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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Novartis lays off 400 employees

I just got a phone call from a friend of mine with the news that Novartis (East Hanover,NJ) has laid off 400 of their employees, transferring those jobs to India.
I don't know the entire new Health Care Bill, but I have been told that there is a provision in there that penalizes companies who outsource labor.
This decision was made now before those provisions are in place.
Although part of me is happy for the people in India, knowing that there is extreme poverty there, the other part of me is very upset with Novartis.
Gleevec was their biggest profit making drug last year-3.9 billion I believe is what I have read.
I am extremely grateful to Novartis for making Gleevec-which so far has kept me cancer free.
I am extremely grateful to my friend who worked there during it's development and to everyone else for that matter.
But when I take my dosage today, I am going to be thinking about all of those employees who have been laid off, in this very tumultuous economy, hoping that they were given a decent severance package and that they will find new employment very soon.
There just has to be a better way for us to have health care and new innovative therapies, without it costing others so much.

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