuts of up to 2 percent of company workforces, saying "every major pharma will keep doing it."

The vast sales forces for major drugs going off patent, such as Pfizer Inc's cholesterol fighter Lipitor, are among the most obvious targets for job cuts.

According to a survey by consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than 45,000 job cuts were announced by the pharmaceutical industry this year through October, outpaced only by government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

More recently, Switzerland's Roche Holding AG announced plans to cut 4,800 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, over the next two years.

Novartis said it sought additional cost cuts in manufacturing, marketing and procurement, but dismissed reports that it was readying huge layoffs to do so.

A rolling wave of restructuring reflects the lack of major new drug launches to offset looming generic competition to multibillion-dollar medicines like Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb's drug Plavix for blood clots and Merck's Singulair for asthma.

While concerns over the "patent cliff" have dogged the industry for several years, in some cases the entry of generic versions of brand-name drugs has picked up more quickly than Wall Street had anticipated.

The entry of generics can cause branded drugs to quickly lose at least 80 percent of U.S. sales, but can be 90 percent or more once multiple generics are available.

In their latest quarter, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche reported sales that were hurt by generics and their shares fell, signaling their valuations may not have the patent loss impact fully baked in.

Most major drugmakers' shares have been on a downward trend since, with the Arca Pharmaceuticals Index down 4.6 percent since October 20, compared with a 1.9 percent rise for the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

"The patent cliff was expected, but the rate of penetration of generics has been much higher than what anybody imagined," Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan said.

PATENT CLIFF JOURNEY

According to pharmaceutical market information company IMS Health, four large pharma companies -- AstraZeneca, Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer AG -- as of the end of 2009, had progressed less than one-third of the way through the patent cliff that runs from 2005 through 2014.

"There is more restructuring to be done ... large pharma, on an aggregate, is 40 percent of its way through with the patent cliff journey," IMS Health analyst Murray Aitken said at the Reuters Health Summit earlier this month.

IMS projects generic penetration could reach 85 percent by 2014.

Drugmakers are also facing greater pricing pressure due to more recent developments, such as a new U.S. healthcare law and price controls in European countries. That raises the need for innovative drugs that generate bigger volumes, if not the sky-high margins of past treatments.

"Low productivity of internal research and development has rendered the drugmakers inadequately prepared for the patent cliff," Argus Research Co analyst Patrick Cheng said.

AstraZeneca, which reported a 4 percent drop in quarterly sales late last month, said it was not done with cost cuts.

"You'll continue to see us reallocate marketing and sales resources," Astra CEO David Brennan told the Reuters Health Summit.

Germany's Bayer also announced a cost- and job-cut plan, and Pfizer recently said it expects to exceed its original target of a 15 percent workforce reduction related to its $67 billion purchase of rival Wyeth.

Many analysts say drugmakers have no choice but to get even leaner, though research and innovation are essential in the long run.

"Most of these big companies have a lot of middle management; that is one area that they could focus on for further savings," Hapoalim Securities analyst Jon Lecroy said.

At the same time, cost cuts alone is not a strong sell when it comes to Wall Street.

"The industry is still trying to cost cut its way to intermediate terms of success," Fred Frank, a biotechnology banker and vice chairman of investment advisory firm Peter J. Solomon Co said, adding that was not a sustainable trend.

"Earnings don't produce revenue. Revenue produces earnings," he said.

(Reporting by Esha Dey; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Tim Dobbyn)

 

I vote that Ethicon Endo-Surgery is in the top 5 for worst J&J companies. So many hide behind the word Credo it is sickening. VP, Directors, and Managers seem so self rightous and on care about whats in it for them.

 

Life of a drug rep!

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From the Novartis board ......
this is no bullshit and any rep who looks in the mirror knows it:
- would wake up around 9 and out by 10.
- except if there was a conference call which I would take in bed and actually fell asleep during a few.
-drop 2-3 sample calls by lunch
-get 2-3 more sigs at lunch
-Always ordered 2 more than I needed made up 2 names and took them home for the girlfriend and myself for dinner.
-golf 9 holes every tues wed and thurs or hit the gym, run errands and sometimes just sit home if it rained.
-2-3 more sigs on the way home
-had 3-4 docs and pa's that would swear on a stack of bibbles I was there if I needed it.
-ever worked more than 16-20 hours a week (worked about 10 minutes, the rest of the time was spent driving listening to espn radio and howard stern).
-Take the manager on 8-10 milk runs every 6 weeks and collect a bullshit bonus.
- expensed bagles on mondays which would last at home till wed then expense more
-expense stamps every october and save for xmas cards
-expense all the soft drinks I could
- expensed ink for the printer every 2 reports and stocked up (should have enough to last me at least 5 years)
made 79k base 20-30 bonus, expensed at least 10k a year for me, free car, free gas, changed tires with the girlfriends car right before turning it in for a new free car.
where the fuck will I find this again?

