Biocon Limited, Asia's premier biotechnology company, announced that 'Science' Magazine has ranked it at No. 6 on the annual Global 'Top Twenty Employers' list for the Bio-Pharma sector, a significant jump from No. 19 in 2012. According to the 2013 Top Biotech and Pharma Employers survey, the three Key Attributes associated with Biocon are ‘Socially responsible,’ ‘Clear vision’ and ‘Quality research’.

For the second year in a row, Biocon is the only Asian Company to be a part of the Top 20 Elite List which includes leading global innovator companies.

These companies have been ranked on Six Key parameters covering: innovative leader in the industry, respect for employees, socially responsible, loyal employees, clear vision and engaged quality research.

The global ranking reflects the growing power of Brand Biocon, which is ably supported by its valuable partners, customers, employees and all other stakeholders, stated Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director, Biocon adding that the  achievement of this distinction bears testimony to our efforts towards fostering a strong employer brand through various initiatives in acquiring and retaining top talent, building an engaged workforce and driving a performance driven culture. This is also a proud recognition of the high quality scientific talent that India has to offer. Our company’s goal is to leverage this deep pool of talent to make a significant difference to global healthcare.”

Top Twenty Employers for 2013 in the global biotech sector are  Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Tarrytown, NY), Genentech (South San Francisco, CA), Vertex (Cambridge, MA), AbbVie (North Chicago, IL), Eli Lilly and Company (Indianapolis, IN),  Biocon Limited (Bengaluru, India) Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company (Cambridge, MA), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingeleim, Germany), Biogen Idec (Weston, MA), Novo Nordisk (Bagsvaerd, Denmark), DuPont (Wilmington, DE), Syngenta (Basel, Switzerland), Monsanto Company (Creve Coeur, MO), Gilead Sciences (Foster City, CA), Roche - excluding Genentech (Basel, Switzerland),  Celgene (Summit, NJ), Abbott (Abbott Park, IL), Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA) and Bayer Healthcare (Leverkusen, Germany).

Each year, Science commissions a survey to identify the top employers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry and to determine the characteristics upon which scientists base their rankings. This year, the results are based on 3,656 responses to a web-based survey. The 36 per cent of survey respondents work in biotech, and 37 per cent for a pharmaceutical company, 65 per cent have 10 or more years work experience. Eighty one per cent of respondents were based in North America, 10 per cent in Europe, and seven per cent in the Asia/Pacific.

As with almost every preceding survey, respondents ranked ‘innovative leader’ as the most powerful driver in choosing the best companies. This year, that was followed by ‘treats employees with respect,’ ‘socially responsible,’ ‘loyal employees,’ ‘clear vision,’ and ‘quality research.