Biotech Innovation Research Articles

Green Biotechnology in Belgium: The Ghent Innovation District.

In this contribution, the Ghent green biotech innovation district in highlighted. Belgium has firmly established itself as an international red biotechnology, i.e. pharmaceutical and healthcare applications - country, with a world class biotechnology industry in the Flanders and Wallonia bioRegions. But what about green biotechnology? This contribution explores the long-standing evolution of the green biotechnology cluster in the bioRegion of Flanders (Belgium), in particular in the Ghent innovation district. It shows that triple helix (Business – Government – Academia) and public private frameworks provide good practices for new green biotechnology entrepreneurial ventures in conjunction with the strategic alliances with large global companies. Fruitful collaborations with top level university research institutions and cluster organizations such as the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) enhance R&D-investments and result in new spin-offs.

Natureworks: Biotech Innovation, Sustainable Business, and Corn-Based Plastic

This is a minicase, one of 10 in a set of short cases written to illustrate the business benefits companies realize through adopting sustainable business strategies. This minicase on NatureWorks traces the development of an entrepreneurial venture within a large corporate parent company. Bioplastic material was brought to market. The case describes the challenges and successes of a product and a business based on sustainability concepts. Excerpt UVA-ENT-0097 NATUREWORKS: BIOTECH INNOVATION, SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS, AND CORN-BASED PLASTIC NatureWorks, a 10-plus year-old startup within a large corporation, successfully made bio-tech plastic resin from corn in the face of commonly held industry beliefs that such an achievement was impossible. NatureWorks offered an alternative to oil-based plastic resins for multiple applications. NatureWorks' polylactic acid (PLA) could be shaped into bottles, containers, trays, film, and other packaging. It was not only environmentally friendly compared with widely used petroleum-based plastic containers (PET), but also cost-effective. PLA packages were compostable; they disintegrated under high heat after 75 days (whereas it can take hundreds of years for a PET bottle to break down). The price of oil had soared to more than $ 70 a barrel and remaining higher than $ 50 a barrel in early 2007, which made it all the more appealing that NatureWorks used 30% to 50% less fossil fuels to make PLA. By persisting in its belief that an economical and high-performing plastic did not have to have contain poisonous additives and persist well beyond its meaningful life span, NatureWorks set the stage to create a massive change in the plastics industry. In 2006, Biota Brands of America tested the first bottled water in the United States sold in compostable, biodegradable containers using PLA. In 2005, Wal-Mart began a yearlong effort to phase in NatureWorks PLAs for its store-brand produce, vegetables, cakes, and doughnuts. The world's number-one retailer, it also planned to launch gift cards made from NatureWorks PLA for the 2006 holiday season. “We've found comfort in PLA and its ability to provide us a price-stable product as the price of oil needed to produce conventional packaging keeps climbing higher,” said Tara Stewart, Wal-Mart's environmental affairs representative. The Industry . . .

Biotech in Hong Kong: How Biologist-Entrepreneurs Pursued “Hong Kong's Bioscience Dream”

This article aims to put Hong Kong on the map of East Asia's biotech studies by identifying the major themes of biotech innovation specific to the city-state's colonial past and postcolonial present and future. I provide evidence of a concerted effort led by biologist-entrepreneurs to promote the biotech industry in postcolonial Hong Kong. Through assessing scientific literature, media representations, business strategies, and programmatic visions of key scientist-entrepreneurs in Hong Kong's biotech enterprise, I highlight how factors such as local history and geopolitical considerations shape the emerging “Hong Kong's bioscience dream.” Using the recent discovery of a new recombinant anticancer drug, pegylated human recombinant arginase (BCT-100), as a case in point, I explore how biotech research and applications are marketed and interpreted in relation to Hong Kong's unique historical, political, and cultural context, thus making it distinct from other Asian Tigers. My analysis of the featured recombinant drug reveals a set of uniquely Hong Kong–centered cultural meanings attributed to biopharmaceutical research and benefits. This case reflects how genetic engineering and biotech research are configured and imagined within the context of the postcolonial Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Biotech Innovation in South Africa: Twenty Years in Review

