Spotting fake pills

Fascinating short article about Lilly's anti-counterfeiting team: 

Sometimes, it’s a funky-looking “i” in the red Eli Lilly and Company logo that tips Mike Dalton off to fraud. Or an irregular dimple pattern on the tinfoil wrapper. Crooks who mass-produce counterfeit pharmaceuticals are creative and ambitious, peddling billions of dollars of fake drugs around the world... 

“When you have a product that is high-demand and high-priced, that’s going to be a drug counterfeiter’s target,” Dalton says. “It’s not hard to make a tablet. Counterfeiters can do that very easily.” 

The internet is a boon to con artists. Websites lure customers with heavily discounted prices. The fake drug’s packaging looks convincing, and serial numbers can be faked. Sometimes, the tampered meds contain traces of the original substance, according to chemist Christa Mulkey, a 27-year Lilly veteran who works in Dalton’s lab. “A lot of time, they want something in it because they want return customers,” she says....

Pretty interesting article - glad someone is doing this.

Newest Periodic Bagel episode: Professor Feier Hou, Western Oregon University

Fourth episode of The Periodic Bagel, with guest Dr. Feier Hou (@happykitten62) of Western Oregon University, who talks with us about cats, crystals and Chinese academia.

Rate and review us on iTunes!

Feel free to ask questions, add comments and suggestions for guests and topics in the comments.

Younger UK industrial chemists express concerns about pay

Sad stories about life as a UK chemist in last week's C&EN (by Vanessa Zainzinger): 

Nessa Carson, a synthetic organic chemist, says she is “extremely lucky” to be working for a big pharmaceutical company in southeast England. Since she moved back to the UK in 2017, after completing a master’s degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carson says she has seen many friends and colleagues leave chemistry because of a job market that offers young chemists fewer opportunities for exciting science or financial gain than they had hoped for.... 

...The mood in the UK among early-career chemists who actually want to do chemistry is somber. Disappointed by the roles the job market has to offer, chemistry graduates say they are feeling undervalued and underpaid. Many are threatening to leave the country for better opportunities elsewhere. 

Some researchers, however, say they find little passion in working for a CRO. “It’s safe to say that where I am working, nobody at the junior level is particularly happy with their jobs,” says [Redacted], a medicinal chemist who, to protect her job, asked that her full name not be used. 

[Redacted] works for a large CRO in east England that hires chemists on fixed-term contracts. This means job security is low for everybody, she says. “Half the people I work with are [University of] Cambridge graduates, fantastic chemists, but that doesn’t matter. The company offers them no help with career progression.” Earlier this year, the company laid off 15 chemists, then hired another 15 a few months later, she says. 

Another young chemist, [Redacted2], moved to England from Spain for grad school at a public university in the northwest. Like [Redacted], he asked that, to protect his job, his full name not be used. [Redacted2] picked up plenty of job offers in the UK after completing his PhD, but he rejected them all because of the low salaries on offer. 

“Perhaps my expectations were high because I did my PhD on a Marie Curie scholarship, which is roughly double the normal PhD salary in the UK,” [Redacted2] says, referring to a scholarship granted by the European Commission. “But in any case, the offers I got in the UK were about 40% lower than the ones I received in [continental] Europe.”

Sad to hear things aren't going so well for younger UK chemists. Regarding CROs, it's not a surprise to me that people don't find the work particularly enjoyable - "owning" a project is one of the reasons that people get into research, and the CRO model really messes with that in a fundamental way. Here's hoping things improve. 

Last week's C&EN

A few of the articles from the most recent issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: The Year in Pharma
• World's largest periodic tables (by Matt Davenport)
• "Carbon taps ex-DuPont chief Ellen Kullman as CEO" (by Alexander H. Tullo)
• ACS' President-Elect Luis Echegoyen's article on his upcoming presidential year
• Cool story about cadmium-free quantum dot LEDs (by Bethany Halford)

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 493 research/teaching positions and 36 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 493 research/teaching positions and 36 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On December 11, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 502 positions.

Open threads: first, second, third, fourth, fifth. The current one is the sixth.

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The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 84 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 84 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Good ol' abandonment of chemicals in Illinois

Via the inbox and elsewhere, this sad story in Illinois: 

Lawrence D. Rutledge, 57, of Belleville, Illinois, has been sentenced to five years of federal probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $335,934.87 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“U.S. EPA”) for clean-up expenses associated with his illegal storage of hazardous waste in St. Clair County, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steven D. Weinhoeft, announced today. 

