Professional Development Lecture 4 A career in Industry vs. Academia Peter Rose [email protected] Jan 30, 2009 1Professional Development Series.

Professional DevelopmentLecture 4

A career in Industry vs. Academia

Peter [email protected]

Jan 30, 2009 1Professional Development Series

mailto:[email protected]

Agenda

• What differentiates industrial from academic jobs?

• Where do You fit in?

Jan 30, 2009 Professional Development Series 2

My Background• 3-year apprenticeship at Bayer• Ph.D. at Technical University of Munich in Organic & Computational

Chemistry• Postdoc at UC Irvine in Quantum Chemistry• Agouron Pharmaceuticals, La Jolla

– Started as PI on NIH grant, hired 4 postdocs– Became Department Head Computational Chem. & Bioinformatics– First product launch: Viracept– Agouron acquired Alanex Corporation– Acquired by Warner-Lambert/Park-Davis– Acquired by Pfizer– Pfizer acquired Pharmacia

• Scientific Lead, Protein Data Bank, UCSD


Drug Discovery & Development


http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/corporate/research/drug_discovery_process/drug_discovery_process.html

Cost ~ $800-900 MillionPatent life: 20 years

Industry vs. Academia• Freedom• Funding• Timescale and Change• Products• Team work• Work environment• Career advancements• Salary & benefits• Biotech vs. Pharma• Postdoc: Industry vs. Academia


1 – Be your own boss? Industry• You choose the company and

department – but choices may be limited (currently)

• Choose your boss carefully, if you can!

• Market drives product needs• You will be assigned to projects• Overall goal of project most likely

set from start• Few opportunities to pursue side

tracks

Academia• Driven by your ideas and research

experience• Dependent on

– Available positions – Departmental research

directions– Funding opportunities

• Ability to pursue side tracks can lead to new discoveries


2 – Funding Industry• Startups

– Grants (SBIR, STTR)– Venture capital– IPO

• Biotech– Collaborations with large

companies – milestone payments or royalties

• Large Pharma– Profitable– Patent expiration an issue

Academia• Expected to bring funding

through grants• University takes a large

portion of your grant as overhead

• Research directions may be influenced by funding opportunities


3 – Timescale and Change Industry• Time pressure• Short-term market driven focus• Pragmatic problem solving• Fast fail paradigm – proof of

concept (Go/No-Go decision)• Stage gates – portfolio

management (decision points)• Frequent change in direction due

to competition, regulatory changes, failure in clinic

• Reorganization, Mergers & Acquisitions

Academia• Longer-term focus• Grant renewals• Side projects• In-depth investigations


4 – ProductIndustry• Primary product a drug,

diagnostic, hardware, software• Technological advancements• Industrialization of processes

(faster, cheaper, better quality, …)

• Focus on achieving product success on time

• Unmet clinical need & market size

• Focus on “Block Buster” drugs

Academia• Primary product is publication• Number of citations• Novel research - breakthrough

discoveries• Teaching and training• Can focus on commercially

unattractive projects, i.e. third world diseases


5 – Team WorkIndustry• Multidisciplinary project

teams• Need to develop interest

and knowledge in other disciplines

• Successful project outcome is the goal

Academia• More individualistic and

specialized in a domain• Competition for tenure,

prestige, grants• Fewer, more selective

collaborations


Multidisciplinary Drug DiscoveryExample Biological Aspects


Biological Target (enzyme, receptor,

transporter)Binding affinity

Selectivity

Cell

Permeability Active/Passive Transport

Protein Binding

Absorption

Distribution

Metabolism

ToxicityEfficacy

Dose

Animal Model

Drug-DrugInteractions

Excretion

Bioavailability

CytotoxicityCell-basedassays

6 – Work EnvironmentIndustry• More structured• Core working hours• Mentoring• Interaction with peers from many

disciplines and age groups• Regular project meetings• Infrastructure streamlined to do your

work• Various service departments help

with purchasing, IT, instrumentation, facilities

• Delegate work• Professional project management• Goal setting and performance

evaluations

Academia• Informal• Flexible schedule• Teaching and mentoring• Interaction with students, postdocs,

researchers• Need to build your own

infrastructure to a large extend, but you have choices (equipment, computers)


7 – Information Sharing Industry• Patents, trade secrets, non-

disclosure agreements• Freedom to operate• All public disclosures need to be

approved by Legal Department• Cannot show chemical structures

or other proprietary information unless patented and approved by Legal.

• May need to use surrogate data in publications

Academia• Free access to data• Open access literature• Websites• Publish or perish• Review process• High impact journals


8 – Career Advancements Industry• Dual career track in larger

organizations– Research track

• Research Associate (B.S., M.S.)• Research Scientist (Ph.D.)• Senior Scientist• Principal Scientist• Research Fellow

– Management track• Manager• Associate Director• Director• Vice President

– Note: Titles are not comparable among companies

Academia• Before tenure

– Postdoc– Assistant professor

• After tenure– Associate professor– Full professor– Dean, Department Chair, …


9 – Salary & Benefits Industry• Good salary and benefits• Consulting work – often

conflict of interest• Travel & conference -

business-essential• Training courses

– Technical– Leadership

Academia• Salary ok after tenure• Opportunity for consulting

work• Entrepreneurship

– UCSD CONNECT

• Frequent travel & conferences

• Sabbaticals


10 – Biotech vs. Large PharmaBiotech• R & (D in collaboration)• Concerns

– Burn rate– All eggs in one basket– Lack of expertise and resources in

some areas of drug discovery– Uncertainty

• Opportunities– Fast decision making– Become the leader in your area of

expertise– Cutting edge science and technology– Stock options

Pharma• R & D, L & D (licensing & development)• Concerns

– Slow decision making , committees, rules– Time to market– Increasing cost– Success-rate of clinical trials– Regulations: FDA, MediCare, …– Merger & acquisitions– Reorganization & downsizing– Outsourcing

• Opportunities– Resources are available to do your job– Transfers within company– Research and management track– Higher salary and better benefits


PostdocIndustry• Apply your current research

expertise to a problem in drug discovery

• Might be a good choice if you are unsure about your career path

• May lead to a permanent job• Does the company have a

postdoc program?• How much independent research

can you do?• Can you publish your results?• Talk to former or current

postdocs in the company, read their publications

Academia• Choose a research topic that is

different/complementary to your Ph.D. research, i.e.

– Biology <-> Structural Biology– Genomics <-> Proteomics– Experimental <-> Computational

• Take risks – explore cutting edge research

• Equal opportunities for industrial and academic careers


Where do You fit in?

• Are you passionate about your research?• What is your area of expertise?• Do you like to work as part of a team?• Do you prefer hands-on research over writing

papers?• How much time do you want to dedicate to

your job?• How important is a flexible schedule to you?


Types of Industrial Research/Careers

• Small Molecule Drugs• Biologics• Vaccines• Diagnostics• Medical Devices• Other

– Scientific software– Intellectual property/patents– Project management– Business development & strategic alliances



Discussion/Questions?

Professional Development Lecture 4 A career in Industry vs. Academia Peter Rose [email protected] Jan 30, 2009 1Professional Development Series.

Documents

tracks academia

drug discovery development

issue academia

product launch

product success

market drives product

academia peter rose

overhead research directions