A Place at the Pharma Table for Women?

Abstract

The article “It's still a man's world at the top of big pharma research” (J. Mervis, Special Section on Drug Discovery, News, 29 July, p. 724) resonated with me. As a scientist in Merck R&D in the 1990s, it was clear to me that women did not have a place at the decision- making table. As years of diversity committees, on-site day care, mentoring programs, coaching, and other HR efforts rolled by, many talented women figured out that their only career path at Merck R&D was out the door. Merck, and I suspect many other “big pharma” companies, are feeling the effects of having some of their best talent leaving and taking their brainpower elsewhere. We have started companies, taken senior positions in biotechnology firms, and become leaders in government and academia. Perhaps this brain drain of talented women has exacerbated the problem of the empty product pipelines of big pharma. The men in charge of R&D tend to promote and recruit other men with whom they feel the most comfortable and ignore talented women. Until they are forced by progressive senior executives to include, in significant numbers, women in their club, they will not change.