Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(639)
- Faculty Publications (180)
- December 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
Amgen Inc.'s Epogen--Commercializing the First Biotech Blockbuster Drug
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis A. Yao
Amgen Inc.'s Epogen was the first biotech blockbuster drug. Epogen helped prevent anemia, a condition that leads to severe fatigue, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and even death. At the time, the market for Epogen, which included dialysis patients and... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
WuXi PharmaTech
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Simin Zhou
WuXi Pharmatech has gone from zero to $21 million in sales in three years. The company must decide its growth strategy and how best to finance and organize for rapid growth. View Details
- February 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Rx Depot: Importing Drugs from Canada
By: Debora L. Spar
In 2002, a handful of entrepreneurs began to ship drugs from Canada into the United States, taking advantage of regulatory and price differentials across the neighboring countries. Using the Internet and a low-cost network of Canadian pharmacies, firms like Rx Depot... View Details
- January 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Edwin W. Parkinson III
Molecular Insight has developed a novel biopharmaceutical to detect heart attacks. The company's unique approach to intellectual property protection uses the Hatch Waxman Act and the Orphan Drug Act. The company is struggling to raise $7 million in Series B financing.... View Details
- July 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Pfizer's Virtual CIO (Abridged)
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
Discusses the IT organization and IT strategy issues facing Pfizer, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Managing over $1 billion of IT expense, the company has a committee approach for handling all critical IT decisions, an approach that is consistent... View Details
- June 2004
- Case
Aventis SA (A): Planning for a Merger
By: Joshua D. Margolis and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Eight executives at Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc must make four crucial decisions on the eve of merging their companies to become Aventis--what would become the world's third largest pharmaceutical firm. In addition to formulating a vision and strategy, the two firms must... View Details
- June 2004
- Case
Aventis SA (B): A Company is Born
By: Joshua D. Margolis and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
- June 2004 (Revised June 2006)
- Supplement
Vertex Pharmaceuticals: R&D Portfolio Management (A)
By: Gary P. Pisano, Lee Fleming and Eli Strick
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug discovery company that recently decided to pursue a vertically integrated business model, chose to build up its clinical development and commercial capabilities and infrastructure. For the first time in its history, Vertex will... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised May 2006)
- Case
Cipla
By: Rohit Deshpande and Laura Winig
The head of Cipla, a $325-million-dollar Indian pharmaceutical company and seller of low-cost AIDS drugs to South Africa, must decide what to do about Cipla's future. With India poised to enforce international patents in only two years, much of Cipla's product line... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised August 2005)
- Case
UCB (A): Managing Information for Globalization and Innovation
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
This case presents a complex total MIS strategy case for a $3 billion European pharmaceutical/chemicals company based in Brussels. It covers corporate strategy alignment of IT portfolio, IT operations issues, and global coordination of IT. View Details
- June 2002 (Revised November 2005)
- Case
Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa
By: Debora L. Spar
In the final years of the 20th century, the world was hit by a plague of epidemic proportions--AIDS, a life-threatening disease that remained stubbornly immune to any cure or vaccine. In the developed nations of the West, AIDS was slowly brought under control through a... View Details
- February 2002
- Case
Fighting AIDS and Pricing Drugs
In early 2001, makers of AIDS drugs were suing to prevent developing countries from violating their patents. The issue was driven by price. The developing countries could not afford the market price for these drugs. At the same time, the drug companies were reluctant... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Helios Health (A)
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Alfred Martin
Helios PC system provides personalized drug information to the patients in the doctor's waiting room. It has met with considerable consumer acceptance and a very high return for the drug companies that sponsor it. What price should it charge them for the service? View Details
- July 2001 (Revised August 2005)
- Case
Medicines Company, The
It is early 2001 and the Medicines Co. just received FDA approval to market Angiomax, a blood thinner to be used during angioplasties and heart procedures. It is intended to be a better alternative to Heparin, an 80-year-old drug that costs less then $10 per dose. The... View Details
- January 2001
- Case
Abgenix and the XenoMouse
By: Robert J. Dolan
Abgenix has a unique method for generating antibodies useful in treating a number of diseases, including cancer. In early 2000, the company's cancer has performed very well in animal testing and is moving to early stage human testing. Abgenix must decide whether to... View Details
- January 2001 (Revised July 2003)
- Case
Pharmacyclics: Financing Research & Development
By: Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia
Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), a pharmaceutical company that manufactures products that will improve existing therapeutic treatments for cancer, arteriosclerosis, and retinal disease, was considering a $60 million private placement in February 2000. The company had more... View Details
- December 2000 (Revised January 2001)
- Background Note
Promise of Functional Foods, The
By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Laure Mougeot Stroock
This case presents a definition of functional foods or nutraceuticals (food or food ingredients that could provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients they contain), a description of some of the major obstacles to their commercialization and... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision
By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs
In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details
- December 1999
- Case
Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (A)
By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov
After spending five years to develop a revolutionary product, the director of Ciba-Geigy's fungicide research department is handed an unfavorable market study. The case details the R&D process for the new product, including information on corporate partnerships,... View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Marketing Channels; Change Management; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry
- March 1999
- Case
Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)
By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan
In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States