Publications

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November 2007
Case

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Thomas J. DeLong and Terence Heymann

The CEO of Biogen Idec faces a set of difficult decisions regarding a promising drug for Multiple Sclerosis that is headed for early approval by the FDA. The first in a series focuses on operational decisions triggered by the drive for early approval. Sparks discussion... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Leadership; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

December 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Pharmacy Service Improvement at CVS (A)

CVS's retail pharmacy operations are functioning poorly and dissatisfying customers. Many customers are defecting as a result. A pharmacy service improvement team has documented the current prescription fulfillment process, its exception rates, and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Performance Improvement; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

January 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Edwin W. Parkinson III

Molecular Insight has developed a novel biopharmaceutical to detect heart attacks. The company's unique approach to intellectual property protection uses the Hatch Waxman Act and the Orphan Drug Act. The company is struggling to raise $7 million in Series B financing.... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Genzyme Corporation: Strategic Challenges with Ceredase

Genzyme Corp., one of the largest biotechnology companies, has succeeded in developing, manufacturing, and commercializing its first therapeutic, a treatment for a rare genetic disease. Analysis of the case requires students to identify and understand how Genzyme has... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Strategy; Technology; Health; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

May 1992
Teaching Note

RU 486 (A) and (B), Teaching Note

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Teaching Note for (9-391-050) and (9-391-051). View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; France; Germany; United States

October 1990 (Revised April 1991)
Case

RU 486 (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the factors faced by Roussel UCLAF, a French drug company, in deciding whether and how to market a controversial new drug, RU 486, which is often called "the French abortion pill." Roussel's decision involved its relations with the French government, its... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Ethics; Product Launch; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Performance; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Health Industry; France; Germany; United States

24 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 24

an IT functional manager, (2) recrafting the cases from multiple industries to include one industry, (3) integrating the key characters of monomyth hero's journey, and (4) writing the case dialogue for the protagonist, Jim Barton, hero's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2010
News

This Is What I Do

thus deserve our support.” The MJFF raises about $50 million a year. There are prominent backers, such as Google’s Sergey Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, but nearly 55,000 other people made contributions last year. To date the MJFF has supported about ninety biotech... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; time travel; Health, Social Assistance; Accommodation; Hospitality; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=207077 Framedia Harvard Business School Case 207-057 Examines an acquisition in the highly competitive new media advertising industry in China in late 2005. The transaction... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

modern industrial corporation encompasses a myriad of different software applications, which must work in concert to deliver functionality to end users. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of competition in today’s... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 7

(MMRC), and brought together a diverse body of academics, researchers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, physicians, and patients to combine their efforts around the disease. The MMRF had helped facilitate clinical trials for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2006
Case

Competitive Headaches (A): The Analgesic Wars

By: Dennis A. Yao

Addresses the problem of competing with a me-too consumer product. Focuses on Bristol-Meyers' 1975 strategy for introducing a competitor to Tylenol in the analgesic market. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

November 1999
Teaching Note

drugstore.com TN

By: Richard L. Nolan

Teaching Note for (9-300-036). View Details

Keywords: Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

intimacy, and community offered by direct-to-consumer marketing will have an impact on every industry and intermediary," Deighton predicted. Supermarkets may have "dodged a bullet" for now, but direct-to-consumer marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

September 2019
Case

Dementia Discovery Fund

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy Giusti and Sarah Gulick

The case is set in March 2019, and tells the story of the founding of the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF). The idea for the fund began in 2015, when then-Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the importance of making breakthroughs in dementia research, and pledged... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Mission and Purpose; Recruitment; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; London; England

December 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CVS: The Web Strategy

By: John A. Deighton and Anjali C. Shah

How should America's second-largest pharmacy chain respond to the challenge from online drugstores? What threat does the web pose to bricks and mortar distribution of prescription drugs and the other items that make up 50% of a drugstore's sales? This case describes... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry