The orthodox business model of many drug discovery and development companies centres on adding value to early-stage discoveries prior to engaging with large pharmaceutical companies to bring products to market. Anecdotal observations suggest some companies are moving to a ‘virtual’ business model – instead of employing in-house scientists, a skeletal management team runs the company and out-sources all research and development. This article presents a novel method to determine whether companies are virtual, based on author bylines in peer-reviewed journal articles.

Applying this method to Australian companies in this sector, the size of the cohort identified as virtual was much larger than anticipated, around 52%. The accuracy of this method has been verified statistically using interview data. This article discusses the value and limitations of this method, positing that it can be used to analyse industry and policy implications that may result from widespread adoption of the virtual model

The PhD is becoming more and more prevalent as a degree. However, PhD students are not adequately prepared for careers outside academia and most of them have trouble translating their skills to the job market. The biotech sector is a science-driven industry that is now mature and flourishing and requires business leaders that are technically trained. But technical skills are only a partial requirement, with in-depth industry education and knowledge being equally important. There is an inherent advantage to pursuing a PhD alongside education in management in the form of an advanced/professional master’s degree. This will allow PhDs to explore alternative careers outside academia.

On April 1, 2013, the Supreme Court in India handed down its decision to dismiss Swiss drug maker Novartis AG’s attempt to win patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec. In doing so, the Supreme Court held that incremental improvements or modifications to an existing drug are not patentable under India’s patent laws. While the ruling may have allowed India to maintain its ability to manufacture generic drugs, the ruling has increased the challenges that pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies face in obtaining patent protection in India. In the long term, these challenges may prove to have far greater implications for the biotechnology industry that go beyond merely the patentability of one drug product. In view of this recent decision, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are undoubtedly re-evaluating their foreign patent strategies.

The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology announces the publication of the July 2013 issue, featuring new papers on biotechnology management and commercialization.

A common challenge faced pharmaceutical industry analysts, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals is obtaining objective information on recently approved drugs.

This guest post is from the BiotechBlog Intern,  Fintan Burke. Fintan is a student at the School of Biotechnology at Dublin

This paper is part of the free Open Access archive of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology
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This is a guest post from Susan K Finston, President of Finston Consulting. Do you have a response to Susan’s