"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

From former Pfizer R&D president John LaMattina, a focus on the "silver lining":

...Clearly, the consolidation of the biopharmaceutical industry has not been good for new drug discovery and development. The reduction in R&D jobs, the time lost due to organizational redesigns, and the personal toll incurred by family dislocations or the need to find a new job have been terrible. However, in talking to people, particularly those who have found new opportunities, they have found their new challenges stimulating and the translation of their experience to new organizations rewarding. Whether the Roche Nutley site (or other sites being abandoned) can undergo the same transformation seen in Sandwich or Ann Arbor remains to be seen. But amid the carnage of research site closures and job losses, some benefits have emerged.

This article was written in response to John Carroll's piece about visiting Roche's Nutley site.

Let's leave aside the "personal toll incurred by family dislocations" and focus on this - what percentage of former pharma workers will have salaries and benefits equal to (or greater than) those offered by pharma? Not many, I wager.