Hydrogen's H1 2014 market update on the EMEA life sciences talent market. Hydrogen is a global specialist recruitment business, placing exceptional, hard to find candidates in over 70 countries. Our joined up practices combine international reach with local expertise and specialist knowledge.

1. Market update
Life Sciences - H1 2014

2. Life Sciences
Last year was a year of consolidation for the Life Sciences
market which saw many companies focus on operational viability,
location and cost. 2012 saw a number of companies start major
restructuring programmes and we have seen this trend continue
through the last 2013 with no real suggestion of a let up for 2014.
With the well documented patent cliff being the reoccurring theme
over the past couple of years the restructuring many clients have
gone through has allowed them to realign their focus on where
they can not only make up the revenue loss of their patent expiring
blockbusters but also maintain revenue growth.
Introduction

3. 01
Life Sciences
One of the upshots of this is the investment in biosimilars. With approximately $100b
of originator biologics expected to lose patent exclusivity by 2020, a number of large
companies are looking to capitalize on this opportunity. This has seen further large
investment by the companies who already have established biosimilars programmes,
Pfizer, Novartis, Boehringer Ingeheim and Merk, along with large generics companies
such as Teva and Dr. Reddys.
All the suggestion points to the biosimilars market evolving into the one of the fastest
growing sectors within the pharmaceutical industry with Sandoz estimating a compound
growth of 50% for the years 2015-2020. The level of investment and the buzz around
Biosimilars has seen a marked uplift in the demand for top level candidates with
biologics/biosimilars experience through 2013 and with aggressive hiring plans for 2014 in
this area we anticipate this to be one of the hot areas of the next few years.
Along with the need to find ways to replace and maintain revenue through innovative
R&D there has been a real need to increase and focus on the quality of production and
regulatory processes. As in 2012 regulatory requirements continue to pose difficulty
gaining EU and FDA approval and with a number of companies in the midst of FDA led
site re-inspections and newly issued FDA warning letters, Regulatory Affairs and Quality
Assurance are two areas that will again experience significant hiring growth through 2014.
Although 2013 has been seen as a year of consolidation in comparison to previous years,
the life sciences market continues to grow and 2014 will see the demand for top level
talent be as prominent as it has ever been for the industry. With that being said it’s no
surprise that talent attraction and retention is high on most company’s agendas.
As candidate experience becomes more important and the candidate population become
more intuitive when looking for new opportunities, the need for companies to be one
step ahead of their direct competitors has seen companies increase their focus on the
global biologic sales products due to come
off patent by 2016, by 2020 US$100 billion of
biologic originators are to lose exclusivity
$63billion
SAFC estimates that between 860-870
biosimilars are in development
860-870
By 2020 it is projected that China will have
become the second largest pharmaceutical
market in the world.
China no
2

4. Life Sciences
02
recruitment process. Interestingly interview processes has been one of the areas we
have seen significant change. The most successful hirers have been able to engage
and excite candidates and as well as being able to offer an intellectual stake in their
operations. This coupled with managing the interview schedules to tight timeframes
has lead to the candidate feeling more valued from initial interview right through to
engagement and the companies have found a higher success rate in securing the
right person first time out.
Along with process improvements companies are looking for more ways to engage
the very best people in the market. The need for the most diversely skilled,
innovative candidates has lead to an increase in looking at hybrid consultancy/
agency models and flexible permanent and freelance resource solutions. Flexibility
seems to be the framework to which companies are approaching their hiring in 2014.
This has never been more prevalent then in the push into emerging markets. This has
seen the industry demonstrate a continuing need for candidates with not only the
necessary expert technical knowledge but also global experience. Realisation that
the best people may not be within a couple of hundred miles radius has seen greater
flexibility to the global candidate demographic. We have seen this first hand with
over 70% of our permanent placements coming through international relocations,
especially within Medical affairs and the Senior Clinical Project Management space.
With increased spend in R&D, companies re-organising to facilitate growth and the
improvement in flexibility 2014 is shaping up to be a year of opportunity for both
candidates and clients.
Allthesuggestions
pointstothebiosimilars
marketevolvinginto
oneofthefastest
growingsectorswithin
thepharmaceutical
industry
02

5. 03
Themostsuccessful
hirershavebeenableto
engageandexcite
candidatesaswellasoffer
anintellectualstakein
theiroperations
03
Life Sciences

6. www.hydrogengroup.com
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Hydrogen is a global specialist recruitment business, placing exceptional,
hard to find candidates in over 70 countries. Our joined up practices combine
international reach with local expertise and specialist knowledge.
Whilst many recruiters are location focused, Hydrogen believes the best way
to deliver service to its clients and candidates is to base our offering around
these practices, which cover both Technical & Scientific (Power, Mining, Oil
& Gas and Life Sciences), and Professional Support Services (Business
Transformation, Finance, Legal, Trading & Advisory and Technology). By being
practice led and using the latest technology we provide our clients with global
visibility of the best candidates.
We invest in building strong relationships with candidates over the long-term,
not just when they are actively looking to move.