Biotechnology Law ReportVol. 35, No. 1 Original ArticlesBiotech Innovation in South Africa: Twenty Years in ReviewDonrich W. JordaanDonrich W. JordaanSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:12 Feb 2016https://doi.org/10.1089/blr.2016.29000.dwjAboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View articleFiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byArtificial intelligence in healthcare: Proposals for policy development in South Africa19 May 2022 | South African Journal of Bioethics and LawIntellectual Property Rights and Competition Policy with a Focus on BiotechnologySSRN Electronic Journal Volume 35Issue 1Feb 2016 InformationCopyright 2016, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Donrich W. Jordaan.Biotech Innovation in South Africa: Twenty Years in Review.Biotechnology Law Report.Feb 2016.37-42.http://doi.org/10.1089/blr.2016.29000.dwjPublished in Volume: 35 Issue 1: February 12, 2016PDF download

Scientists, venture capitalists and the stock exchange: The mediating role of accounting in product innovation

This paper examines the role of accounting in the development of a biotech innovation, called the Pyrosequencing technology, intended for the scientific and commercial analysis of human DNA. Building on an extensive case study, we follow the development of this technology from its inception to the eventual downfall of the company built around the technology, Pyrosequencing AB. Using the concept of mediating instruments (Miller and O’Leary, 2007), we focus on how accounting calculations participated in shaping particular development trajectories by connecting and mediating between discrete domains and dispersed actors. We follow the development process in three different stages: first, when it was in the hands of the scientific founders; then when it became a commercial company, partially owned by a venture capital firm, HealthCap; and, finally, when Pyrosequencing AB became listed on the stock exchange. We find that different accounting calculations were used in each of these stages, and we analyse how these shaped the development process by forging particular linkages between scientific and economic ideas and different actors. Our study contributes to the literature on the relationship between accounting and product innovation in several ways: firstly, it provides an analysis of how certain accounting calculations enable particular development trajectories by mediating between different actors and domains. Secondly, our findings show the importance of attending to the shifting economic domains and economic ideas to which development processes may be linked. Finally, the results contribute to the discussion about the enabling or constraining role of accounting by showing how the enabling of particular development trajectories entails the constraining of alternative courses of action. This research adds a longitudinal perspective to the enabling/constraining question, which has often been examined using a cross-sectional design. We introduce the concept of calculative momentum as a way to increase our understanding of the role accounting play in this regard.

Business Models for Open Innovation: From Collaboration to Incorporation

The paper describes five open innovation business models - collaboration, outsourcing, licensing, trading and incorporation - defined on the basis of open revenues and costs, new investments and divestments in intangibles. A sample of 271 companies from biopharmaceutical and technology hardware & equipment industries is investigated, and their annual reports for the three years period 2010-2012 are analysed. Results show that for biotech companies open innovation represents a characteristic activity, with most of them having high values of revenues deriving from joint development projects. On the other side, for pharmaceutical firms open innovation is somehow ancillary: even if most open innovation activities are widespread, their values are not really significant if compared to the total business volume. As to the technology hardware & equipment industry, the use of spin-ins as a mean for incorporating external knowledge is the most frequent open strategy. This work contributes to the research on open innovation by defining the business models that R&D intense companies may adopt to foster open innovation. From a managerial point of view, the framework can be used by companies for assessing the status of their own open strategies, also allowing the benchmarking with competitors.

The evolution of biotechnology and its impact on health care.

