Publications

01 Sep 2007
News

Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Remembered

Matsushita. That volume was followed in 2005 by Shaping the Industrial Century: The Remarkable Story of the Evolution of the Modern Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries. “Such science-based View Details

February 2024
Case

Compass Pathways: Pioneering Psychedelic Treatment

By: Tiona Zuzul, Kisha Lashley and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case follows Compass Pathways, a pioneering company developing treatment for depression based on psilocybin, the compound found in ‘magic mushrooms.’ Psilocybin was a federally illegal substance in the U.S., and a “Schedule I” drug, defined as a drug “with no... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Product Launch; Health Testing and Trials; Research and Development; Laws and Statutes; Pharmaceutical Industry; Europe; United States; United Kingdom

February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Roche's Acquisition of Genentech

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Bo Becker and Vincent Marie Dessain

Franz Humer, CEO of the Roche Group, must decide whether to mount a hostile tender offer for the publicly-owned shares of Roche's biotechnology subsidiary, Genentech. The case provides opportunities to analyze Roche's strategy with respect to Genentech, the pros and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Offer; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Switzerland

October 2022
Case

Cost Plus Drugs

By: Alexander MacKay and James Barnett

In September 2022, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO Alex Oshmyansky considered the future of the company. Cost Plus Drugs was a retailer for more than 340 generic oral medications, selling their drugs at significantly lower prices than typical pharmacies.... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Health; Markets; Social Enterprise; Society; Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Business Divisions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States; Texas

Web

Request more information | HBS Courses | HBS Online

Aerospace/Defense Agriculture Auto Communications E-Commerce E-Education Energy Entertainment Financial Services Food/Beverage Health/Medical Hospitality Insurance Manufacturing Non-Profit Pharmaceuticals Professional Services Retail... View Details

March 2023 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Roche: Innovation and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim, Susanna Gallani and Benjamin Maletta

In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to double the number of patients that had... View Details

July 2001 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Medicines Company, The

By: John T. Gourville

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

Keywords: Business Model; Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost Management; Price; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Health Industry; Health Industry

September 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Merck & Co., Inc. (B)

In late 1986, Merck revised its performance review and pay practices. The most important change was a shift from an absolute rating system to a forced-distribution system in which managers are forced to adhere to a given distribution of performance ratings. Other major... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

27 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 27, 2009

industry and services. Although each Mubadala investment is supposed to earn large returns, the strategy balances financial against "strategic" returns. ADIA and Mubadala are the institutional architecture to manage the wealth... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 3

field and other business fields complements the contributions from industrial organization economics (IO). These business fields also offer theoretical and empirical challenges to the IO paradigm, which dominates antitrust analysis. The... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

circumscribe citizen-employees, and they engage in production and trade. But individual corporations are no longer adequate to serve as the primary unit of analysis. Over the years, systems of distributed innovation-so-called business ecosystems-have become... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2010 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Building Value from the IP Estate

By: Willy C. Shih and Sen Chai

The learning objective of this case is to help students recognize the interplay between intellectual property (IP) rights and corporate strategy. We do this by examining what is a fairly atypical circumstance today in which a single firm is able to secure what it... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

November 2016
Case

Transformation at Eli Lilly & Co. (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Faced with the imminent loss of 40% of its revenues due to patent expirations, pharma giant Eli Lilly sets out on a dramatic transformation process in 2009. The case considers how Lilly restructured the organization into business areas to aid better decision-making,... View Details

Keywords: Eli Lilly; Restructuring; R＆D; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indianapolis

October 2000 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Merck & Company: Evaluating a Drug Licensing Opportunity

By: Richard S. Ruback and David B Krieger

This explores the valuation of an opportunity to license a compound before it enters clinical trials. Describes Merck's decision tree evaluation process is presented. Information required to evaluate a specific licensing opportunity is provided, including the costs of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Opportunities; Valuation; Outcome or Result; Pharmaceutical Industry

Web

Research - Health Care

UAE for fibroids or adenomyosis were captured from electronic health record timestamps and... May 2024 Article Tepid Uptake of Digital Health Technologies in Clinical Trials by Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Firms By: Caroline Marra... View Details

May 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Biopure Corp.

By: John T. Gourville

It is early 1998 and Biopure Corp., a small biopharmaceutical firm with no sales revenues in its ten-year history, has just received government approval to release Oxyglobin, a revolutionary new "blood substitute" designed to replace the need for donated animal blood... View Details

Keywords: Segmentation; Marketing Strategy; Engineering; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Transformation; Markets; Debates; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

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

Keywords: Research and Development; Investment Portfolio; Pharmaceutical Industry