Biotechnology is a hot topic in today’s global economy. It promises to help humanity, so it often receives startup funding from governments. Success stories show the strong financial potential of the right investments. Big pharmaceutical companies (“big pharma”) can purchase entire companies for large amounts of profits. Yet the risks are great, with an estimated 90% of ventures ending in non-successful outcomes. There seems little that can be done to predict success from the outset. This book offers hard knowledge for business folk to make smarter decisions whatever their role in the industry.
The authors present data that show, in drug development, a decentralized approach driven by small biotech companies is more successful than a centralized approach driven by big pharma. Even a host of support companies have grown up, called contract research organizations or CROs, to manage various parts of the drug discovery process. The main challenge of a newer biotech firm is to continually drum up enough money to keep going.
However, when drumming up money, firms can attract investors with their own agendas. Short-term investors are more interested in flipping a quick profit and thus are more interested in successful press than a successful product. CEOs must manage investor expectations and opinions as a prime job responsibility. It’s easy for the drug, with all their promise for patients and profits, to fall into the background to pecuniary concerns.
I’m involved in healthcare via informatics in a university setting. This book offered me a greater understanding of the challenges my colleagues face with drug development. Obviously, the topic is of huge interest for anyone involved first-hand in the medical system. This book offers a good summary for those interested the the financial angles, but like a lot of business books, it reduces the effort to a financial analysis. For readers, it successfully rips off any rose-colored glasses one might have towards investing in these companies. Such clairvoyance is needed when approaching investment, of money or of careers, in a venture as risky and new as biotechnology.
From Breakthrough to Blockbuster: The Business of Biotechnology
By Donald L. Drakeman, Lisa N. Drakeman & Nektarios Oraiopoulos
Narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla
Text copyright (c) 2022
Oxford University Press
Audio copyright (c) 2022
Ascent Audio
ASIN B0B789WF67
Length: 7:01
Genre: Biotechnology, Business
www.amazon.com