Publications

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business of Babies

fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and adoption demand payments of $10,000 and up. The largest demand in this market consists of infertile couples. Last year, some two million U.S. couples underwent fertility treatments. Additional demand includes same-sex couples, those... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

October 2011
Case

Gene Sequencing: Staking a Position in an Expanding Industry

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Mara Aspinall and Phillip Andrews

Towards the end of 2010, companies in the gene sequencing industry were pushing aggressive R&D programs to develop technologies and products in the race to sequence the entire human genome at a cost of $1,000. It remained to be seen when the "$1,000 genome" would... View Details

Keywords: Genetics; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Plan; Competition; Venture Capital; Biotechnology Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Anagene, Inc.

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Christina L. Darwall

An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product--cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Production; Performance Capacity; Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Biotechnology Industry; California

Web

Winners & Success Stories | New Venture Competition

Panjiva) will help smaller businesses find overseas suppliers they can trust; unlike existing supplier databases, GRC’s “reputation database” will feature feedback from previous customers about what it’s like to do business with the suppliers in our database. Good... View Details

26 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Syngenta Tomato Vision

years. However, only about 2% of all tested varieties in the greenhouse end up commercialized! Syngenta’s technology differs from genetically modified organisms (GMO) as they only leverage genes that exist naturally in tomatoes, whereas... View Details

November 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Drugs on the Forefront of Personalized Medicine: The Erbitux and Vectibix Story

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Raju Kucherlapati and Rachel Gordon

In May 2007, Amgen Inc. (Amgen) received disappointing news from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) that its drug Vectibix, developed to fight metastatic colorectal cancer, had been rejected. This was especially surprising news given that a similar rival drug had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Europe; United States

27 Apr 2023
News

Life Preserver

of the world's population but only 0.5% of transplants are performed there. Giwa and his colleagues at the Global Solutions Program investigated ideas for creating more organs: Could technology be developed to 3D-print organs? Could pig organs be View Details

Keywords: April White

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Plavix: Drugs in the Age of Personalized Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Mara G. Aspinall and Rachel Gordon

PIavix, one of the world's best selling drugs in 2010, appears to have a limited future. Its patent was due to expire soon, and recently new data had been discovered that indicated that a small subset of the population would be at risk for stroke, heart attack, or even... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Positioning; Business and Government Relations; Genetics; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

07 Oct 2014
News

Network Effect

Harvard geneticist focused on finding genetic links to the disease. He had already discovered three of the four then-known genes associated with Alzheimer’s. “Part of my skill set is I can recognize world-class talent when I see it,” says... View Details

Keywords: Linda Kush

01 Jun 2000
News

Managing the Map

Health (NIH) undertook the Human Genome Project, an effort to map the extraordinarily intricate chemical composition of the human genome. Scientists have long believed that understanding the vast genetic code underlying all human life... View Details

Keywords: Peter K. Jacobs

04 Nov 2021
Blog Post

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: JESSE LOU (MBA 2022) – WORKING TO CHANGE THE FOOD SYSTEM

oils, using a lot less land and resources. It’s no secret that these are powerful organisms, but past attempts to scale production have faced challenging unit economics (high up-front capital costs for facilities, selling into commodity markets). We believe that... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship

04 Nov 2021
Blog Post

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: JESSE LOU (MBA 2022) – WORKING TO CHANGE THE FOOD SYSTEM

oils, using a lot less land and resources. It’s no secret that these are powerful organisms, but past attempts to scale production have faced challenging unit economics (high up-front capital costs for facilities, selling into commodity markets). We believe that... View Details

January 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

iZumi

By: Robert F. Higgins, Jacob Ian Broder-Fingert, Eliot Sherman and Sidhartha Palani

Presents the issues faced while building an innovative company in an emerging space with new intellectual property from the perspective of a venture capitalist. Beth Seidenberg, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), had helped... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Globalized Markets and Industries; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Rights; Genetics; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry