Publications

November 1998 (Revised October 1999)
Case

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (A)

Du Pont's chief executive must decide what steps to take as his company expands from commodity and specialized chemicals into biotechnology. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Leading Change; Expansion; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

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; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Germany; North America; United States

April 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Moderna: Pioneering a People Platform to Accelerate Science Innovation

By: Tatiana Sandino, Emil Dy and Samuel Grad

Moderna was founded in 2010 to explore how messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) could be used to create breakthrough medicines by encoding instructions for the body to create antibodies. When Stéphane Bancel (HBS 2000) took over in 2011, he bet on the potential of this... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Strategy; Innovation and Management; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Alignment; Employee Relationship Management; Science-Based Business; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

November 2020
Teaching Note

Valuing Celgene's CVR

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 221-031. When Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) acquired Celgene Corporation in November 2019, Celgene shareholders received cash, BMS stock, and a contingent value right (CVRs) that would pay $9 if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Value; Judgments; Decision Making; Cash Flow; Financial Instruments; Cognition and Thinking; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Spring 2014
Article

Attracting Long-Term Investors Through Integrated Thinking and Reporting: A Clinical Study of a Biopharmaceutical Company

By: Andrew Knauer and George Serafeim

Faced with a large percentage of investors that chase short-term returns, companies could benefit by attracting investors with longer-term horizons and incentives that are more consistent with the long-term strategy of the company. The managers of most companies take... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Asset Management; Long-term Investing; Short-termism; Sustainability; Integrated Reporting; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Pharmaceuticals; Leadership; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Investment; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Finance; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

February 2010
Background Note

Millipore Background Note

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

This note provides background on Millipore Corporation, a global provider of products and services used primarily in the discovery, development and production of therapeutic drugs. With a track record of quickly adapting to the evolving needs of its customers,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

July 2009
Teaching Note

Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Strategy (TN)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III

Teaching Note for [809004]. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Growth and Development; Financing and Loans; Investment; Emerging Markets; Renewable Energy; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Singapore; Kuwait; China

March 2009
Teaching Note

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope (TN)

By: Joshua D. Margolis

Teaching Note for [408025], [408026], [408027], and [408028]. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

2006
Chapter

BioRisk: interleukin-2 from laboratory to market in the United States and Germany

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Keywords: Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Health Testing and Trials; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Germany

June 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Novartis: The Challenge of Success (C)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

Supplements the (A) and (B) cases. View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Genzyme: Engineering the Market for Orphan Drugs

Genzyme has made money with external technology in orphan drug markets generally considered to be too small to be attractive to other drug companies. Now competition is entering these same markets, placing Genzyme's business model under new pressures. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

September 2001
Supplement

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (B)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Cambridge

October 2000
Teaching Note

Kendle International Inc. TN

By: Dwight B. Crane and Indra Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (9-200-033). View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

September 1997
Case

Bayer AG (B)

By: John A. Quelch

Bayer's senior executives detail the communications challenge program that resulted from the company's reacquisition of its brand name and trademark cross, which gave Bayer one name worldwide for the first time since World War I. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; War; Acquisition; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Communication Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Germany

2000
Chapter

In Search of Dynamic Capabilities: The Origins of R&D Competence in Biopharmaceuticals

By: Gary P. Pisano

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Research and Development; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

BiomX: Bringing Phage Back to the Stage

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elie Ofek, Orna Dan and Emilie Billaud

In the spring of 2023, and following the favorable results of a trial involving its phage cocktail for treating lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the leadership of BiomX had several critical issues to wrestle with. First, given its precarious... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Financing and Loans; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

September 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

By: Satish Tadikonda

Abraham Heifets and his co-founder, Izhar Wallach, had founded Atomwise to develop i) an AI engine to transform drug discovery by creating better medicines faster, and ii) a machine learning-based discovery engine that combined the power of convolutional neural... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

January 2014
Supplement

Amgen Inc.: Pursuing Innovation and Imitation? (B)

By: Ian Mackenzie

The (B) case reveals that Sharer decided that Amgen should enter the emerging biosimilars business. However, he took the better part of a year to syndicate the decision across the senior team while in parallel investing in some time-critical process development. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States