Challenges for pharmaceutical sales jobs, healthcare investing (Best of MedCitizens)

Every week, MedCity News highlights the best of its MedCitizens: syndication partners and MedCity News readers who discuss life science current events on MedCityNews.com.

Now here’s the best of what YOU had to say:

Pharmaceutical sales jobs keep getting harder (and require an iPad). “There’s still a role for sales reps, but they’re having to work a lot harder and smarter to earn their keep. ”

Orthopedic industry struggles won’t defeat Stryker, CEO says. Stryker Corp. CEO Stephen MacMillan said the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based orthopedic and medical equipment giant has proven its mettle in tough times, something he said would allow it to continue to perform, despite struggles in the orthopedic industry.

The Squeeze of the VCs: Four Conspiring Trends. A favorite rant of many med tech entrepreneurs involves their disdain for venture capitalists. They wax poetically about not taking money from traditional venture funds. For some start-ups, it may be a chest-thumping expression of sour grapes, while others eventually cave and raise a VC round. Increasingly, though, emerging companies are making real on the threat and advance a long way with no or relatively little traditional venture dollars.

Medical device companies of any size benefit from stage-gate approach. “Despite the many challenges that larger companies have in developing new products, to their credit, most medical device companies have mastered the process of Stage-gate portfolio management. Startups and single product development efforts don’t typically manage a portfolio of projects, and hence have not paid as close attention to following a stage-gated approach.”