Can anybody recommend some good Bay Area synthetic chemistry CROs?Of course, there were four or five people who chimed in with useful suggestions for Bay Area CROs.
At the same time, there has been a wonderful collection of people from around the world throwing their hats in the proverbial ring. So far, we have people suggesting companies located in Seattle, two from Shanghai, the UK, Winnepeg, New Jersey, Delaware, Ontario, two from Bangalore, the Netherlands, Massachusetts, Edmonton (Canada), Milan (Italy), Germany and Kolkata.
While I can't really blame people for trying, I think it speaks to 1) the rather fierce competition for synthetic chemistry business around the world and 2) people's complete inability to police themselves when it comes to making suggestions on internet forums. 'Twas ever thus.
Kind of like DuPont listing a bunch of positions for Wilmington, Delaware (read: India)
ReplyDeleteNothing is more irritating than that.
It's like the CRO version of Tourette's Syndrome.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, there are bays around at least Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Kolkata, Ontario, and Shanghai...
ReplyDeleteApparently literacy isn't a valued skill in chemistry programs. I guess we'll find out how that works.
ReplyDeleteMaybe DuPont has access to some fifth-dimensional technology that we weren't aware of? (Yes, we'll pay you Indian wages, and but you can live in Mumbai and commute directly to Wilmington, DE!) In that case, though, why don't they do hire upper management in the same way (50% of 1M is a lot more than 50% of 100K)?
Much like when Brick Tamland is giving the weather, "Right now it's 82 degrees in our fair city. And compare that to 48 degrees in the upper north west and 38 degrees in the middle east."
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Brick was probably distracted by the pants party.
ReplyDeleteone encouraging aspect of this is that the dude looking for CRO has worked with contract labs in southeast Asia in the past - and this time he decided to go local.
ReplyDeleteI have a process colleague who got repeatedly burned with intermediates getting sourced from flight-by-night operations in south China. The cheapo stuff that is "98%+ pure" in reality often contains several minor isomers and 10% of inorganic salts by weight. So in the end you have third of the material gone after a week of purification attempts, a week of completely unproductive time while someone in procurement is getting a pat on the back for finding such a great deal.
Kudos to him for learning the lesson Pfizer refuses to. When sourcing chemicals you often "get what you pay for." Also ability to talk to your CRO easily in your time zone is important! If I would ever be in his position I'd near source to.
ReplyDeleteActually, that pipe-fitter job doesn't sound too bad. And it looks like your skills are pretty transferable. You get to have a pager and it doesn't sound too bad from the description. Immunization required clause suggests some exotic travelling. I should have gone into plumbing after high school.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my comment was for the previous Merck post. A devious attempt to interject into a wrong conversation, thus proving the point of this very original post about bad CRO suggestions. Yeah...
ReplyDelete