Science Top Company List Ranks Innovation and Work Culture

Science’s survey included questions about innovation, work culture values, treating employees with respect, social responsibility, and an interesting category, “top leadership that successfully makes changes needed to keep the organization moving in the right direction.”

For the third year in a row and the sixth time since 2011, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was number one. The company’s highest rankings were for integrity of leadership, innovation and social responsibility.

“Regeneron is proud to be recognized as the top employer by Science magazine for the sixth time,” said Leonard S. Schleifer, president and chief executive officer, and George D. Yancopoulos, president and scientific officer, of Regeneron, in a joint statement. “We believe our commitment to science and to doing the right thing for our employees, our patients and our communities is a large part of why we retain this top ranking.”

They went on to say, “Our team’s passion and dedication to helping others is evident today during our second annual Day for Doing Good. We’re proud to have a company where people can perform both great science and great deeds.”

Today is the company’s second annual Day for Doing Good, a worldwide event where they contribute an estimated 14,000 volunteer hours to more than 100 non-profit organizations.

“Regeneron’s Day for Doing Good is the largest one-day corporate volunteer initiative that Volunteer New York! has coordinated in the Westchester region in its 70-year history,” stated Alisa Kesten, executive director of Volunteer New York! “Regeneron’s commitment to creating positive change in our community is first-in-its-class corporate social responsibility. It has been a tremendous honor to work with them as they have rapidly grown and push for the most innovative and impactful ways to use volunteerism to do good.”

Incyte ranked number two on the list. It received particularly high marks for innovation. The company’s chief executive officer, Herve Hoppenot, told Science, “We’re a large research center with a small company on top of it. We do discovery and basic science and have a track record of developing our own medicines.”

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted Incyte’s supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Jakafi (ruxolitinib) to treat patients with acute graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) who don’t respond to corticosteroids. It was given Priority Review status. 

“Patients with acute GVHD face significant morbidity and mortality risk, underscoring the urgent need for new treatment options,” stated Steven Stein, Incyte’s chief medical officer. “If approved, ruxolitinib will be the first and only treatment available in the U.S. for patients with acute GVHD who have not responded adequately to corticosteroid therapy.”

Jakafi is a first-in-class JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor approved in the U.S. for polycythemia vera (PV) patients who have had an inadequate response to hydroxyurea, intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis (MF), including MF, post-polycythemia vera MF, and post-essential thrombocythemia MF.

One of the high points for Incyte is work culture. In a 2018 survey, Paula Swain, Incyte’s executive vice president of human resources, told Science, only 17 percent of respondents said they planned to look for a new job in the next year. Incyte tends to hire mid-career employees and has a stable workforce. She went on to note that of the approximately 60 people who started the company in 2002, more than 50 are still there.