Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

In 2004, Keecia Scott’s position as a retention representative with Coca-Cola Enterprises in Atlanta was being relocated to Tampa, Florida. Unwilling to uproot her family, Scott took a public relations assistant position with the company and sought opportunities that fit with her experience. In May 2005, she posted her résumé on CareerBuilder.com. Several days later she received a call from UCB Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company that has offices in Smyrna, Georgia.

Scott knew nothing about the company, but she was very familiar with an allergy drug it produced called Atarax. “I grew up on Atarax because I had very bad allergies. The drug allowed me to live a normal life,” Scott says. “I definitely wasn’t looking for a job in biopharmaceuticals, but once I saw that they were the makers of Atarax, I was willing to give it a shot.”

The 39-year-old, who has a strong background in public relations and marketing, accepted an offer from UCB as a marketing assistant. In July 2005, she joined its three-member marketing team in the midst of a product launch for treatment of Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The company, which was formed in the 1920s as an industrial chemical company, was now solely focusing on biopharmaceuticals. Because of this change, UCB’s hiring manager told Scott that in her new position there would be great opportunity for rapid advancement.

But that didn’t happen. Scott thinks her lack of industry experience, particularly in biologics, held her back.

To combat this challenge, Scott took on responsibilities outside her job description, attended training sessions, and networked internally to learn more about the industry. She also networked outside the company, joining Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in 2007 and becoming a member of its mentoring program in 2009.

Since starting at UCB, she has been promoted twice and is currently sales and marketing services supervisor.

This is one example of the many opportunities across disciplines in the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Biotechnology, as defined by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, is the use of cellular and molecular processes to solve problems or make products. Biotechnology has created more than 200 therapies and vaccines to treat cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and autoimmune diseases. There are more than 400 biotech drug products and vaccines in clinical trials that focus on more than

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200 diseases, such as heart disease, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. The industry relies on investor capital to fund research and development until a product is approved for sale.

The pharmaceutical industry focuses on the production of drugs for distribution in the healthcare marketplace. Unlike biotechnology, for which products are biologically derived, pharmaceutical products are derived from plant and chemical compounds. Thirty-one drugs and biologics were approved in 2008, and 2,900 medicines were in development in 2009.

Although many biotechnology companies are still relatively small, the industry employs at least 200,000 people. Since 2006, the production of pharmaceuticals or biopharmaceuticals (medical drugs produced using biotechnology) has employed nearly 700,000 people. Job growth is anticipated for both industries. In biotechnology, demand is largely driven by the need for “new and innovative products, [that are] disease altering or life extending,” and directed toward the increasing elderly population, says Christopher Raymond, senior research analyst of biotechnology for Robert W. Baird & Co., a wealth management, capital markets, asset management, and private equity firm.

Renard Jackson, vice president of Schott North America Inc. and general manager of Schott Pharmaceutical Packaging, adds, “research and science [that look at] diseases that have been affecting human life for a long time like cancer and the flu are beginning to pay off.” Schott develops and manufactures special glass, specialty materials, and systems for multiple industries.

But as both industries continue to expand with job opportunities, there are also some hot-button issues affecting the direction of their growth. For one, there has been greater regulation from the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that products are safe for patients and consumers. Pharmaceutical companies are also forming partnerships or acquiring small biotech companies to develop products that address particular ailments.

This article originally appeared in the May 2010 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.