Good Old Days Gone for Biotech (Outsourcing)

[OhioChick]

Offshoring blamed for loss of funding, jobs in industry

By Penni Crabtree
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 26, 2006

The business of biotechnology is undergoing a seismic shift, and for some companies there's no surviving the jolt.

Take Discovery Partners International. The San Diego company ceased to exist in September, a victim of trends that are reshaping the biotech industry and, at least in the short term, threatening innovation and job creation in the nation's third-largest biotech cluster.

Increasingly, the venture capitalists who fund new life-science companies are shopping for existing drugs to refine instead of backing scientists to make discoveries. When startups are created, they're often minimally staffed. More drug companies are farming out research work to scientists in China, India and Eastern Europe, where tasks are done more cheaply.

For California, the birthplace of biotechnology, the stakes are high. Of the estimated 260,000 Californians who work in the life-science industry, about 70 percent are employed in high-paying jobs in drug, medical-device or diagnostic-tool companies. In San Diego, an estimated 36,600 employees work at about 500 companies, according to BIOCOM, the local biotech trade association.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/biotech/20061126-9999-1n26biotech.html

~snip~ A survey of 186 top global companies with a combined research and development budget of $76 billion found that three-quarters of R&D sites planned through 2007 will go to India and China.

on edit: header change

[Orrin_73]

1. Didn't they claim Biotech was the next big thing after the IT boom

probably not.

[VegasWolf]

2. First Computer Science, now BioTech and Genetic Engineering. Bush doesn't

need no stinkin' scientists, the mighty Corporation's bottom dollar is all that matters.

[brokensymmetry]

6. Exactly. Can't say it better. n/t.

.

[w4rma]

3. 'Free' trade was a stupid scheme from the start. (nt)

[Gin]

4. It's not just Bio Tech and IT....HR outsourcing is also going offshore.

All back office admin work at my HR outsourcing company is being priced to be "best shore'd."

[aquart]

14. "Free" for whom?

Most of us are finding it pretty damn expensive.

[davidwparker]

16. But, Bill Clinton is charming. Wouldn't you agree?

[tomreedtoon]

5. Ever read "Jurassic Park?" Be afraid.

If you only saw the movie, read the preface to Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park." It discusses how genetic technology is being done in places all over the world, with no oversight, and with profit as its only goal. And it obviously isn't all about making dinosaurs.

Now, Crichton is a former physician who takes great joy in scaring us about our bodies and our future, because doctors basically hate and want to dominate their patients. But in this case, he has something valid to be scared about. The same place in Bangladesh that makes genetically-grown insulin can easily turn around and make a weaponized version of AIDS or something.

[fujiyama]

7. Chrichton is a moron

Sorry, but after his recent claims that global warming is man made, he shouldn't be considered an authority on much, if anything.

[Kelvin Mace]

17. Actually, global warming IS man made

Crichton is arguing that it is a hoax made up by environmentalist groups.

But he is indeed a moron.

[fujiyama]

18. D'oh

You're right. In the book, I thought the premise of that recent book was the environmental groups and certain scientists had weather changing machines I think....but his idea was that it was made up and humans were not contributing to it.

[Kelvin Mace]

21. S'aright!

I thought you might have had a misunderstanding of the plot.

[Odin2005]

11. Anti-science BS.

Crichton is a moron and his novels suck.

[tomreedtoon]

19. Granted, but it's influential BS.

As I mentioned, he likes to scare people. Like all people who write horror stories, he's basically a Republican or a right wing Christian who wants to scare people in order to control them. I have never seen or heard of a horror film or book that the evangelicals wanted to ban; they recognize someone who's doing the same work as they are.

And, incidentally, I have never heard of a horror book written in the last fifty years that had anything close to a liberal or progressive slant. It's a chicken-and-egg question as to whether the Republicans learned from Crichton, King and Rice or vice versa.

