By Sara Gilgore – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal – May 21, 2025 – Once the Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a plan to cut 10,000 positions, United Therapeutics Corp. didn’t waste time.
The publicly traded Silver Spring drugmaker saw an opportunity to scoop up some of that talent, hiring a handful of former HHS employees, including from the Food and Drug Administration, and entering into consulting agreements with others, according to Dewey Steadman, UT’s head of investor relations. The 1,305-person company, which counts about 250 D.C.-area employees, has even created a role for one professional with “specific skills that are critical to us,” he said.
United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR) isn’t alone. AstraZeneca, Lonza Group, Kite Pharmaceuticals and Thermo Fisher Scientific are among the local life sciences firms actively hiring, and while no one is cheering the loss of so many public-sector jobs, “there’s a clear opportunity to connect federal talent with private-sector innovation,” said Richard Bendis, president and CEO of Rockville’s BioHealth Innovation Inc.
“These are folks with deep regulatory, scientific, and policy expertise who know how to navigate complex systems and bring big ideas to life,” Bendis said. “And in a region like ours, that’s a serious asset.”