Rutledge pleaded guilty to the charge in July.

In 1997, Rutledge started a business called Advanced Asymmetrics, Inc., to synthesize specialty chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. The business was located inside a commercial building at 109 South Kossuth Street in Millstadt, Illinois, in close proximity to a residential area and a senior living home. Over time, Rutledge accumulated numerous containers of chemicals and chemical waste at the Millstadt facility. Sometime around 2011, Rutledge stopped paying the county property taxes on the Millstadt facility, and over the next few years, the electrical service and the water service (both water supply and sewer) to the facility were shut off. 

In August 2015, employees of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“Illinois EPA”) and the U.S. EPA entered the facility and discovered hundreds of containers with labels indicating the presence of acids, caustics, and other chemicals, as well as hazardous waste. Some of the metal containers had rusted, and crystallization had started to occur on metal surfaces. Some had even fallen over and broken open. Sodium cyanide, which is extremely toxic, was stored within one inch of a container containing acid, presenting the potential formation of cyanide gas. Investigators also discovered a container labelled as a shock-sensitive picric acid, which is highly explosive.

So it's pretty clear that Advanced Asymmetrics did not do well. It's my understanding and broad experience that it takes a lot to get criminally prosecuted by USEPA, so I imagine this is an egregious case. So here's my question for discussion: when companies go bust like this, what happens with the chemicals? Clearly, the organization is financially responsible, but what happens when the company doesn't have any cash? Who pays for Veolia to show up? 

Always time for a glassblowing video

From the Richmond Standard (which is apparently funded by Chevron), an article about Chevron Richmond's glassblower:

...For 20 years, (Marianna) Pittner has been the go-to glassblower at the Chevron Richmond Technology Center (RTC), where she is tasked with creating a wide variety of custom glass apparatus for a fleet of ambitious chemists.  From a sizable workshop equipped with torches, lathes and oodles of glassware of varying heat sensitivities, Pittner repairs and creates beakers, test tubes and a host of other glasswear that Chevron scientists need in their quest to modernize the production of transportation fuels, lubricating base oils and other related products. The fuel additive Techron, for example, is one of the more widely known inventions created at the RTC. 

On a daily basis, chemists drop into Pittner’s workshop with requests to create custom glass pieces of varying specifications. At times, she’ll create pieces straight from examples that chemists draw by hand in notebooks. Often, she’ll meet with chemists to come up with blueprints for designs that solve problems in the research process, such as creating glass apparatus that manipulate direction of flow and temperature of the solutions undergoing tests. 

“I will never tell the chemist I can’t do that,” Pittner said. “I will figure it out; I enjoy the discovery. You have be very logical and problem-solving to make it in this field.” 

 Every chemist should have a great glassblower to help them. 

Job posting: Formulation & Characterization Group Lead, Catalent, Madison, WI

Via Twitter, this position:

Position Title: Supervisor, Formulation and Characterization Group
Location: Madison, WI
***Please note that relocation assistance is available for the right candidate*** 

Position Requirements: 

The responsibility of the Formulation & Characterization Group Lead would be inclusive of the following tasks:

• Manage Madison Formulation & Characterization Group (4 direct reports)
• As a member of the Analytical Development Leadership Team, collaborate with clients to deliver world class formulation and characterization studies.
• Develop and train junior formulation and characterization scientists.
• Enhance value of formulation, stability, and characterization studies performed in Madison to clients through high-value add activities

Education or Equivalent:

• Ph.D. in Chemistry or related field with at least 5 years of industry experience
• MS in Chemistry, or related field with at least 7 years of industry laboratory experience
• B.S/B.A. in Chemistry, or related field with at least 7-10 years experience in a laboratory environment

Experience: 

• Thorough understanding of the origins of protein stability, degradation, and folding and the various factors that can affect proteins during the pharmaceutical development process.
• Expertise in the wide range of analytical techniques applied to formulation and stability studies; Mass Spectrometry expertise desired. 
• Experience in formulation development for proteins, not limited to antibodies, highly preferred
• Experience in both drug substance and drug product development.
• Experience in the statistical analysis and interpretation of formulation and stability data to drive decisions.  Proficiency in JMP and/or R preferred.
• Excellent technical writing skills, and experience with authoring protocols, reports, and procedures for regulatory submissions
• Experience mentoring and training junior staff

Link to full position here. Best wishes to those interested.