Still, Crichton aside, don't you believe that these little bio-labs in Brazil or India have the potential of breeding some magnificent American-killing diseases? And all built in the name of big business and outsourcing.

[fujiyama]

8. Another thing worth mentioning

is many companies decided to invest more abroad when the Bush administration put ridiculous restrictions over stem cell research funding.

I suppose Jeeebus will save us all!

[Egnever]

24. This was my first thought also

With the fundies increasing control of science issues it makes no sense to invest in biotech here in America.

[cornermouse]

9. They're outsourcing tutoring too.

And we're not talking about college either.

If your kid is having trouble passing class, you get on the internet and find a tutor in India, China, or Pakistan who does their homework with them and tells them where they're making mistakes. Go figure.

[OhioChick]

12. You're right......

Online Tutors: Education a Click Away
American Students Turn to India for Homework Help

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2006 — At the end of every school day, eighth-grader Taylor Robison heads home for a session with her tutor.

But Taylor's tutor, Gary Ishwar, doesn't come to her house. In fact, he's never been to America.

Ishwar lives in Bangalore, India — 9,000 miles from Taylor's Modesto, Calif., home. A former schoolteacher who says he holds two master's degrees, Ishwar is one of a growing number of highly educated Indians now tutoring U.S. students over the Internet.

Students from elementary to graduate school can get help any time of the day or night, from the comfort of their homes. Subjects range from math to English.

It's the outsourcing of education. Just like manufacturing or service jobs, the task of teaching America's youth is no longer limited by borders.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/Technology/story?id=2641669&page=1

[upi402]

20. and child labor lives another day

I bet it's a 10 year old Indian that is doing the high school football star's algebra.
Look at the top kids in Kumon classes here, they are Indian or Asian -usually Chinese or Japanese.

[Odin2005]

10. Fuck, now my Biotech degree will be worthless by the time I graduate?

:mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr:

[LiberalEsto]

13. Any US company that outsources jobs

should lose any and all tax breaks they receive. For example, if they pay reduced property taxes because of a community's deal with them to bring in jobs, those taxes should be increased to the rate everyone else pays.

Any government subsidies and contracts they have should be canceled. Why should businesses get breaks from taxpaying Americans while they are shipping those Americans' jobs overseas?

For example, Fannie Mae, the mortgage agency, pays no property taxes in Washington DC. Almost all of Fannie's computer people are here from India on special H1-B visas, depriving many Americans of livelihoods. Why should Fannie get away without paying taxes, when it is killing jobs for Americans?

[Skittles]

25. hey

I read my company's "assessment of the elections" - they said in in general, Democrats are less favorable to outsourcing....I took that to mean my company is scared those tax breaks will disappear........

[Earth_First]

15. I'm curious to know how many tax breaks were given to start-ups...

under the guise that they would create "xyz" number of jobs in order to receive the tax break with absolutely no intention of creating those jobs. We've seen exactly that under several programs in Western and Upstate New York. COMIDA ( County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency ) IDA ( Industrial Development Area ) Empire Zone, STAR exemption, et. al.

It's a GIANT handout with little to NO oversight. It's the cause of concern and big talk, however anytime a commission is established to investigate the allegations, nothing is done about the situation.

[qwlauren35]

22. Uh-oh....

I have a cousin that wants to get into this. A co-worker who had originally planned to get into this. A former supervisor who migrated into this.

NOT GOOD.

I am starting to think that in a very small span of time, there will be no more high paying jobs in the US. And I say NONE, because no one will be able to afford to pay anyone who charges too much. Even doctors and lawyers will suffer.

Then what? Will we need to lower our standard of living? Will we have to live communally to afford houses? Will we be unable to afford the medicines OR the technology that we are used to?

I wonder if these things will happen in my lifetime...

[area51]

23. I fear you may be right.

I think already there are probably multi-generations living in the same home due to the lack of jobs in this country. This anti-American offshoring/inshoring must stop, as we're rapidly becoming a 3rd-world country w/nukes.