Course 2008-2009 a.y.

Course Objectives

This is an advanced course on the management and the strategies of the firms operating in the biopharmaceutical sector. Since biopharma is an emblematic case of a high-tech industry, the course speaks to anyone who is interested in understanding some broad issues about technological entrepreneurship, the relationships between science and industry, intellectual property rights and other themes linked to high-tech sectors.

Course Content Summary

• The biopharmaceutical industry: general features
• The formation of biotech companies
• Research and discovery of new compounds
• University and industry
• Intellectual property rights
• Technology licensing in biotechnology
• Business models and venture capital

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Attending students
Attending students participate in one or more projects that involve the creation of a business plan for the formation of a start-up in the biopharmaceutical industry. The project is based on concrete cases, and it has to be developed by looking at both the managerial and economic literature and at some real issues in this industry. The business plan has to feature: a) the search of a technology that can be potentially commercialized and developed; b) an economic business plan; c) marketing, mangement and other company features. Each project is presented and discussed in class.

Non attending students
Written exam based on the two textbooks. See course syllabus for more details.

Textbooks

• Gambardella A., Science and Innovation. The US pharmaceutical industry during the 1980s, Cambridge University Press, 1995 (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• Pisano G., Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech, Harvard University Press, 2006.
  

Course Objectives

This is an advanced course on the management and the strategies of the firms operating in the biopharmaceutical sector. Since biopharma is an emblematic case of a high-tech industry, the course speaks to anyone who is interested in understanding some broad issues about technological entrepreneurship, the relationships between science and industry, intellectual property rights and other themes linked to high-tech sectors.

Course Content Summary

• The biopharmaceutical industry: general features
• The formation of biotech companies
• Research and discovery of new compounds
• University and industry
• Intellectual property rights
• Technology licensing in biotechnology
• Business models and venture capital

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Attending students
Attending students participate in one or more projects that involve the creation of a business plan for the formation of a start-up in the biopharmaceutical industry. The project is based on concrete cases, and it has to be developed by looking at both the managerial and economic literature and at some real issues in this industry. The business plan has to feature: a) the search of a technology that can be potentially commercialized and developed; b) an economic business plan; c) marketing, mangement and other company features. Each project is presented and discussed in class.

Non-attending students
Written exam based on the two textbooks. See course syllabus for more details

Textbooks

• Gambardella A., Science and Innovation. The US pharmaceutical industry during the 1980s, Cambridge University Press, 1995 (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• Pisano G., Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech, Harvard University Press, 2006.