Author name: Yali Friedman

This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
Growth of Indian biotech companies, in the context of the international biotechnology industry
Go to paperABSTRACT: The paper discusses the evolution and…

This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
Technology transfer in the biomedical sciences: The Medical Research Council approach
Go to paperABSTRACT: This paper describes why the UK Medical Resear…

This is a guest post from Robert E. Wanerman, a member of Epstein Becker Green’s Health Care and Life Sciences

This is a guest post from Susan K Finston, President of Finston Consulting. Do you have a response to Susan’s

Patents require regular ‘maintenance’ payments to keep them in force. Because the cost of maintaining large patent portfolios can be substantial,

Using an effectuation theory lens, we study reverse stock splits in the biotech industry where significant uncertainty makes specific scenarios of success difficult to predict. We conjecture and find that, in contrast to other environments where there is less uncertainty, reverse stock splits in the biotech industry are followed by positive abnormal returns over the subsequent 1- to 12-months. Also consistent with our effectuation-based predictions, we find that these returns are positively related to the reverse split ratio, size, cash holding, and long-term debt, and negatively related to the market-to-book ratio and firm age. We also find that liquidity increases after a reverse stock split. These results suggest that the concept of effectuation theory is better suited to analyzing reverse stock splits in the biotech industry. 

Self-healing concrete has been scrutinized by several researchers and some industrial concrete producers in relation to the remediation of the occurrence of micro-cracks. Such cracks are a quite well known problem that can lead to corrosion of the steel reinforcement and thus to the possible failure of the entire concrete structure. The need to repair these cracks as soon as possible leads to maintenance costs which can be of the order of €130 (direct costs) per m³ of concrete. Recent scientific studies indicate that a Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP), using microbial spores as active agent, can be an alternative for the actual repair methods. However, the production of bacterial spores is yet imposing considerable costs. According to some concrete producers they would be willing to pay about €15 to €20 per m³ of concrete for a bio-based self-healing product. However, the actual cost of spores production and encapsulation represent a total cost which is orders of magnitude higher. This article analyzes the costs for the biological self-healing in concrete and evaluates the industrial challenges it faces. There is an urgent need to develop the production of a bio-additive at much lower costs to make the biological self-healing industrial applicable. Axenic production and a possible non-axenic process to obtain ureolytic spores were analyzed and the costs calculations are presented in this paper.

Good leaders in the biosciences share multiple characteristics, starting with certain personality traits – some that are particularly unique and important to the bioscience sector.   They also understand certain concepts, which are necessary for bioscience companies to be successful. 

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the association between changes in corporate marginal tax rates (MTRs) and measures of both innovative activity and capital structure among publicly-traded biotechnology firms.  Across a 1980-2010 time frame, a five-year distributed Almon lag model was utilized to assess the effect of annual changes in MTRs upon patenting activity, research and development (R&D) expenditures, cash and short-term investments, debt-to-asset ratios, and debt-to-equity ratios.  Across the 99 biotech firms studied, results suggested that increases in MTRs were significantly associated with marked decreases in patents, R&D expenditures, and cash and other short-term investments.  Additionally, large and statistically significant increases in both debt-to-asset and debt-to-equity ratios were observed with annual increases in MTRs.  While this research can not necessarily discern whether capital structure changes occurred either as an ex-ante response to or an ex-post result of MTR increases, the implication of decreased patenting activity warrants continued evaluations of both internal financial decision making and external tax policy.

This paper examines the creation of a forensic biotechnology program that engages students, promotes science learning beyond the classroom and makes available novel STEM opportunities to an area which previously had little biotechnology educational off…