For more than three decades the field of biotechnology has had an extraordinary impact on science, health care, law, the regulatory environment, and business. During this time more than 260 novel biotechnology products were approved for over 230 indications. Global sales of these products exceeded $175 billion in 2013 and have helped sustain a vibrant life sciences sector that includes more than 4,600 biotech companies worldwide. In this article we examine the evolution of biotechnology during the past three decades and the profound impact that it has had on health care through four interrelated and interdependent tracks: innovations in science, government activity, business development, and patient care. The future impact of biotechnology is promising, as long as the public and private sectors continue to foster policies and provide funds that lead to scientific breakthroughs; governments continue to offer incentives for private-sector biotech innovation; industry develops business models for cost-effective research and development; and all stakeholders establish policies to ensure that the therapeutic advances that mitigate or cure medical conditions that currently have inadequate or no available therapies are accessible to the public at a reasonable cost.

Studying Microbial Pathogenesis and Bacterial Diseases

B Brett Finlay speaks to Hannah Branch, Commissioning Editor B Brett Finlay is Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories in addition to the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He received a BSc (Honors) and a PhD (1986) in biochemistry at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 1989, he started work as Assistant Professor in the Biotechnology Laboratory at the University of British Colombia. He has focused his research on host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level. He has been at the forefront of the cellular microbiology field and contributed towards a number of important discoveries in this area while publishing over 400 manuscripts. Research in his laboratory is focused on, but not restricted to, Escherichia coli and Salmonella interactions with host cells. He is known across the globe for his research and has been honored with a number of prestigious awards, including the EWR Steacie Prize, the Canadian Society of Microbiology Fisher Scientific Award, a Medical Research Council scientist award, five Howard Hughes International Research Scholar Awards, a Canadian Institute of Health Research Distinguished Investigator award, British Columbia Biotech Innovation Award, the Michael Smith Health Research Prize, the Infectious Diseases Society of America Squibb award and the Jacob Biely Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and is the University of British Columbia Peter Wall Distinguished Professor. He cofounded Inimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BC, Canada), and is Director of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Accelerated Vaccine Initiative. He is also a valued member of several advisory and editorial boards, including that of Future Microbiology.

Economic governance of property rights: comparative analysis on the collection of royalties in genetically modified soybean seeds

This paper examines the governance of property rights on genetically modified (GM) soybean seeds. Specifically, the article undertakes a comparative analysis on the collection of royalties in GM soybean seeds in the U.S. and Brazil. For each country, the authors describe the regulatory framework governing the protection of biotechnology innovations in agriculture and investigate the mechanisms of royalty collection in GM soybean seeds. The paper also offers econometric evidence linking the capture of value on biotech innovations and the protection mechanisms deployed by biotech firms. The results suggest that, subject to the institutional environment, firms may choose to transact a GM attribute separated from the seed, building specialized governance structures framed around the genetic attribute and not around the seed as a whole.

Technical effect and scope of patent protection of chemical and biotech innovations

Whereas that sequences and parts of gene sequences by their nature are chemical substances, and not only holders of specific information, with the Directive no. 98/44 are actualizing, in a new light and in full measure, and are opening the issues about scope of patent protection for inventions chemical matters in general. Directive not given a direct answer to the question of the scope of their patent protection. However, the European Court of Justice decided that in the case of inventions sequences and parts of gene sequences that their protection limited with function which exercised.

A decision-making perspective on business integration and inter-firms agreements in biotechnology industry

The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of corporate structure and business models for managing new modular and complementary biotechnology innovations according to a decision-making perspective. Corporate structure and business models of large diversified firms (LDFs) and dedicated biotechnology firms (DBFs), in fact, are at the heart of the scientific research and of the practice in the management field. We focus our attention on the trade-off between vertical integration and inter-firms agreements aimed to control biotech innovation, a trade-off which is related to collaborations’ content, business planning, investment constraints and intellectual capital. DBFs specific features will be presented along with the strategic options developed by operators. The contributions of the transaction cost theory and of the resource-based view will be underlined and, as a consequence, we will elaborate on the fundamental variables for decision making purposes. Data on the US and European integrative strategies trends in the biotech industry will be presented in the conclusive section.