Bet Chemours did not mention Mark Ruffalo in its forward guidance

An interesting comment from Wall Street about the new movie Dark Waters about the PFOA story in West Virginia: 

The movie “Dark Waters” about the effect of deadly chemicals in West Virginia is “very damaging” for DuPont de Nemours Inc., Wall Street analysts at Fermium Research wrote in a report before its theatrical debut on November 22. 

Analyst Frank Mitsch -- who watched a sneak preview -- thinks that “Dark Waters” will probably be a hit film and may cast a shadow over DuPont shares and the entire chemical industry. The movie focuses on DuPont and Chemours Co.’s already-settled litigation over perfluorooctanoic acid production. 

DuPont’s shares fell as much as 2.7% on Friday in New York, while broader market inched higher. 

“We can see a scenario where interest in DD from individual investors (85% institutional ownership according to Bloomberg) dissipates, though also a broader concern for the chemicals sector given the negative portrayal,” he added.

The number of companies targeted by Hollywood biopics over the years is actually pretty high, but it's amusing to think about the effects of a movie on a stock price...

(Anyone seen the movie? I'm planning on streaming it at some point in the future.)  

If you're going to steal secrets, don't get caught redhanded

From this week's Chemical and Engineering News, the latest in the IP theft world (by Marc S. Reisch):

A federal grand jury in St. Louis has indicted former Monsanto researcher Haitao Xiang for stealing crop productivity algorithms with the intention of handing them over to a Chinese government research institute. After Xiang quit his job in June 2017, he downloaded the algorithms to a micro-SD card, according to the indictment. He then purchased a one-way ticket to China; federal officials stopped him at the airport and seized the card. If convicted, Xiang faces up to 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine on each of several espionage charges, and up to 10 years for each of several trade secret theft charges.

Important caveat: ham sandwich. I wonder how they caught him, and how they knew this was happening? It will be interesting to see what happens to Mr. Xiang. 

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 484 research/teaching positions and 34 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 484 research/teaching positions and 34 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On December 4, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 486 positions.

Open threads: first, second, third, fourth, fifth. This will be the sixth open thread on December 4, 2019.

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The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 84 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 84 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Job posting: Sr. Scientist, Process Chemistry, Firmenich, Newark, NJ

From the inbox, this position at Firmenich in Newark, NJ:

Key Responsibilities:

• Research & development of chemistry pathways towards Firmenich molecules
• Industrialization of the newly developed processes
• Generating ideas to improve the economic and environmental efficiency of our manufacturing processes and implementing them from lab to production
• Actively contribute to global project teams with R&D, Engineering, Operations
• Support of the existing production processes through deep involvement in daily operation of Firmenich largest chemical plant
• Contribute to technology transfers between Firmenich manufacturing plants as well as with external partners
• Supervision of lab associates

Requirements:

• PhD in Organic Chemistry or closely related field with preferably undergraduate training in Chemical Engineering
• 8+ years of industrial process chemistry/chemical development experience, preferably in specialty/fine chemical industry
• Strong knowledge of modern synthetic organic chemistry, catalysis & process chemistry
• Hands-on experience at least in synthetic chemistry and separation operations like fractional distillation

Link to position here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Every year, I am incredibly thankful for my family, my friends, my community (physical and online) and my job. This year, I am very thankful for my wife and her devotion to our family.

I am also thankful for you, my readers and commenters. Thank you for your reading, your advice, your e-mails and your brilliant, insightful comments. I am truly blessed.

[An additional note: if you would ever like to meet for a cup of coffee or a beer, please reach out to my e-mail address. I often find myself in unexpected places these days, and I love to meet readers of the blog.]

My family and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and if you're not in the United States, a happy Thursday and Friday! 

Chemical Activity Barometer is stable in November

Well, this is better than a kick in the shins:

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), was stable (0.0 percent change) in November on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following a 0.3 percent decline in October. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer was off 0.2 percent (3MMA). 

The unadjusted data showed a solid 0.6 percent gain and was driven by increases among all four components. The diffusion index rose to 59 percent in November. The diffusion index marks the number of positive contributors relative to the total number of indicators monitored. The CAB reading for October was revised upward by 0.16 points and that for September by 0.18 points. 

