Introduction
The biotechnology (Biotech) industry is now around 30 years old, long enough to investigate how it is produced. Unfortunately, despite its success, it hasn’t kept its promise.
Biotech’s business model is based on a history of decline, with research foundations moving east and advancing increasingly difficult funding. And the gap between Biotech and the pharmaceutical industry (Pharma) widens, with the merger of the two divisions. But Biotech cannot turn to Pharma for guidance because there are other disadvantages to the pharmaceutical business model – as we explain in “Pharma 2020: A solid business model”, our white paper published in April 2009.1 So what should Biotech do?
We believe it should take advantage of the opportunities offered by the healthcare sector – and then bounce back by engaging in a collaborative process. In these pages, we will examine the key points that identify the need for innovative approaches to research and development (R&D), as well as two organizational concepts that will help the biopharmaceutical industry to operate more efficiently. We will also look at the specifics for other aspects of the value proposition.
What is Biotechnology?
Biotechnology is not a separate sector, so it is a disruptive combination of technologies to discover and develop new drugs and to identify and treat patients more effectively. We will focus here on the business model of Biotech: its specificity, its impact on pharmaceutical production and its support (or other) for the current economic and scientific situation.