 

WSJ's blog on health and the business of health.
December 14, 2010, 3:10 PM ET.
Pfizer Joins the E-Sampling Crowd
By Katherine Hobson

Big pharma gives out a lot of free samples every year — $3 billion in 2007 alone. Drug giant Pfizer is now joining rivals Merck and AstraZeneca in distributing some of those samples in response to online orders by physicians.

As Dow Jones Newswires reports, Pfizer launched its SamplesDirect program in August. A spokesperson tells DJN that doctors are choosing to “engage and interact” online, so it makes sense to be there. As you can imagine, sales reps weren’t too keen on the notion at first.

Big drug companies have been paring their sales forces in order to cut costs as they face a slowdown in growth from the so-called patent cliff and resulting generic competition. Meantime, doctors are increasingly giving sales reps the cold shoulder, with the number of “rep-accessible” physicians dropping by 18% from last year, according to a report released in May. The fear among Pfizer reps was that online sampling would only further erode their job function, DJN reports.

But Pfizer reached a compromise with its reps: when a physician places an e-order, it’s flagged to his or her sales rep, who has 48 hours to step in and personally take over the order. If the rep doesn’t act, the order is filled electronically.

AstraZeneca and Merck launched their own online sampling efforts in recent years, DJN says. Astra is winding down its U.S. sales force for heartburn pill Nexium, turning instead to call centers and online information. Online sampling of Nexium is expected to be available by the end of the year, DJN says

 

Can you elaborate more on the Ethicon Endo division? Are you still working for them? What are the Pro's and Con's. I am interviewing for a position now and it looks like a great opening to me.

 

Candymaker behind J&J Rolaids recall
By Parija Kavilanz, senior writerDecember 18, 2010: 8:47 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A little more than a week after recalling millions of packages of its popular antacid medicine Rolaids, Johnson & Johnson identified the manufacturer of the products.

Johnson & Johnson spokesman Marc Boston confirmed to CNNMoney Friday that Mooresville, N.C.-based Best Sweet is the contract manufactuer of various softchew Rolaids medicines recalled after consumer complaints of foreign materials.

The Rolaids were recalled on Dec. 9 by Johnson &Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare division, which makes other over-the-counter drugs including Tylenol, Rolaids and Benadryl. McNeil said the Rolaids were made by a third-party manufacturer. At the time, both McNeil and the Food and Drug Administration declined to identify the company.

J&J's confirmation about Best Sweet followed a letter sent to the FDA on Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating McNeil's string of recalls this year of non-prescription drugs including Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl.

In the letter sent to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Issa said that investigations conducted by his staff following the Rolaids recall identified Best Sweet as the maker of those medicines. The FDA says it just received the letter on Friday and will reply directly to Issa.

On its web site, Best Sweet identifies itself as a manufacturer of both consumer healthcare and confectionery products, across a mix of contract, private label and branded products.

It's products also include Baskin-Robbins' "Smooth and Creamy Hard Candy," and Bee M.D. all-natural honey-based throat drops. "We have an excellent safety track record. We are cooperating with all parties," a Best Sweet spokesperson told CNNMoney on Friday.

Lawmakers have already held two hearings into Johnson & Johnson's over-the-counter drug recalls and plant manufacturing violations.

In his letter, Issa said he's concerned that the "latest series of manufacturing violations with McNeil raises new questions regarding the relationship between McNeil and the FDA." To that end, Issa has requested additional information from the FDA by Jan. 5.

 

Don't need an exit strategy from Pharma Sales? Better get one! Check this out!

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The future of the field-based rep will be more of a medical-liason type (RN, NP, PA, PharmD, or PhD) working in conjunction with contracting teams. There will be fewer and fewer reps each year. There's not a lot of selling in this industry anymore as legal has stepped in and put a stop to it. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act kicks in 2012 which means no more lunches, speakers, etc. There's really no role for sales reps anymore except busy nonsense paperwork. Sales in pharma/biotech is a dying profession.

Its over folks, the iceberg is in full view. You'd better start reaching for your career lifeboats, because the sinking of the "SS Drug Rep Profession" is inevitable; and that means everybody, even you Mr./Ms Almighty "Biotech rep". Once you're on the street, you will be treated 100% the same as PC reps; no more high and mighty.

 

steer your career toward working within fleet safety....

 

Top rated GI rep at COBI, here, dudes. I cleared 200k in 2010 and am poised to make at least 250k in 2011. Dudes, senior management taught and encouraged us to have our customers buy in while pretending we didn't tell em about a price increase. They were brilliant dude and they made me a ton of bucks. Guys like me are good as gold here. We ain't going nowhere and no contract rep could replace me dude. Dude, my docs invite me there house for birthday partys and poker games dudes. I'm like a member of there practice. I am the best dude and they pay me for it.

 

Is that you CC?

 

Maybe the top GI rep, but not the brightest bulb in the J&J box!! Some advice to keep you at the "top" ... stop using the words "dude" and "ain't" and use the correct form of the word "there or their."

Signed,
Grammar Police