The role of marketing activities in the fuzzy front end of innovation: a study of the biotech industry

In this paper we explore the importance of marketing activities during the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation (FFEI), which in product life cycle management is described as the phase between R&D and the beginning of formal new product development. The FFEI is characterized by informal processes and many industry specific conditions. The particular context in which the study was conducted involved research emerging from a US government sponsored institution. Firms obtain licenses for technology from the government sponsored institution with the purpose of advancing them towards commercialization. But, the process of development often gets stalled, especially during the initial stages due to the lack of a number of resources (financial, key personnel, etc.). The specific interest in this study was, therefore, to understand the extent to which various marketing efforts by the licensees enabled the survival of early stage biotech innovations. Licensees would be expected to seek resources by undertaking a number of marketing activities designed to communicate a value proposition to potential resource providers. The study involved qualitative data collection among licensees to uncover marketing activities in which they engaged during the FFEI phase. The data was coded to develop the specific types of marketing activities that had been employed so as to provide insight into which activities were important in enabling early stage innovation survival. Future research can build upon this study’s findings in industries other than biotech and involving different sources of technology transfer (universities, etc.).

La Gestione Strategica Delle Innovazioni Biotecnologiche: Trade-Off Tra Integrazioni Aziendali Ed Accordi Interaziendali

Aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of corporate structure and business models for managing new modular and complementary biotechnology innovations. Corporate structure and business models of Large Diversificated Firms (LDFs) and Dedicated Biotechnology Firms (DBFs). In fact, are at the core of scientific research and practice in the management field. We focus our attention on the trade-off between vertical integration and interfirms agreements aimed to control biotech innovation. A trade-off that is related to collaborations' content, business planning, investments constraints and intellectual capital. DBFs specific features will be presented as well as strategic options developed by operators. The contribution of Transaction Cost and Resource Based Views will be underlined and we therefore elaborate on fundamental variables for decision making and actual scenarios for development strategies combination. Data on US and European relational and integrative strategies trends in biotech industry will be presented in the conclusive section.

Biotech innovation in a first-to-file world

Biotech innovation in a first-to-file world

Innovation in Biotechnology: Current and Future States

Innovation is assumed to be a good thing in health care, just as it is elsewhere, and to be crucial to the availability of greater choices for consumers. But what is it? Very little definition is provided when the term is used. This report discusses the following aspects of biotech innovation: innovation in medicinal products, innovation in manufacturing processes, and innovation in regulatory science (both oversight and licensure).

POINT OF VIEW: Supporting biotech innovation

Industrial BiotechnologyVol. 6, No. 4 FEATURE COMMENTARYPOINT OF VIEW: Supporting biotech innovationSteve Davies, Brent Erickson, and Ben LockeSteve DaviesSearch for more papers by this author, Brent EricksonSearch for more papers by this author, and Ben LockeSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:26 Aug 2010https://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2010.6.195AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail "POINT OF VIEW: Supporting biotech innovation." , 6(4), p. 195FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byDegradation of Post-consumer PLA: Hydrolysis of Polymeric Matrix and Oligomers Stabilization in Aqueous Phase25 September 2018 | Journal of Polymers and the Environment, Vol. 26, No. 12 Volume 6Issue 4Aug 2010 InformationCopyright 2010, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Steve Davies, Brent Erickson, and Ben Locke.POINT OF VIEW: Supporting biotech innovation.Industrial Biotechnology.Aug 2010.195-195.http://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2010.6.195Published in Volume: 6 Issue 4: August 26, 2010PDF download

The Promise of Follow-on Biologics to Spur Both Biologic Drug Innovation and Competitive Prices

