The Business of Biotech: From Innovation to Market Success

Business of Biotech course will benefit non-scientists—such as CEOs, business executives, administrators, investors, marketing and sales professionals, government officials, and journalists—who seek a deeper understanding of biotechnology products, technologies, timelines, costs, regulatory environments, and performance drivers. It will also benefit scientists who want to learn the business side of biotechnology, including the full product development life cycle. Both groups will gain insights into funding requirements, entrepreneurship, professional development, and the process of launching a biotechnology company.

Course Topics:

• Biotech business and technology Models
• Costs, timelines and milestones from discovery to market launch/approval
• How to start up a biotechnology company (to include essentials of Intellectual Property, University Spin-off, Licensing, Corporate Organization Formation, Founders’ Stock, Team Building, and Funding Strategies to include Bootstrapping, Angel, and Venture Capital Funding, as well as SBIR Grants and Partnerships, Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Investors’ Exit Strategies)
• Essentials of Leadership, Learning Organization Model, Knowledge Management and Negotiation.
• Explanation of the Types of Therapeutic Products and Devices and their specific development challenges.
• Business Canvas, Business Model Generation, and Value Proposition
• Commercial Viability Assessment and Market size evaluation; Total Addressable Market (TAM); Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM); and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand and describe the diversity of biotechnology business & technology models and their associated positions in Product Development.
• Understand and describe the timelines, costs, and regulatory pathways associated with biotechnology therapeutic and device products.
• Understand and explain the process of starting up a biotechnology company to include essentials of Intellectual Property, University Spin-off, Licensing, Corporate Organization Formation, Founders’ Stock, Team Building, and Funding Strategies to include Bootstrapping, Angel, and Venture Capital Funding, as well as SBIR Grants and Partnerships; Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Investors’ Exit Strategies.
• Understand the importance of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and explain their importance in the Business of Biotech.
• Understand and describe the concepts of the Learning Organization Model, Leadership, and Knowledge Management and explain their roles in driving Overall Organizational Performance in biotechnology companies.
• Understand the importance of good communication and strategic negotiation skills and develop and apply those skills in simulated real-time negotiations in the classroom. Discuss and constructively criticize the negotiation process and the impact of the different parties on the negotiation outcomes following the classroom exercise.
• Understand and describe the major therapeutic applications of biotechnology to include small molecule drugs, biologics, cell therapy, and gene therapy, explain associated quality of life outcomes, and discuss the business and technological challenges associated with each specific therapeutic area.
• Understand the importance of system thinking and its application to the development of medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic devices.

Course Format

This course is offered in a live online format using Zoom conference technology. Please note that attendance in the live sessions and participation in the class project are mandatory.