Correction: JS in BD

One is SS in BD for sure. Who is the second one?

Initials?

Two more senior resignations this week

GF indeed

GF?

Medical Director in Mountain View. The exodus is spreading to other sites. It won't be the last departure from Mountain View. Who in their right mind would want to work for SB?

I know. Just like Leica. They are so lame. Danaher? Really? I mean come on, as long as we keep doing what we are doing, we will be fine. Just fine. No really.

Who's departure?

Ventana shouldn't be worried by the new Dako box. Dako will be playing years of catch up!

Departure confirmed. The Exodus continues.

Bad news today - Dako gets FDA clearance for rabbit monoclonal ER and Omnyx is launching their integrated DP system.

Any threat from the new Dako box?

Great - so big bad Roche isn't so bad after all. IScan HT was funded in part by them. So where are the sales?

The new system IScan HT is actually great. Big improvement over the previous system.
Ivheard the Mountain View site lost their Medical Director. Is tat true?

The next big innovation is in digital. And the system V has is crap. GE will take that market

What is so special about Apollo?

I heard Leica just signed on a big pharma to finally do a tharanostic product. Given their regulatory record to date, it must either be a small pharma or they gave away the farm in order to jump-start their new companions facility in Danvers....good luck with the assay whoever you are! Anybody have any info?

Abbott doesn't have Abs (IHC) ya' fool and tell me what Dako or Leica have launched in the last 3 years that is unique.

So that's the innovation? New ABs? Guess who else is pursuing the content strategy and offering the same thing for cheaper and working on their own exclusivity deals? Yes, our friends Dako, Leica and Abbott.

instrumentation, is becoming commoditized so content will determine who wins in the market.

Apollo just another commodity product

Do you really think the sales force focuses their selling efforts on abs? Apollo is pretty innovative.

How about no new Ab launches for 2013 and 2014, in order to focus on Apollo validations? (couple of stragglers that should have been launched last year) No ammo for the licensing guns means no firepower for the sales force.

What exactly is the innovation that Roche doesn't allow? They seem to have been very supportive with how much money they have invested in the company for R and D.

You also need to couple these issues with Roche's culture of risk avoidance, which runs counter to the business' need for innovation. So the focus now is on building pretty .ppts explaining why we can't do projects as oppossed to rolling up our sleeves and doing them. I called my favourite recruiter this morning and can't wait to get out of here.

Lets get real though. The current dismal revenue numbers are not tied to DW or JF or even Roche. The reason is the old ways of doing things simply don't work. Better MH training will not help either. IHC and ISH are commodity products with little differentiation and Ventana no longer has a lock on that market. Couple that with the thin talent pool in NACO, lack of sales and marketing leadership and the inbred ideas resulting from the isolated location and there is just a big mess that needs cleaning up.

Word is indeed that the fat cats SB, DW and JF are taking over the VLT at the expense of the LCLs who know the business but are not focused on self promotion and on putting down other people. The only good news is that they are growing heavier by the day and might drop dead from a massive heart attack soon.

Does the sun and heat in Tucson fry people's brains? I've never seen a more useless group than Ventana in my 20 years in the industry. Seriously, do they even have a plan for the future?

What do you have against DW and JF? All guts and no brains is not your cup of tea?

Yep word on the street is that Dw wants MA's job. JF hasnt a clue as to what he is doing and Roche hates TDx. In addition other big pharma are not signing deals with VMS because DW and JF are to shady. Someone reported that VMS sold the same CDx three times to different pharma for over 100K a pop. GO DW, you are a genius..

Spot on but DW was in the right place at the right time, w/regard to Companion deals and their revenue is saving MA's job. DW is putting JF where he can support his move on MA's position. Its going to be a good show to watch, but I'll be viewing it from a distance... as I don't want to be the last rat off this sinking ship

wait until the big dogs of TDx JF and DW rule the world. both of them players haven't the faintest clue about science or business. Maybe MA knows something that we direct reports dont know. JF should ask the gohper what the business model is

Good luck with that - there is absolutely nothing in Tucson other than Acceler8 and HTG Molecular.

The fact that they did not tell who is moving and who is not makes it clear: either they are amateurs or they want everyone in NACO to look for a job at another company in Tucson so they can cut cost without having to fire too many people.

Indy talent pool is a wading pool. That doesn't say much for Tuscon!

What else does one suspect is "afoot"here? Seems to be some relevant insight in this topic considering the timing of the suspicion that JP would acquire NACO from MA in a post prior to the announcement.

I don't think Indy is much, if any cheaper than Tucson. The Indy telent pool is much deeper than Tucson, too

They did put in a new prefab building "7", but dismantled the "pods." No need for structures now with NACO moving out, but I'm sure they'll keep the tax break.

Just found this site - what positions/departments would be considered redundant considering the existing structure in Indy?

That makes a bad situation worse. People generally feel that you need to be face to face to have the countless meetings needed to conduct business.

@ rough patch : is it really feasible that it hasn't been determined who will be asked to stay or go? What about possibly reporting to Indy but staffing here due to low cost of doing business in the tucson climate?

Ventana to create 500 jobs and build new buildings. We are still waiting. It was announced with fanfare during the governor's reelection campaign. No new buildings so far.
http://www.insidetucsonbusiness.com/news/how-oro-valley-landed-a-year-jo...

The link for the tucson business article doesn't work. What does it say? Or could you provide a new link? Thanks

None of this means anything. We are number one! We have market share! We innovate! We got electrolytes!

I guess the 500 jobs are going to Indy after all.
insidetucsonbusiness.com/news/how-oro-valley-landed-a-year-jobs/article_6e341057-9bee-525f-bd1e-8dde6c9459f4.html?mode=jqm

Who resigned?

People have not been told who from NACO will be asked to move to Indy or when, or even when a decision about this will be made and communicated. The transition team is "working on it". Hard to keep a motivated sales and marketing team in this context.
In the meantime the Project Leader for one of Ventana's largest programs has resigned. Not a good week!

So what will happen to NACO marketing?

MA lost the battle to JP and the bomb was dropped on NACO. Full integration of the sales force into the Indy organization was announced. Added to the expected redundancies I expect that they will lose a lot of good sales people, along with a number of other key people, who don't believe in the "one Roche" explanation for the change (there is more afoot than meets the eye).