Sanofi-Aventis To Hire 300 Workers In Boston
6 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // July 8th, 2010 // 12:04 pm
Who says there is only depressing news out there? On the same day that Merck announces plans to close a Cambridge, Ma., R&D facility as part of an ongoing reorganization to save billions of dollars, Sanofi-Aventis is gearing up to hire some 300 people for a new cancer division, The Boston Globe writes.
Sanofi already has nearly 400 workers in Massachusetts, including 160 in Cambridge, largely through its 2008 acquisition of Acambis, a vaccine maker based in England. Recently, though, the drugmaker began posting dozens of jobs related to the new division headquarters on its website, including for laboratory research, clinical trials, and marketing, the paper notes. Despite the move by Merck, the Sanofi hiring underscores how the Boston area remains a desirable spot for drugmakers and eclipse New Jersey, the so-called nation’s medicine chest (see here).
UPDATE: A loyal reader reminds us that Sanofi earlier this year began layoffs from its New Jersey and Philadelphia facilities, where some employees were offered an opportunity to relocate to Boston. In other words, not all of the 300 or so jobs to be filled will be newly created positions (back story).
Sanofi has sublet 30,000 square feet of space elsewhere in Cambridge, but is now close to leasing 112,000 square feet nearby for the new division headquarters. The Cambridge location will share control of the cancer division with a Sanofi-Aventis office in Vitry, France.
bobby
Many of those jobs are jobs that will be lost from Bridgewater, NJ & Great Valley, PA as not everyone is willing or able to make the move.
pharmavet
I think that “able to move” depends on how generous the company will be with relocation packages. Often times these packages will include a number of perks, such as trips back home to visit with the family as well as house hunting trips to the new location. With the Pharma market in NJ as dry as a July day in Baghdad people will rethink their flexibility. When my company was relo’d from Chicago to NJ, the company also threw in a 20% cost of living adjustment to sweeten the offer, as well as facilitating the preapproval of our new mortgage to smooth our way into our new house. During the move-in process, the company put us up an all expense paid residence hotel with swimming pool and tennis court. They scouted school locations, and even helped get us in to an equestrian club, and arrange riding lessons for the kids.
bobby
How recently was that?
I’m not privy to details of sanofi’s relocation package, but I have yet to hear anyone say anything nice about it.
ol cranky
actually, the folks in the S-A Malvern (PA) office were laid off this Spring. Many were given the option to relo to Boston but the package wasn’t anything particularly compelling for those in middle management or below. People in North and Central Jersey may be willing and able to move but those in Philly face a much bigger increase in cost of living that still comes with a pretty significant decrease in quality of life when it comes to relocating to Mass or N. California (remember, for years the companies in Jersey have been stymied by those of us in Philly who didn’t think the trade off in QOL was worth a move to NJ to the point we still made out better with a lower paying job here than a move there).
pharmavet
Bobby, the year was 1995, probably when there was better times for Pharma. I will concede that nowadays finding a horseback riding instructor for your kids is probably not part of the standard relocation package.
Cranky, you are the first person I’ve ever heard say that the quality of life in Philly was superior to Boston or N. California, unless you’re into drinking and brawling at Eagles or Flyers games. There are plenty of affordable suburbs within commuting distance of Boston, maybe a bit longer drive for San Francisco. The folks that I know from Roche Nutley were able to make the transfer to Genentech in S. San Francisco without financial hardship.
ol cranky
I’m not saying that Philly is a cooler city than Cambridge or SF but the cost of housing and tax rates means that those of us who move to, say Cambridge, would have to sell our left nut and downgrade living quarters significantly to afford a place with a reasonable commute and easy access to their cultural activities than you do in Philly. If you don’t spend a substantial amount of time in the city, going to museums, plays and other social events in bars/restaurants, you don’t feel that downgrading to a smaller, much more expensive house is really worth more convenient happy hours and other activities. The bulk of employees in the Philly metro area live in the suburbs so they don’t miss city living too much but can still get to the city, the mountains and other places pretty easily. Believe it or not, we do have some pretty good schools and great restaurants in the burbs too and the culture here is not limited to the broad street bullies & iggles.
Most of my friends and colleagues that are advanced in their careers spend more of their time at their houses than going out when we’re not traveling for work. Quality of life includes enjoying the homestead too.
As for N. Jersey - very few in this area would say it is cooler to live there than it is to live in Philly. There you have very expensive suburban living that is most definitely not an improvement unless you have ties to the area or want to go to NYC on a regular basis.