Schmitt

Schmitty here...

Just thought I'd give an update. I'm still at Amgen South San Francisco, it's been a rocky year at Amgen. As you may know, Amgen's most important drug had a saftey signal in a off label study at higher doses. This led to an overreaction by the FDA, followed by a bigger reaction by the CMS, and to make a long story short.... Amgen is cutting staff in the US by 12-14%. Looks like most of the cuts are coming out of research and manufacturing. So for the small molecule chemistry guys like me, we're looking to lose 10% of our current level. We have 80 chemists at our site, so we're losing around 8... We find out who gets cut by early October. I'm not overly worried about losing my job, but moral is at an all-time low. When in fear for one's job people tend to get a little edgy.

Other than the impending layoffs, work is good. Making progress. I had a great start at Tularik, and I was on two seperate projects that were advanced into the clinic. I was able to make a real impact and get promoted for the effort. Since then we were bought by Amgen and everything has moved at a much slower pace. Tularik: 12+ hour days plus weekends, with almost no vacation days used. Amgen: 10 hour days rarely a weekend, and I have time to take a vacation or two....

After Tularik was purchased, we moved out of San Francisco and we bought a condo in North Oakland. It's in an up and coming area. Housing prices out here are extreme!! I commute by motorcycle every day across the Bay Bridge, it makes for a fun start to my day. Stacie is working for a medical software company. She is traveling 3-5 days a week and really advancing at her company. Still no kids, just "DINK"ing it for now.

Golf game is good, have been averaging 2 birdies a round. Have shot quite a few 80, 81 rounds... still looking for the breakthrough. It's right around the corner. Shot a 37 on the back nine at Trump National last week outside LA. And had a 37, the last two rounds at courses in the bay area. Should be breaking 80 in no time.

Stacie and I also took up skiing. Lake Tahoe is a three hour drive, so we usually meet up with friends (including the recently married Brian Hearn) and go up to the mountains for a weekend trip. Skiing is an incredible sport, really pushes you.

I thought I'd never say it... but California is an amazing place to live, great weather and tons of stuff to do. We're hardly ever at home.

Feel free to contact me directly, michael.j.schmitt@gmail.com, if you'd like to discuss the industry, jobs, or life. Or if you'd like to visit that's cool too.

Mike