More Videos
SPECIAL REPORT
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Existing-Home Sales Jump To Highest Level in 2-1/2 Years
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Start-Up Proves Everything Really Is Better With Bacon
- TV Retailer QVC Joins 'Black Friday' Frenzy
- Buffett's Wealth and Fame Hasn't Helped 'Warren' As a Name
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- China Asks Its Banks to Slow Down
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
- Rally Could 'Have Some Legs in 2010': Market Strategist
- Investors May Skew Housing Reality
- Buffett's Wealth and Fame Hasn't Helped 'Warren' As a Name
- Are Crazy Retail Deals Good for Business?
- Expect a 'Square Root-Shaped' Recovery: Chief Investor
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- HP to Feed on Enterprise Spending Next Year: Tech Analyst
- Busch: Markets Smell a Country Rat
- Bear, Lehman Execs Weren't Wiped Out by Crisis: Study
- How Real Estate Investors Skew Housing's Reality
- Treasury Auction of $44 Billion Gets Good Response
- Even Buffett's Huge Fame Can't Help the Name 'Warren'
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- JPMorgan's Dimon Could Succeed Geithner: Report
- Maria Blog: Are Crazy Retail Deals Good for Business?
- Suze Orman’s 'A Healthier, Wealthier You'
- Latest Holiday Drinks: The Madoff...and the TARPatini
PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 
16 Nov 2009Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study 16 Nov 2009
Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Merck vs. Abbott Labs 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle 16 Nov 2009
Novo Nordisk CEO on Diabetes Epidemic 13 Nov 2009
RSS FEED
Pharma's Market
Text Size 
 |
AP Jamie Dimon |
] Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon was asked to give his worst-case scenario for the economy. He said that'd be a 1982-type recession lasting about two years and with unemployment "North of 10 percent." Dimon said it would be "Irrational to not be prepared for that." A common refrain in investment circles is that healthcare is recession-proof.
It's less economy-related than it is fundamentals-related, but today comes word out of our partners at "The Wall Street Journal" that Pfizer [PFE
Loading...
()
] is planning to lay off 800 researchers.
But the contrast between the downsizing in big pharma and the picture in the upstart biotech sector can be striking.
This morning while killing time before my live interview with Vertex Pharmaceuticals [VRTX
Loading...
()
] CEO Joshua Boger, he told me that his company took in 11,000 applications last year for 300 positions. "It's tougher than getting into Harvard," said Boger whose company is headquartered in Harvard's home town of Cambridge, MA. And VRTX, which is ramping up for its hepatitis C drug, is still hiring a few people a week.
It's an anecdote. It doesn't mean that biotech is immune from the troubles plaguing the economy, the drug sector and the markets. A lot of money-losing biotechs with no products on the market can't access the capital markets right now. And that's forcing many of them to better conserve what little cash they have on hand. That can mean layoffs and scuttling of earlier stage research and development projects.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization says that's putting innovation at risk and is calling for a federal tax break for baby biotechs that aren't making money. Jamie Dimon doesn't like that idea. In response to a question about it yesterday he said gesturing with one arm and then the other—and I'm paraphrasing a wee bit—"If something stupid happens over here, why would you do something stupid over there?" The audience laughed.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes