See the biotech and pharma companies that are growing the fastest and pay workers the most
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Allison DeAngelis
Sep 10, 2021, 01:30 IST
Hinterhaus Productions/Getty Images
Insider compiled data on the fastest-growing biotech and pharma companies.
We examined how much they're paying employees and executives.
One company paid its median employee $701,000, while dozens of CEOs earned more than $18 million.
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As the drug industry has grown, companies are competing to hire and retain the best people. That's true for every position from CEO all the way down to entry-level technicians.
To understand this battle for talent, Insider analyzed reports from more than 150 publicly traded pharma and biotech companies. We included companies with a market value of at least $1 billion. Our list includes companies that trade on two leading biotech indices - the XBI and the IBB - as well as a handful of multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Here's what you should know about which companies are growing the fastest, and what they're paying.
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The biotech Moderna is working to develop personalized cancer treatments that are custom-crafted for each individual patient.Moderna
Dozens of drug companies boosted their workforces by at least 50%
It's little surprise that biotechs developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, like IGM Biosciences, Moderna and Novavax, went on a hiring spree last year.
But growth wasn't limited to companies responding to the pandemic. Insider found 29 companies that grew their staff by at least 50% in 2020. Several of these companies said they plan to continue hiring in 2021.
Even startups are getting bigger. A series of new drug companies has emerged in the past two years that meld multiple smaller startups to either create a single new venture or a holding company with many subsidiaries. These startups are drawing large financing rounds and high valuations, creating companies that are larger in scale than a standard drug startup.
From left to right: Albert Bourla, Helen Sabzevari, and Giovanni CaforioCrystal Cox/Insider; Precigen; Mark Neuling/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Image; Marianne Ayala/Insider
Close to 30 drug company CEOs earned more than $18 million last year
High levels of compensation went all the way to the top of the biotech and pharma food chain. Insider found the highest paid chief executives in the drug industry, including two who each made more than $100 million last year.
Most executives make the majority of their money from stock awards and bonuses. In 2020, that served them well. Novavax CEO Stanley Erck, for example, saw his pay package jump from $2.4 million in 2019 to $48 million last year, fueled by the company's COVID-19 vaccine efforts and resulting stock price jump.
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