Overview

So what does the future of healthcare look like? Overall, the future looks very bright indeed.

While it's true that we are all affected by fluctuating economic conditions, the healthcare industry as a whole is fairly stable. There will always be a market for over-the-counter and prescription drugs, diagnostic kits, routine vaccines for infants and children, antibiotics, analgesics, and other symptom-easing drugs. Similarly, medical devices from MRIs to stents and blood pressure or glucose monitoring equipment for home use will always be in demand, and require new equipment and instruments. As a result, while many industries were affected by the economic downturns in 2001, the pharmaceutical industry came through it better than most.

The industry has also had a recent string of successful "blockbuster" drugs and medical devices hit the market and found itself on an upward trend. This trend is expected to continue as demand for medical treatments and supplies increases with the expansion and aging of the population. Other factors expected to increase the demand include: greater personal income, changing scope of drug coverage by health insurance programs, the rising health consciousness and expectations of the general public, and a more industry-friendly regulatory environment that has streamlined the FDA approval process for "priority" drugs intended to address catastrophic or incurable illness like AIDS or different forms of cancer.

So what does this increased demand mean in the form of jobs and opportunities for engineers? Well, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) assessment states:

The number of wage and salary jobs in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is expected to increase by about 26 percent over the 2004-14 period, compared with 14 percent for all industries combined. Pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing ranks among the fastest growing manufacturing industries. Demand for this industry’s products is expected to remain strong.... Unlike many other manufacturing industries, the pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing industry is not highly sensitive to changes in economic conditions. Even during periods of high unemployment, work is likely to be relatively stable in this industry.

-Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition, Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing

Job functions in pharmaceuticals tend to be similar across the sectors but there are notable differences. Company size is one factor that makes a difference. Over half of the jobs in the industry are found in the larger firms. It's not that smaller firms aren't hiring; they certainly are. It's more a matter of volume. A single Big Pharma company might employ hundreds of thousands of people, whereas in biotech, which industry-wide has only 200,000 employees, the majority of firms have less than 50 employees and only a very small percentage have over 500. This difference in size can also play a part in what sort of company culture a firm has. You'll find that the larger, more established firms have a more traditional, corporate structure (and the hierarchy that goes with it), whereas the smaller biotech firms tend to be more egalitarian and less structured.

Another difference is company focus. Though R&D is a critical and important division in companies across the industry, biotech has a greater percentage of its resources focused on this phase than the big pharmaceuticals, simply because, as relative newcomers, they are just reaching the point where their first products are maturing.