Specialty pharma salaries vs. biotech salaries

Can anyone clarify the salaries of which specialties pay the highest? This is from what i've gathered but uncertain how true this is.

Dermatology specialty - 100k-160k salary + 50k bonuses
Oncology Specialty - 150-200k salary + 40k bonuses
Rare Disease - 140-70k salary + 70k bonuses
Neurology specialy - 120-160k salary + 60k bonuses
Hep B/HIV specialty - 110-140 salary + 30k bonuses

How true is this? Which specialty would you choose and why? Which specialty has the most mobility?

 

Have been in the industry for more than 20 years in rare disease for the most part. Salaries are higher for people my age. The bonus number is about right for yearly and quarterly depending on the situation.

 

I’m a onc manager and our reps are more in the 180k to 215k range with 15k per quarter IC. We also throw a lot of options and RSU at our reps.

 

Manager here in neurology but left ultra rare disease. I’d go for rare disease because it’s strictly a ceo territory/business. I relocated and took a step down from RD role to DM for my spouse job and no opening to transfer to in order to stay where i was. That being said, neurology is a great field (spent majority of my career here before going to rare) and gives you lots of options. My friend works in oncology and salary ranges are not quite what the poster above stated at 215k—that 180-215k is more manager range and he works for leader in oncology.

 

What are these oncology companies that pay in this range?

 

I’m in HIV, base is 165k and bonus at 40k at plan. Realistic bonus is more like 50-60k. Don’t discount the RSU’s, usually adds 30k-40k. Good luck as all these roles you mentioned are excellent and competitive.

 

I'm a frontline oncology manager with 15 years management and 25 years in oncology at a midsized biotech start up and my base salary is $275K and IC is $75k which is not all that uncommon so I disagree with your base salary ranges for oncology rep and managers. My company pays reps $15K at plan per quarter and our average rep base salary is $190K as we just did calibration and merit increases. Our Senior and Executives are all around, at or over $200K with some closer to $225. Even new managers(reps getting promoted to manager) in oncology are getting $225K+ base.

Perhaps in big pharma oncology you see the salary ranges you are quoting, but that would be extremely low in the biotech oncology space.

I'll say this, every ultra rare disease rep I've hired I was able to give a raise to. Also you don't see oncology people trying to break into ultra rare disease, however every opening we have we get flooded with resumes from the rare disease world. I'm sure there are outliers in every therapeutic area, however the numbers I am stating are very standard in the biotech oncology space.

 

Just wanted to add one more point as I re-read your last sentence...Merck, BMS, Roche/Genetech, Pfizer, are all "leaders" in oncology...they are also the lowest paying companies in oncology...while the small startups with one or two products while typically not viewed as 'leaders in oncology" the compensation packages are far greater than that of the mass market/big pharma companies who happen to have oncology divisions. I recently hired a tenured Executive Oncology Representative from Merck and we gave her a $40k raise as her salary at Merck was $155K and bringing her in at anything less than $195K would have made her one of my longest tenured onc reps being paid the least on the team. The difference is really that big between big pharma oncology and biotech startups.

Not sure if you friend is at one of the larger companies, however that may be why they are quoting such low salary numbers to you.

 

Yeah I would agree with your numbers and the difference between big pharma oncology and start-up biotech oncology companies. Typically tenured oncology reps do not want to be in the big pharma setting. If you look at the many SF Bay Area biotechs who launched oncology companies over the last 20 years there is a huge cultural difference than that of the 'back east' big pharmaceutical companies. Most of us who have been in oncology for a long time prefer the smaller start up feel and yes they pay far more and the equity piece can be life changing when your company is bought out. Many reps have become multi-millionaires from their RSUs and options alone from the many buyouts that have happened in the oncology space over the last 20 years. I have been lucky enough, and yes I believe it is luck, to work for a few biotechs who were purchased by a big pharma and each time when we sat with HR of the acquiring company they were blown away by the comp packages our sales reps and sales leaders had. We had reps making 50K a year more than their frontline managers and we had frontline managers making more than their VP's. I am not overly familiar with the comp plans in rare disease, etc. or the buyout equity piece and buyout premiums but I'm sure they are their too.

 

The resumes you're receiving from ultra rare reps are the ones who aren't doing well, otherwise they wouldn't be looking. My bonus payouts for the past three years have averaged 150K+. I'm not going anywhere.

 

Good for you. $37k a quarter is pretty good however top oncology reps are doing that as well, with typically a higher base. And my guess is you are a “top performer”...plenty of your colleagues are probably not doing that.

What you don’t see with any frequency with rare disease companies are multiples on buyouts like you do in start up biotech oncology companies. Most rare disease companies do not generate enough revenue to get 2-3x current share prices when bought. Start up oncology companies have made far more reps multi-millionaires than any other therapeutic area in the last 20 years.

Lastly the resumes I get from rare disease are from people tired of having multiple state territories to find a small handful of patients and they are typically in a feast or famine comp structure. You can make $300k to $400k in total comp as an top performing onc rep while having a much smaller geography and getting into oncology which as far more opportunities than rare disease.

After all rare disease is the fist step after primary care in career progression for many people.

 

Rare disease = primary care with a far larger territory and better money. I sold in DMD and I was making good money. Broke into oncology and never looked back. Rare disease is mainly a bunch of big Pharma hacks...

 

Oncology is by and far the place you want to be. You get in there and you'll be set. I've been in 10 years and I'll be retiring in 2 years with the money I've made.

 

If you "sold" in DMD you were working for Marathon/PTC which is a joke, both the therapy and the company. And don't say you work for Sarepta because anyone who uses the word "sold" to describe rare disease wouldn't make it past the phone screen.

 

I did indeed work for the contract team that Sarepta outsourced. DMD looks like first grade arithmetic compared to leukemia, which I work in now. DMD can be picked up in a couple of days of training. Leukemia? Good luck. Even hem/oncs will tell you how intellectually challenging it is for them!

BTW...You you think we didn't have to "sell" while on the Sarepta contract???? Really? You should ask Sarepta if their expectation was for us to "not sell". That's all we heard on every call!!! We always "weren't doing enough" to sell that shitty drug!

Cleary you do not know what the F you are taking about...Oncology is the real deal...rare disease is the stepping stone from primary care to something better...get out of PC, get some different experiences, and try to get to what is clearly the highest paying bio/pharm job top to bottom in oncology.

Seriously...my boss, a frontline manger, is a multimillionaire from oncology start up buyouts...that DOES NOT happen in rare disease with any regularity...and the place i work now I already have seven figures in equity...with out a buyout offer on the table. Most onc buyouts are going for a 1.5 to 2X premium. Show me a multitude of rare disease companies getting bought for that premium?

 

Contract. Say no more.

 

Plenty of rare disease companies use contract sales forces. I’ve also worked directly for companies, BioMarin and Dova to name a few and the money is nowhere close to that of Hem/Onc.

 

Contract people make less than half of their non contracted "teammates".

Dova is a joke and if you were any good you'd still be at Biomarin because they pay extremely well.

 

Left BioMarin for an oncology job and got a substantial raise. It’s not even close in total comp. If you think they “pay extremely well” you don’t have any perspective on what else is out there in the market. Rare disease is not in the same ballpark as oncology.

 

Also the only contract I worked on was Sarepta who did not have their own internal sales team...honestly you keep showing how little you know of this industry.