Course 2010-2011 a.y.

Go to class group/s: 31

CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - M (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLAPI (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLEFIN-FINANCE (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP)

Course Director:
ALFONSO GAMBARDELLA

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

• Life Sciences: birth and evolution of an industry
• The Business Plan in the Life Sciences industry
• Research and discovery of new compounds
• The formation of biotech companies
• Intellectual property rights
• Technology licensing in biotechnology
• Business models and venture capital

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Attending students
Group project that involves the creation of a business plan for the formation of a start-up in the biopharmaceutical industry. Each project is developed step by step through a series of group assignments to be handed in during the course. At the end of the course, each group has to present the complete business plan in class. Students are also expected to actively participate to class discussion and to complete a short individual assignment by the end of the course. 

• Evaluation of business plan contents and presentation: 60%
• Evaluation of individual assignment: 20%
• Evaluation of class participation: 20%

Non-attending students
Written exam

Textbooks

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

Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Last change 20/04/2010 15:49