Biotech’s Biggest Hirers Of The Last 5 Years

October 9, 2014

By Renee Morad, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Some biotech companies continue to steal the spotlight when it comes to growth and expansion.

An EP Vantage study reveals the industry’s top hirers of the last five years, by both percentage job growth and total number of staff added.

“In terms of percentage job growth, smaller companies will nearly always stand out,” the EP Vantage report states. “On this measure, companies like Alexion , Questcor , Pharmacyclics and Seattle Genetics have all grown substantially over the past five years.”

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, for example, tops the chart for percentage of job growth over a five-year span. The California-based biopharmaceutical company, focused on the treatment of patients with serious, difficult-to-treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, increased its employee base by 1,703% to reach a headcount of 703 employees by the end of 2013.

In August 2014, global pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals acquired Questcor in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $5.8 billion.

“We are very pleased to welcome the Questcor team to Mallinckrodt,” said Mark Trudeau, president and CEO of Mallinckrodt. “We are excited about our future prospects and the benefits that our collective efforts will have for patients, our investors and the communities that we serve.”

The biotech industry is certainly no stranger to acquisitions. EP Vantage’s study of the top five hirers over the past five years also ranks companies by total number of staff added—a figure that is more substantial than percentage growth when it comes to identifying a larger portion of industry opportunity.

In this list of companies that hired the most staffers within five years, many of the leaders “are serial acquirers like Teva , Valeant and Actavis ,” EP Vantage said.

“The increase in Teva’s workforce over the past five years has been primarily driven by acquisition,” said Denise Bradley, spokesperson for Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Deborah Spak, spokesperson for Baxter International , another company that landed in the top five for number of staff added, said the company’s employee base has grown in recent years due to “acquisitions and investments in R&D and manufacturing capacity.”

Here is a closer look at the top five hirers over the past five years in terms of total number of staff added.

5. Teva Teva , a leader in generic pharmaceuticals, added 6,693 staffers within a five-year period to reach 45,000 employees in 2013. The company, headquartered in Petach Tikva, Israel, operates through three business divisions: Generic, Branded, and Over-the-Counter.
4. Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk specializes in diabetes care, hemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. The company added 11,368 staffers over the past five years to reach a headcount of 38,436 in 2013. See Novo Nordisk jobs.
3. Baxter Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Baxter added 12,500 employees within a five-year period to reach 61,000 employees in 2013. In 2013, the company acquired Gambro, a privately held medical technology company that specializes in dialysis products. The company is also working on the construction of a new biopharmaceutical processing facility in Covington, GA and recently completed another biopharmaceutical processing facility in Singapore. See Baxter jobs.
2. Actavis As a company focused on addressing the needs of patients suffering from diseases in the central nervous system, gastroenterology, women’s health, urology, respiratory and anti-therapeutic categories, Actavis added 14,130 employees within a five-year period to sustain a headcount of 19,200 in 2013. Actavis is currently in the midst of planning to approach Allergan again about a potential merger.
1. Valeant Based in Montreal, Canada, Valeant gained 15,832 employees within five years to reach a total headcount of 17,200 in 2013. Focused on dermatology and eye health, Valeant has recently been eyeing a takeover of Allergan , boosting their bid by $15 a share.

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