Publications

19 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding Innovation: Is Your Firm Doing it Wrong?

Nokia lowered its guidance for Q2 2012, explaining in a press release that "competitive industry dynamics are negatively affecting the Smart Devices business unit to a somewhat greater extent than previously expected.")... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which was created by the passage of the 1906 Federal Food and Drugs Act, regulates companies and industries accounting for one-quarter of all consumer spending, roughly $1.5 trillion worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Health

February 2001
Teaching Note

CVS: The Web Strategy TN

By: John A. Deighton

Teaching Note for (9-500-008). View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

synchronicity with market and industry returns. We find that firms voluntarily disclosing more sustainability information, identified as material by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), have lower stock price... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Jan 2003
News

Greylock

extraordinarily demanding group of fellow students and faculty. Developing the skills to listen carefully, think analytically, and communicate clearly is a requirement of leadership." CHARLES WAITE University of Connecticut, 1957 B.S., View Details

07 Jul 2016
Blog Post

Can You Learn Finance through the Case Method?

Greetings from HBS! My name is Siri and I am a second-year student and a candidate for the joint MBA/MPP program between HBS and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Before graduate school, I worked for three years as a management consultant specializing in the... View Details

10 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 10, 2008

"Moonshine Shop," a group of plant-savvy creative generalists, is helping a great industrial company become more innovative. Chronicles the history of the Moonshine Shop, its successes and failures, and describes innovations... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

expenses incurred. For example, R&D expenditures in the pharmaceutical industry involve more than just the cost of producing one particular drug. Many drugs may have to fail before one succeeds, and that... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

18 Aug 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courageous Leader Triggers a Moral Revolt of CEOs Against Trump

actions was not without risk for the CEOs and their companies” While many CEOs prefer to stay under the radar and avoid public scrutiny, Ken Frazier led the way with his example. As the chair of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical manufacturers... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

November 1969 (Revised February 1973)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Prescription Drug Industry, Part II

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Audrey T. Sproat

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

April 1998
Case

Cephalon, Inc.

By: Peter Tufano

In early 1997, Cephalon, awaited an FDA panel's decision on whether its drug, Myotrophin, would be approved. If the drug was approved, the firm might need substantial additional funds to commercialize as well as to buy back rights to it (which had been sold earlier to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

1996
Chapter

Note on New Drug Development in the United States

By: S. Thomke and A. Nimgade

Keywords: Product Development; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

June 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Biogen and the Aduhelm Melee

By: Amitabh Chandra and Lauren Gunasti

Alzheimer's Disease is a devastating condition affecting millions of Americans. At this time, there is no cure. In 2021, Biogen's Aduhelm (aducanumab) received FDA approval under the accelerated approval pathway after a controversial approval process.

This... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Valuation; Product Development; Pharmaceutical Industry

June 2020
Case

Breakthroughs at Blueprint Medicines

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy Giusti and Susie L. Ma

Precision medicine company Blueprint Medicines was building a successful track record for bringing drug therapies to market 40% faster than average. The company had spent $40 million dollars and two years building a compound library that became its drug development... View Details

Keywords: Precision Medicine; Cancer; Biotechnology; Drug Development; Strategy; Expansion; Science; Genetics; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Management; Growth and Development; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Cambridge; Massachusetts

April 2017
Supplement

Imprimis (D)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Marc Appel

This case is a supplement to Imprimis (A, B, & C). It describes Imprimis’s 2015 decision to develop a $1 per pill compounded alternative to Daraprim, the branded drug that had recently undergone an extreme price hike, raising its price to $750 per pill. Imprimis also... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States