5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century By Sean Silverthorne

Every epoch requires people and organizations to develop core competencies or skills needed to be successful. In the time of Henry VIII (yes, I am watching The Tudors), key competencies to master probably included fealty to a powerful lord and skill with a rapier. Not so much in demand today, however. Read more at Bnet Blog

By Sean Silverthorne

Six secrets to success—how to build a sustainable biotech business

What are the core elements of a successful biotech?

Francesco De Rubertis, Roman Fleck & Werner Lanthaler have discussed six success to secrets of successful biotech business in the article published in Bioentrepreneur. To read the complete story visit the link http://www.nature.com/bioent/index.html

Goldman Sach Report

Ten things for India to achieve its 2050 potential, by Jim O'Neill and Tushar Poddar of Goldman Sach's have proposed 10 point agenda foreconomic policy reforms for India. It is difficult summarise the report but the poingt no. 4 "It also needs both to significantly raise its basic educational standards, and increase the quality and quantity of its universities." is worth to look at more seriously from the point of need for trained and skilled manpower. The report is available at http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/brics/ten-things-doc.pdf.

Beyond borders: global biotechnology report 2009:Ernst & Young

Global financial crisis making biotech business model unsustainable according to Ernst & Young

Deep financing challenges separate haves and have-nots and accelerate move to sustainable models

Boston, 5 May 2009 – Despite worldwide economic turmoil, the global biotechnology industry delivered a solid financial performance in 2008, according to Beyond borders: Global biotechnology report 2009, Ernst & Young’s 23rd annual report on the biotech industry. However, the prolonged and systemic funding drought is placing the business model that fueled biotech growth for the past 33 years under unprecedented strain.The report released today says that four sweeping, paradigm-shifting trends should lead to new, more sustainable ways of funding drug development: a wave of generic drugs based on today’s top blockbusters, the expansion of personalized medicine, fundamental healthcare reform in the United States, and the continued globalization of the industry.

“This is not business as usual for the biotech industry,” said Glen Giovannetti, Ernst & Young’s Global Biotechnology Leader. “Unlike prior funding droughts, this crisis is systemic, deep and protracted. To thrive in this environment, firms will need to bring the creativity that has long been the industry’s hallmark to establishing more durable models for funding innovation.”

Key financial results:

• Revenues of publicly traded biotechs grew 12% to US$89.7 billion in 2008. The global industry’s net loss improved 53%, from US$3 billion in 2007 to US$1.4 billion in 2008. The US industry reached aggregate profitability for the first time.
• Capital raised declined sharply in 2008. Companies in the Americas and Europe raised US$16 billion in 2008, a 46% decline from 2007. IPO funding fell 95% to US$116 million.
• Biotech venture financing remained relatively strong, falling only 19% from 2007’s all-time record to about US$6 billion in 2008.
• Industry deal making remained brisk. The total value of M&As involving US biotechs reached more than US$28.5 billion — a record high when adjusting for megadeals that took place in prior years. In Europe, M&A transactions totaled US$5 billion.

“Like firms in most markets, European biotechs were clearly impacted by the financial crisis,” said Jürg Zürcher, Ernst & Young’s Biotechnology Leader for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. “Many are scrambling to raise capital, restructure operations and use deals creatively to survive. Consolidation seems inevitable.”

New pathways to sustainability

The challenge for the industry, according to Beyond borders, is turning an existential threat into a Darwinian opportunity. The potential solution lies in four paradigm-shifting trends that promise to accelerate the transition to sustainable business models:

Generics: Generics based on today’s top blockbusters should loosen governments’ and insurers’ budgetary constraints and mitigate pricing pressures on innovative drugs, permitting better margins.

US healthcare reform: The potential shift toward universal healthcare coverage in the world’s largest drug market will likely incorporate pay-for-performance in reimbursement decisions. Incentives for true innovation should help biotechs sustain returns.

Personalized medicine: Personalized medicine will increase the relative value of research and early development — biotech’s traditional strengths — giving biotechs more bargaining power and better valuations. Meanwhile, more efficient drug development will lower R&D costs, making it easier for firms to make the journey to self-sufficiency.

Globalization: Growing strengths in emerging markets will facilitate creative solutions — from new “win-win” ways of allocating increasingly valuable ex-US rights to creative alliances and new sources of capital. Meanwhile, Asian business models could provide solutions for struggling Western firms.

“But these trends will also bring new market pressures — from a higher bar on reimbursement to new sources of competition. “To seize the opportunities in these four drivers, companies need to be proactive,” says Giovannetti. “Firms should understand how these trends impact them, prepare for them, and where possible, help shape them.”

Key regional findings

United States

• Revenues of US public biotechs grew by 8.4% in 2008, down from 11.3% in 2007.
• The US publicly traded industry posted an aggregate net profit for the first time — US$0.4 billion.
• Despite the crisis, venture capital raised in the US reached US$4.4 billion in 2008 — the second-highest total in history, behind only the record US$5.5 billion raised in 2007.

Europe

• Revenues of European public biotechs increased 17% to €11.2 billion.
• