Page 20 - SKILLS Workforce Development Guide 2021

For Job Seekers: Biotech/Bioscience Outlook
A GROWING INDUSTRY THAT’S CREATING NEW JOBS
TBY DAVID LEVINE
he bioscience
field is booming in Westchester, and everyone in it is focused on finding talented employees.
One is a pharmaceutical giant, valued at roughly $50 billion. Another is a pharmaceutical up-and-comer, with
just 12 employees, five of them part- time. Both are at the cutting edge of bioscience, and both are headquartered in Westchester County.
Regeneron, the Tarrytown-based international drug company whose monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 earned emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration last year (and whose most famous recipient was a certain former president) is the “Goliath.” Oligomerix, the White Plains-based “David,” is in the midst
of conducting trials on new agents to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. They are at vastly different stages in their corporate evolutions.
But they share one important trait: they need talented workers.
As you would expect, each is looking for different skillsets at this point in their clinical trajectories. “Being small, we have to employ people with specific areas of expertise but who also are willing to ‘pitch in’ wherever necessary to get a job done,” says Jack Pasini, Oligomerix’s chief commercial officer. “We are in the process of organizing a range of relevant training for the further development of our employees, from CEO down to lab assistants.”
variety of areas, including workforce development. The first sector to receive this support is biosciences. With so many successful biotech companies already established here, the sector
is well-positioned to grow even larger, says Deborah Novick, director of entrepreneurship and innovation with the OED and chair of the Industry Desk Biosciences Task Force. A key driver of expansion, Novick says, is access
to talent.
One challenge in workforce
development is how broad the needs of biotech and biosciences companies are, she says. “It ranges from lab associates with an associate’s degree and a certificate all the way up to PhDs and post-docs, including engineers with all kinds of STEM backgrounds and a wide range of academic credentials,” Novick says.
The county has a highly educated workforce already here to fill these mostly high-paying jobs, which require advanced degrees. There are also entry-level jobs at many companies for those without higher education. The middle ground is more problematic. “We have a gap in the middle skills, not entry level but step-up jobs that get you on the career ladder,” she says.
Along with paying well, jobs
in biotech and bioscience offer metaphysical and societal benefits. Ahmad says that working at a company like Regeneron “means you have the ability to make an impact on scientific innovation and patients’ lives, as
well as get exposure to cutting-edge technologies, brilliant people, and hands-on experience. We have a unique, science-driven culture that encourages our colleagues to pursue their scientific curiosities with the goal of discovering important medicines.”
For Pasini, working at Oligomerix offers “the opportunity to contribute to a cause that is focused on meeting one of the greatest unmet medical needs around the globe, that being development of a disease-modifying therapeutic targeting Alzheimer’s disease and related rare diseases,” including dementia and ALS.
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At Regeneron, on the other hand, there are many job opportunities in various areas of the company. “For our growing Regeneron team, the most open positions fall within our Research and Preclinical Development and Global Development groups,” says Mazher Ahmad, vice president, talent. For the former, “we are on the hunt for scientists and research specialists who focus
on our technology platforms, protein development and target discovery activities. For GD, we have a wide range of opportunities for people who focus on clinical trial strategies, operations, and translational sciences.”
BROAD AND GROWING TALENT NEEDS
Westchester County boasts the largest biosciences cluster in New
York State and the fifth-largest cluster
in the United States, according to the Westchester County Office of Economic Development (OED). With more than 200 companies employing about 8,000 workers – 20% of the state’s total biosciences workforce — the county’s biotech/biosciences cluster includes academic research institutions, research and development startups, large manufacturers, supply chain vendors, and the usual satellite operations that offer consulting, financing, marketing, communications, and other support services.
To add to this robust sector, the OED announced in February that it has created an Industry Desk program to help key business sectors in a