Adviser and Business Mentor to Bioscience SMEs and Startups
Pfizer’s proposed Hospira acquisition is the latest in a long line of deals that have moved generic drugs into the mainstream of Big Pharma corporate strategy. Once seen as threats eating away at their expensively-built revenue streams, generics now have a distinct role in many Big Pharmas’ business models.
Continue reading “Generics have come full circle for Big Pharma”
I regularly get asked about the difference between a “collaboration” versus an “alliance” in the business or scientific domain, and also between “collaboration management” and “alliance management”. This is a short blog post to clear up the confusion.
Continue reading “How does an Alliance differ from a Collaboration?”
In this final instalment of our 3-part series, we look at bioscience platform companies as they mature into focused product businesses. What drives this transition? What are the key success factors as a focused product business? This article covers in more detail Stage 4 of the lifecycle of bioscience platform companies depicted below:
Continue reading “How Bioscience Platform Companies mature into Focused Product Businesses”
In this second instalment of our 3-part series, we look at the adolescent and early adulthood stages of bioscience platform companies. What drives the transition to these stages? What are the key success factors during these stages? This article discusses in more detail Stages 2 and 3 of the lifecycle of bioscience platform companies depicted below:
Continue reading “Bioscience Platform Companies as Technology/Service Providers and Hybrid Businesses”
What are bioscience platform companies? And how do they eventually develop into fully-fledged product businesses? Most industry participants, commentators and investors recognize and understand start-up biotech companies at one extreme, and fully-fledged pharmaceutical and medical device product companies at the other. However bioscience platform companies are neither. They can be very healthy businesses, yet bereft of product revenues or even profits for many years. And for much of their lifecycle, they can be very difficult for investors to pin a precise valuation on.
Continue reading “Bioscience Platform Companies and their Lifecycle”
Collaborations between pharmaceutical or medical technology companies with academic research groups exhibit certain distinctive features not present when these industry players partner with each other. We look at some of the unique challenges and opportunities thrown up in these situations.
Continue reading “Ensuring Successful Industry-Academia Collaborations”
In this third instalment of our three-part series, we look at the key success factors driving successful execution of R&D collaborations between smaller biotech/medtech companies or academic research groups (‘David’) with much larger multinational corporations (‘Goliath’).
Continue reading “Key Success Factors during Collaboration Execution”
A number of critical ingredients need to be in place at the outset of R&D collaborations between smaller biotech/medtech companies or academic research groups (‘David’) with much larger multinational corporations (‘Goliath’). In this second instalment of our three-part series, we discuss how these ingredients greatly improve the chances of success in such collaborations.
Continue reading “Critical Ingredients at the Outset of Collaboration”
Continued industry-wide decline in R&D productivity has led to the tremendous growth of R&D externalisation in bioscience and health technology over the past decade. In particular, there has been a dramatic proliferation of “David-and-Goliath” collaborations between small companies or academic research groups (‘David’) with much larger multinational corporations (‘Goliath’). But can this ultimately reverse the productivity decline? In this article, the first of a three-part series, we describe (in addition to the usual scientific and marketplace challenges) some hidden reasons for R&D project failures in this sector. Unless the industry gets better at managing these less visible risk factors, the productivity gains from increased R&D externalisation could be rapidly eroded.
Continue reading “Hidden Reasons for Collaboration Failures”
Managers at all levels are increasingly involved in strategy development and execution. With this audience in mind, this article aims to demystify a few common misconceptions and clarify some essential truths about Strategy.
Continue reading “Five Things Managers Need to Know about Strategy”
Robert Thong 