Perhaps the best decision Th’ Gaussling ever made was to stay clear of the pharma business.  In grad school (1980’s), the Standard Model for an ambitious organikker was to work hard in a good group and maybe, hopefully, with any luck, get an interview or two with the big pharma houses. The goal was to land a plum slot in drug discovery with Merck, Glaxo, Pfizer, or several of the other stars in the fabulous constellation of Big Time Drug Discovery.  [Cue Ethel Merman– “There’s no business like pharma business like no business I know !!”]

Most grad school friends have had great success in this field, some are already in director and VP positions. I’m very happy for them.  But I find that I have zero regrets about not going into the drug industry.  It’s not a slam, just a fact.

From my quiet perch behind the curtains, I get to watch a hundred stories play out. Many products that are mind numbingly boring to others are things I know to be the result of difficult and fascinating technology. Elementary things, like the ability to peel off a sticker from its backing is the result of highly engineered materials and processes.

One of the really curious things I see from time to time is what I call a chemical market echo.  Now and then someone will report some work at a conference wherein our product is featured as a key reagent or substrate. Shortly after the attendees get home, there is a flurry of requests for quotation from others in the field. These queries come in from around the world like echoes bouncing off distant objects.

I have seen this numerous times and I am presently in the middle of such a cycle. It is quite gratifying to know that your product has garnered a bit of interest. Unfortunately, penurious professors only order a few tens of grams at a time.

Echoes happen in other ways. If you are in the business of making odd things, a single query will come in from the end user followed by query echoes from others hoping to buy and sell to that single end user. Sometimes the echoes come from competitors hoping to do some sly competitive intelligence work, pretending to be a broker or end user. There are many ways to be lied to in business. All’s fair in love and war. And business is war.