Publications

June 2004
Case

Aventis SA (B): A Company is Born

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Horizontal Integration; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

August 2001
Case

Scios, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Scios, filled with distinguished scientists and experienced managers, nevertheless fails to clear the FDA Phase III process for an important biotechnology drug. This case asks the students to analyze the social costs and benefits of the regulatory process. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Cost vs Benefits; Social Issues; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

January 2017
Case

Medtronic: Making the Big Leap Forward (A)

By: William W. George and Monica Baraldi

In 2014, Medtronic was about to execute a $50 billion acquisition of Ireland-based Covidien. Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak was committed to building the largest medical technology company in the world while broadening its ability to fulfill its mission of “alleviating... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Medtronic; Covidien; Mission; Tax Inversion; Business Strategy; Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe; Minnesota; United States

April 2002
Article

A Tale of Two Experts: Thalidomide and Political Engagement in the United States and West Germany

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Keywords: Health; Government and Politics; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Germany

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August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Note on Generic Drugs in the European Union

By: Robert C. Pozen and Elizabeth M. Leonard

Rules governing the introduction of generic drugs in U.S. and EU have some similarities but significant differences because of the Hatch-Waxman Act in the U.S. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry; European Union; United States

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01 Mar 2003
News

Inside the Revolution

care and life sciences issues, with the lion’s share focusing on the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. More than twenty HBS professors from different disciplines have contributed to this effort, which Pisano says is analogous to the... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Eileen McCluskey; Jonathan West; Life Sciences Project; LSP; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2012
News

A Silent Workplace Crisis

pharmaceuticals, the gap between the medical and the mental health systems, and the time required to find community resources and quality home care. My previous experience as a pharmaceutical executive and management consultant seemed... View Details

Keywords: Janet Simpson Benvenuti; caregiving; aging; Nursing and Residential Care Facilities; Health, Social Assistance

01 Mar 2005
News

Facing Ambiguity

successfully executed in a paper case.” The case, which will be taught this spring in the MBA second-year course General Management: Processes and Action, debuted last fall in a customized Executive Education program for a group of View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Space Research and Technology; Government

26 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe

Keywords: by Fiona Scott Morton, Ariel Dora Stern, and Scott Stern; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

01 Sep 2010
News

Fair Trade

pharmaceuticals and software, and far above the average of all industries. Many apparent paradoxes add to the puzzle posed by the industry. While rarely considered fundamentally “bad,” such as the trade in narcotics or tobacco, the beauty... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Chemical Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

05 Jan 2011
Op-Ed

Funding Unpredictability Around Stem-Cell Research Inflicts Heavy Cost on Scientific Progress

In light of the latest developments of the on-again, off-again, on-again government funding of human embryonic stem-cell research, it is time to consider the devastating implications of this chaotic funding environment. And to do that, one needs to understand how a... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Bayer AG (A)

By: John A. Quelch

Bayer's senior executives convene in Germany to consider submitting a $1 billion bid that would recover the Bayer brand name and trademark cross in North America, both of which were confiscated by the U.S. government after World War I. The group also sets out to assess... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Brands and Branding; War; Communication; Trademarks; Acquisition; Government and Politics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Germany; North America; United States

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12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

electricity and turned India into the world's largest tea producer during the nineteenth century. They built automobile industries in Latin America after World War II. And so on. Book Excerpt Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

November 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

GTC Biotherapeutics: Developing Medicines in the Milk of Goats

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Sarah Morton

GTC is the first company in the animal world to receive FDA approval of a transgenic pharmaceutical. What are the implications for other firms in plants and animals and their opportunities to produce new medicines in an economical and safe fashion? View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Science-Based Business; Medical Specialties; Product; Technological Innovation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

10 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID's Surprising Toll on Careers of Women Scientists

COVID-19 is claiming an unexpected career toll among scientific researchers, and particularly on women, new research shows. If you are female, have young children, or work in a lab, you are more likely to feel the career-crunching effects dealt by the pandemic,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

14 May 2014
News

(Re)moving the Needle

that of his father, who was trained as an engineer and ended up in the pharmaceutical industry. He holds MSc and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from ETH Zurich and MIT, respectively, and he spent a year pursuing advanced studies in... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; medical technology; Scientific Research and Development Services

May 2015
Case

Transforming Alkermes into a Global Biopharmaceutical Company

By: C. Fritz Foley and Nicholas Haas

In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT)—a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information... View Details

Keywords: Financing; Debt; Merger; CFO; Financial Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

February 1997 (Revised June 1999)
Teaching Note

Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (A) TN

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Teaching Note for (9-696-015). View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Massachusetts