The industry’s focus is on living organisms. The highly enforced standards make it an unique concern for business leaders. These aspects make the sector an ideal environment for innovation. They have resulted in major breakthroughs the production of biofuels and agricultural yields and life-saving pharmaceuticals.
When it comes to strategies that generate revenue biotech startups have a variety of options. Most choose a technology partnership or an asset creation-and-out licensing strategy. Technology partnering generates faster revenues with less risk to the financials, while an asset creation and out-licensing strategy will yield higher returns if successful. An increasing number of research-stage biotechs operate a hybrid model that combines both strategies.
Those who opt for an approach that is focused on product development can be successful commercially if they can get their pipeline to the right stage and find a pharmaceutical partner or investor with deep pockets. It can be expensive but making sure that you balance opportunistic methods to leverage outside assets with the right scientific decision-making about projects that are homegrown is vital.
The “platform” model is a second alternative to generate revenue. It is less expensive than product-oriented research, but is a risky option. In this model biotechs own and develops its platform technology prior to collaboration with big pharma firms to create a portfolio drug discovery projects that specifically target disease areas (i.e. disease x in biology y). Advinus Therapeutics, among others have adopted this strategy.