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ABSTRACT: Alder Hey Children's Hospital supplied parts of the thymus gland removed from young children during heart surgery to a pharmaceutical company. The circumstances raised a number of very serious issues to the medical research community and have led to a consideration of the legal and ethical framework in which human tissue is used for medical research...
The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology is a unique forum for all those involved in biotechnology commercialization to present, share, and explore new ideas, latest thinking and best practices, making it an indispensable guide for those developing projects and careers within this fast moving field.
Each issue publishes peer-reviewed, authoritative, cutting-edge articles written by the leading practitioners and researchers in the field, addressing topics such as:
- Management
- Policy
- Finance
- Law
- Regulation
- Bioethics
For more information, see the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology website
I will be presenting at Bioinnovation 2014 in Gdansk, Poland on October 20-21st.
My talk will cover entrepreneurship and business development guidance from my textbook, Building Biotechnology and global competitiveness considerations from my global biotechnology ranking for Scientific American Worldview.
I look forward to meeting European and Polish biotechnology practitioners, and learning more about biotechnology in Poland.
When:
October 20-21, 2014
Where:
Gdansk Science & Technology Park
This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
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ABSTRACT: Presents a study that examined the history, ethical debates and religious views regarding embryo and stem cell research in the U.S. Effect of the abortion debate on embryo research in the U.S.; Reason behind the reluctance of the federal government to fund therapeutic research; Role of the private sector in the development of embryo and stem cell research.
The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology is a unique forum for all those involved in biotechnology commercialization to present, share, and explore new ideas, latest thinking and best practices, making it an indispensable guide for those developing projects and careers within this fast moving field.
Each issue publishes peer-reviewed, authoritative, cutting-edge articles written by the leading practitioners and researchers in the field, addressing topics such as:
- Management
- Policy
- Finance
- Law
- Regulation
- Bioethics
For more information, see the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology website
Mergers and acquisitions are regular events for biotechnology companies. I have often been asked if being acquired is a goal for biotechnology companies, and if it is seen as a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ thing.
Value Creation in Biotechnology
The outlook on merging with another company, or being acquired, is really just a matter of timing. As I describe in my textbook, Building Biotechnology, the goal of young biotechnology companies is to de-risk their technologies to the point that the value of the company exceeds the time and financial investments. For example, the value of most biotechnology companies will be lower than the inputs for the course of much of their early research. Ideally, there will be an inflection point(s) as R&D progresses where the potential of serving lucrative markets will yield a healthy valuation. At this point, a company may lean on its strong valuation to raise funds at attractive rates, or seek to sell/license technologies or seek to merge with or be acquired by a more mature firm.
This brisk illustration glosses over many of the nuances of biotechnology R&D and fund raising; the greater point I want to make is how public companies can avoid being acquired.
When the perceived value of a company exceeds the cost to acquire that company, investors and acquirers may seek to purchase the company, to profit from the difference in the company’s value vs. its cost. While a private company (and its shareholders) may resist acquisition by simply not selling their shares, public companies do not have that luxury. Because shares in public companies can be purchased on open exchanges, it may not be possible for a public company to prevent acquisition by restricting the sale of stock.
So, what can a public company do to prevent acquisition?
On a recent visit to Carlsbad, California, I asked this very question of ISIS Pharmaceuticals CEO Stanley T. Crooke*. He had a relatively simple answer: Offer potential acquirers the technology and products they seek at a price that is lower than the cost to acquire the whole company.
Unfortunately time did not allow two important follow-up questions: Firstly, how can a CEO prevent being overruled by the board of directors (who are charged with representing the interests of shareholders) when intentionally sacrificing short-term returns for a potential long-term payout? And, secondly, what is to prevent an aggressive company from acquiring ISIS if only to prevent another licensee from doing the same and blocking the first licensee from its access to ISIS’ technologies?
*An interesting note about Stanley Crooke. He founded ISIS more than 20 years ago, and remains CEO to this day. This is in sharp contrast to most biotechnology company founders, who are replaced shortly following venture financing or IPO (When should you fire the founder)
This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
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ABSTRACT: Biopharmaceuticals and innovative therapeutic solutions offer treatments that are increasingly tailored to patient needs. Although biotechnology has produced health benefits, biopharmaceutical products require resources that governments had not planned or budgeted for in the appropriate time frame...
The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology is a unique forum for all those involved in biotechnology commercialization to present, share, and explore new ideas, latest thinking and best practices, making it an indispensable guide for those developing projects and careers within this fast moving field.
Each issue publishes peer-reviewed, authoritative, cutting-edge articles written by the leading practitioners and researchers in the field, addressing topics such as:
- Management
- Policy
- Finance
- Law
- Regulation
- Bioethics
For more information, see the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology website
I will be giving a talk on September 10th at George Washington University on two recent data analytics projects:
Firstly, I will present Scientific American Worldview, a global biotechnology ranking I developed six years ago and have managed since. The primary challenges in developing Worldview have been ensuring that the product is accessible to a general audience and ensuring that it delivers actionable guidance to countries at all levels of development.
The second project I will present is PatentStat.com, a website dedicated to increasing transparency in patent prosecution. PatentStat ranks patent attorneys and law firms in 33 technology areas, and profiles patent examiners. The primary challenges in developing PatentStat have been reducing the multi-terabyte United States patent database into a focused dataset amenable to manipulation on commodity hardware and, once again, ensuring the product is accessible to a general audience by actionable and relevant to an advanced audience.
Where:
GWU, Funger Hall, Room 103
2201 G St. NW, Washington, DC
When:
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Hope to see you there!
This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
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ABSTRACT: This paper analyses Australian biotechnology initial public offerings and the role of media coverage during the issue period in explaining capital raising, sentiment and underpricing. This paper finds empirical support for the hypothesis that an issuing company that receives more press coverage during the listing process leaves significantly more money on the table than those who receive less coverage, a finding consistent with the presence of sentiment effects and hot issue periods.
The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology is a unique forum for all those involved in biotechnology commercialization to present, share, and explore new ideas, latest thinking and best practices, making it an indispensable guide for those developing projects and careers within this fast moving field.
Each issue publishes peer-reviewed, authoritative, cutting-edge articles written by the leading practitioners and researchers in the field, addressing topics such as:
- Management
- Policy
- Finance
- Law
- Regulation
- Bioethics
For more information, see the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology website
This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
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ABSTRACT: The low adoption rate of new technologies by rural communities in developing countries in the 1970s and 1980s revealed a need for a different approach to the setting of research agendas and technology transfer. More recent programmes have shown a shift away from 'top-down' researcher-led projects, towards a 'bottom-up' participatory approach...
The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology is a unique forum for all those involved in biotechnology commercialization to present, share, and explore new ideas, latest thinking and best practices, making it an indispensable guide for those developing projects and careers within this fast moving field.
Each issue publishes peer-reviewed, authoritative, cutting-edge articles written by the leading practitioners and researchers in the field, addressing topics such as:
- Management
- Policy
- Finance
- Law
- Regulation
- Bioethics
For more information, see the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology website
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