"The CAB signals slow gains in U.S. commerce into mid-year 2020," said Kevin Swift, chief economist at ACC. 

The CAB has four main components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.

It's hard to make a judgment based off a single indicator, but in this case, I think that "no news is good news" and that our expectations about an economic downturn in 2020 do not seem to have much data to bolster them. That said, dreams of massive chemical industry employment increase don't have much backing either. 

Warning Letter of the Week: Dollar Tree edition

From an epistle from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to the President and CEO of Greenbrier International, Inc dba Dollar Tree (emphases mine):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected your corporate headquarters, Greenbrier International, Inc. (Greenbrier) (FEI 3005269673) at 500 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, Virginia, from January 14 to 18, 2019 after FDA inspections revealed violative conditions at multiple foreign drug manufacturers that supplied drugs to your distribution network. Firms inspected by FDA included contract manufacturers used to manufacture Dollar Tree's Assured Brand drugs…. 

...Our inspection and review of import data revealed the following: 

2. lmport records reviewed indicated that your firm received various [redacted] and [redacted] drug products from Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company, Ltd., FEI 3008229416, from October through December of 2018. An inspection of Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company, Ltd. in April of 2018 revealed significant CGMP violations, including the failure to test each batch of drug for conformance with specifications prior to release (21 CFR 211.165(a)). As a result of this and other violations, Hangzhou Zhongbo lndustiial Company, Ltd. was placed on Import Alert 66-40 on September 28, 2018 and was issued a warning letter on November 27, 2018. FDA copied your COO on the outgoing warning letter.... 

...We also note that Greenbrier has, at various points in time, used contract manufacturers and suppliers with histories of significant drug CGMP violations. For example, our inspections revealed that beyond the facilities detailed above, your firm has used the following contract manufacturers and suppliers: 

2. Bicooya Cosmetics Limited, FEI 3010671652, which was issued a warning letter on August 11, 2017. This firm was also placed on Import Alert 66-40 on June 29, 2017, for, among other things, not testing finished drug products prior to distribution and for rodent feces found throughout the manufacturing facility. FDA copied your COO on the warning letter.

What’s a little rodent feces between friends? 

Newest Periodic Bagel episode: Dr. Sarah Cady, Iowa State University

Third episode of The Periodic Bagel, with guest Sarah Cady (@sarahdcady) of Iowa State University, who talks with us about magnets, civic engagement and cranberry sauce.

Rate and review us on iTunes!

Feel free to ask questions, add comments and suggestions for guests and topics in the comments.

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 482 research/teaching positions and 32 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 482 research/teaching positions and 32 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On November 70, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 476 positions.

Open threads: first, second, third, fourth, fifth (current).

Can't see additional comments? Look for the "load more" button underneath the comment box.

Postdoctoral position: Ploegh lab at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

From the inbox:

The Ploegh lab at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School is looking to hire a postdoctoral researcher with experience in chemistry. We conduct research at the interface of chemistry and cell biology/immunology. Interested applicants should visit the lab website: ploeghlab.com for further information. Please provide a CV, letter of interest, and a brief proposal on how your expertise could contribute to work in the Ploegh lab. These documents should be sent for review by email: http://ploeghlab.com/contact/

Best wishes to those interested. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 84 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 84 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Plastic being used as fuel for fires in Indonesia

Not such great news via the New York Times:

...More than 30 commercial kitchens in Tropodo, a village on the eastern side of Indonesia’s main island, Java, fuel their tofu production by burning a mix of paper and plastic waste, some of it shipped from the United States after Americans dumped it in their recycling bins. 

The backyard kitchens produce much of the area’s tofu, an inexpensive and high-protein food made from soy that is an important part of the local diet. But the smoke and ash produced by the burning plastic has far-reaching and toxic consequences. 

Testing of eggs laid by chickens in Tropodo, a village of 5,000 people, found high levels of several hazardous chemicals including dioxin — a pollutant known to cause cancer, birth defects and Parkinson’s disease — according to a report released this week by an alliance of Indonesian and international environmental groups.

If you read the article further, it sounds like a lot of this plastic waste comes from recycling in the United States that was diverted into the paper streams. That's not good news for anyone, especially the people eating this tofu.