The April 1 2014 issue of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology has just been published, and features the following papers: […]

New books from the publisher of the Journal of CommercialBiotechnology

Biomedical and health entrepreneurship continues to expand around the world. Driven by global pressures to optimize the allocation of scarce resources, life science bioentrepreneurs are creating innovative products, platforms, service and systems that …

The prospect of government regulation, product liability lawsuits, and customer reliance on third-party payers contribute to the complexity of valuing biotech start-ups. In addition, the inherent complexity of biologic drug manufacturing and storage creates secondary risks that must be considered in a valuation.

The purpose of this study was to test the unexplored relationship between market orientation (MO), alliance orientation (AO), and business performance (PERF) in the medical/healthcare subsector of the Canadian biotechnology industry.  The study surveyed Canadian biotechnology executives via mail and web-based questionnaires.  It was found that the relationship between MO and PERF was positive and significant and the relationship between AO and PERF was positive and significant.  It was also found that the relationship between MO and AO was positive and significant, supporting the existence of a mediation relationship.  Specifically, MO’s influence on PERF was found to be fully mediated by AO.  This suggests that Canadian medical/healthcare biotechnology companies that were highly market-oriented were also highly alliance-oriented, and highly alliance-oriented companies were top performing companies.  This study outlines the apparent sequential relationship between market-oriented behavioural commitments, alliance-oriented activities, and business performance outcomes among Canadian biotechnology companies.  Furthermore, it has business development and the commercialization process implications for biotechnology managers.

This paper is an examination of the economics, organizational dynamics and structural factors inhibiting an electronic market for intellectual property.  Several intermediaries exist to facilitate the transition of intellectual property (IP) from sellers to buyers.  Over the past 20 years, a number of companies attempted to create an online “eBay for IP.”  These IP Exchanges (IPEs) failed to gain traction in competition with other mediums that provide channels to facilitate IP transactions.  Compounding the problem is the concentration of intellectual property assets amongst a small group of institutions and within those institutions as well as organizational hurdles inherent in academic technology transfer offices.  As a result, the business model for an online IPE market is fundamentally challenging, and no successful IPE exists to date.

Abstract

The growing share of biopharmaceuticals is paralleled by an increasing interest in biogenerics, as blockbuster biologics are approaching their patent expiries. Companies need to make decisions whether to invest in biosimilars or in biobetters with enhanced properties, the latter enabling favorable differentiation vis-à-vis the original product on the one hand and biosimilars on the other hand. Net present value (NPV) modelling was applied to evaluate the financial attractiveness of two categories of biobetters in comparison to biosimilars, and recommendations are made which options should be preferred depending on a company’s business model.

Canada plays a significant role in the global advancement of scientific discoveries and their translation into commercial opportunities, but is viewed as not fully realizing its commercial potential. A significant problem has been a lack of sufficient venture capital to take early-stage companies to the next level. Several recent developments may signal the arrival of a more positive venture-funding environment for life sciences and health technology enterprises, including the development of the Canadian government’s C$400 million Venture Capital Action Plan; pharmaceutical companies electing to establish or investing in venture funds and providing strategic support to early-stage ventures, including through the creation of research centres; and recent successful liquidity events for venture investors.

In recent years, the major research-intensive biopharmaceutical companies (big pharma) have come face to face with a perfect storm of eroding profit margins from blockbuster expiration and generic competition coupled with growing R&D expenses and d…

Ihave had the pleasure of participating in national forums on biotechnology development in diverse countries. A common theme I see is that emerging economies wish to develop ‘a biotechnology industry like the United States.’ I generally temper these ambitions by explaining that the United States does not have a biotechnology industry per se, but rather a handful of states have very strong biotechnology concentrations and many other states are still trying to build their domestic biotechnology industries. So the lesson for many emerging economies is to set ambitions at the US-state level rather than the US-national level. Furthermore, I also caution against aiming for drug development. Drug development is extremely expensive and risky—focusing on domestic agricultural or industrial biotechnology opportunities may be a better option.