The end of PCE?
In case you are one of the folks who subscribe to my RSS feed or just found the site and were wondering why there have been no posts since April, this note’s for you.
Here’s the truth. I enjoy writing the occasional editorial on our industry, and I especially enjoy it when I get feedback from readers (surprisingly little in the way of comments; much more through email). I’ve been proud about the quality of many of my longer blog posts, including those critical of the industry.
Not everyone is thrilled about them, though. Several months ago I was interviewing for a senior medical position with a pharma startup that consisted solely of industry veterans (it was a second-generation spin-out). The hiring manager was nearing retirement, a grizzled veteran who is very old-school in his philosophy it turned out.
I had always put my blog on my resume, so he checked it out soon after we met. It just so happened that the first post he read was critical of some obviously phony behavior on the part of several industry spokespeople who laid blame for the death of some related drug programs on regulators rather than on their own lack of foresight. The hiring manager wasn’t at all happy, telling the recruiter that the industry has enough critics without one of its own criticizing it publicly. The recruiting process ended there for me, despite the recruiter recommending me as the top candidate of five she had set up with interviews.
I didn’t completely stop posting after that, although I slowed down a lot. I continued to look for full-time work, and when I finally made it past the first interview stage with my current employer, I stopped posting altogether, fearing that I anything I say might be held against me. I didn’t want to risk being tripped up by my own keyboard.
Now that I am a new hire I am reluctant to start posting again. It’s not like the public is clamoring for more pharma blogs–even the most widely read of them are not nearly financially self-supportive–and the type of posts I most enjoy writing are not typically bloggish. I enjoy writing expositive pieces that explore big-picture issues of strategic management value. These types of essays can be published elsewhere, including peer-reviewed journals and trade magazines. So, I’ll play it by ear, maintaining the blog for now and posting whenever I feel sufficiently moved to communicate something.
If I never post another essay, thanks for reading. I hope you find the archives helpful.
Best wishes.
Fred
