Category: The Drug Biz

Interrupting the Interruption

I don’t really have a title for this, it took me off guard actually.  As I was driving to work tonight, I stopped at the gas station as usual for my drink and smokes.  I pulled in at exactly the same time as a former co-worker of mine.

He was always kind to me in times of need, as he was with me the first time I had a seizure at Baxter.  He left Baxter before I did and now works for Cook Pharmica.

Many people left Baxter to work for Cook Pharmica, and after my abrupt termination, I began trying to seek employment with them as well.  I haven’t even recieved a letter of denial from them.

He let me in on a little secret, that hiring has been slow there due to them not being FDA approved yet, and that they are now, and have potential clients now.  He also told me that within a few months they will be having a “hiring blitz.”

Thanks to his kind words, I have new found faith in finding employment in the pharmaceutical industry again! 

Thanks Butch!

Canned!

Today as I was starting my routine duties at work, the phone rang.¬† It was the director of my department requesting I meet the director of HR at his office in 20 minutes.¬† This has only happened 2 other times in my career at baxter.¬† One time I was suspended, the other time I was almost fired for having epilepsy.¬† That’s right, fired for having a disease/disability!

I didn’t get off that lucky this time.¬† My employment was terminated, and I’m still in shock.

My job required many times I not take a lunch, so I didn’t.¬† I would post this on my pay system (Kronos).¬† One day this week I got to take a lunch, so I strolled over to the cafeteria and ate as fast as I could, to get back to my duties.

I guess I mistakenly clicked the little button stating I should get paid for my lunch on that day, Oops!

The directors pulled a query of the last 3 months of my clock in/out times and showed them to me.  I was then asked if this was the only time I had done this.  I was a little scared, frightened is more like it.  I was unsure, but I know for a fact I did not get a lunch normally.  This is what I told them in my time of darkness.

I was then told by the director of HR that this offense was considered “falsifying company records,” he then went on to say it has happened a “few” times.¬† His next words are truly etched into my mind, “You will have to be terminated, I’m sorry.”

What???¬† I didn’t have a chance to give a rebuttal, or even a statement.¬† I was off the property (without my personal belongings) in less than 5 minutes.

So this might be the end to my career in the Drug Biz, Baxter has really become a company that doesn’t care about it’s employees.¬† I overheard yesterday that the turnover rate for employees is now at 28%.¬† Think about that.

So I don’t know where life is going to lead me now, I just hope I move in a good direction.¬† I now have much more on the line than just a few months ago.¬† I don’t want to lose my house, my truck, my wife, anything actually.¬†

A job has always been a hard thing for me to get, it took me 3 years to get this job!

I hope I get another one soonish, my business cannot sustain me alone.

Saving The Rainforest

As background, I work for Baxter Pharmaceutical Solutions, LLC.¬† Formerly Cook Imaging.¬† It is to my knowledge to be¬†the largest parental contract manufacturer of medication in the US.¬† We mainly handle liquid and lyophilized products.¬† Lyophilization is “freeze drying.”

The main task of my job is to create the instructions manufacturing needs to actually manufacture the product.¬† You may think to yourself, “this sounds easy.”¬† Think again!¬† Since it is a pharmaceutical company, it is highly regulated.¬† I’m not just talking about the FDA either.¬† There are many other regulatory agencies throughout the world, and believe it or not, most of them make the FDA look like a joke!¬† Such as the MCA, these guys don’t mess around.

Documentation is everything.¬† If it isn’t documentated, it didn’t happen.¬† These “instructions” I create, use a lot of paper.¬†

The average “batch record,” as they are called is 70 pages.¬† In an average week, I issue 30 of these.¬† This is where the fun begins though.¬† Inside our filling suites, where the medication is placed into a container, documentation can only be brought in after being throughly sterilized.

Sterilization can be done in a number of ways, we use 2 mainly.  Steam Sterilization and Depryogenation.  Depryogenation was described to me many years ago in an interesting way.  If I were to kill you, your body would still be here.  If I were to depryogenate you, nothing would remain.  Sound interesting?

To get back on track, pages are steam sterilized.¬† Most of you may know that when normal paper absorbs water, it ruins anything printed, typed or written on that paper.¬† Due to this limiting factor, we have special paper for this.¬† It is very expensive, and for some reason we can only get it in A4 size.¬† The paper has a slight cream color to it and is translucent.¬† It is very strong too.¬† The biggest surprise is the price, $2 a sheet!¬† Ya per sheet it doesn’t sound like much, but in quantity that’s a boatload.¬† One client we have uses 100 sheets of that per run.

Back to my main point.¬† The amount of paper this company uses has bothered me for a long time.¬† True it’s going to a good cause, but couldn’t we use recycled?¬† I have heard for a long time about a “paperless” system, and steps have been taken towards that, but nothing significant.

I know for a fact that Eli Lilly has went to a paperless system.  I have heard nothing but good things about it too.  It just feels bad that between 5 people, we use about 5 thousand pages a week!  I can only imagine what the company of 1000+ people uses.

So in the end, we are saving peoples lives, but are we actually murdering our future?