Recent debates over how to structure an approval pathway at the United States Food and Drug Administration for follow-on biologics (FOBs) have taken a predictably polarized turn, with the pioneer drug manufacturers on one side, and the FOB industry on the other. Each side is arguing for statutory entry restrictions in the form of exclusivity periods that they argue will promote innovation and consumer access to lower-priced biologic drug products. These entry barriers are based on those in the Hatch-Waxman Act's approval process for generic small-molecule drugs. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided an independent analysis of how the proposals would likely affect consumers. The FTC's Report, Emerging Health Care Issues: Follow-On Biologic Drug Competition, concluded that the likely market dynamics of FOB competition will resemble brand-to-brand drug competition, rather than a generic drug product. This article explains how an FOB regulatory approval pathway need only rely on the US patent system and market-based pricing to continue to incentivize development of both pioneer and FOB drugs. Further, inclusion of entry barriers in the form of regulatory exclusivity periods and special patent resolution procedures would likely harm consumers by delaying FOB entry and decreasing the pace of biotech innovation.

Controlling and combining resources in networks — from Uppsala to Stanford, and back again: The case of a biotech innovation

This paper explores how resources are controlled and combined in a biotech network that spans from Uppsala, Sweden, to Stanford, USA. A case study is reported that describes and analyses how the original discovery, developed at the Department of Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, Sweden, was combined with other innovations at Stanford University, California, and under the influence and control of several different actors, including venture capitalists, were exploited within a newly founded company, ParAllele. The paper analyzes the resources that are created, combined and controlled in the network around these scientific discoveries and the company hosting them. This analysis shows how actors are using and are exposed to different control mechanisms, such as action, results and personnel controls, in the innovation process. Our discussion emphasizes how the involved actors apply various types of controls on resources in order to reach their objectives. Forms of control that both entail mobilizing other actors and preventing actions in the emerging network are of importance. We conclude the paper by pointing out the features of control in innovation processes as well as obstacles to control in a business network setting.

Emerging Technologies and Developing Countries: Stem Cell Research (and Cloning) Regulation and Argentina

Innovation is the mantra of the modern, knowledge-based political-economy, and biotech innovation is one of the central pillars of the new 'innovation society'. Healthcare innovation is both an integral part of, and is reshaping, that society, introducing new lexicons, redefining our understanding of desirable and undesirable bodily states, reforging our relationships with our bodies, other people and the environment, and so on. An important facet of healthcare innovation is stem cell research. This paper explores the moral controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell research and assesses its legal position in Argentina. Such an analysis is important/timely because stem cell research is a much-hyped pursuit to which much hope is attached, and, simultaneously, a much-maligned pursuit to which much antipathy is directed; human embryonic stem cell research in particular is the site of mammoth bioethical clashes around unique issues relating to (1) the wellbeing of the embryo, the harvesting of which currently requires its destruction, and (2) the wellbeing of the collective, which is notionally threatened by certain processes associated with human embryonic stem cell research, most notably cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer. An analysis of human embryonic stem cell research (and Stem cell research more generally) in Argentina is important/timely because Argentina is a southern, economically fragile, developing country that is actively pursuing regenerative medicine and stem cell solutions to health problems. Indeed, Argentina is one of a handful of developing countries taking steps to build a competitive domestic market. The paper concludes with an assessment of the adequacy of Argentina's existing regulation and some suggestions for moving forward.

Knowledge Ecologies and Ecosystems? An Empirically Grounded Reflection on Recent Developments in Innovation Systems Theory

Recent academic and policy debate on innovation indicates that there has been some shift from a more traditional systems approach to ecologies and ecosystems. The latter are concepts transferred from the world of biology to the social world in order to explain the evolutionary nature of interrelations between different individuals, their innovative activities, and their environment. We evaluate the concept of knowledge ecology and the theory of innovation ecosystem on two fundamental grounds; firstly, on the grounds of theoretical plausibility and conceptual consistency; secondly, on empirical grounds of the case of public–private interrelations of biotech innovation in Cambridge. The argument is that the concept of knowledge ecology and the theory of innovation ecosystems can lead to problems of reductionism and functionalism. This is due to their development in abstraction from more grounded analysis of historical processes of the social division of labour. Knowledge and innovation need to be looked at in the context of historically founded processes of socioeconomic development.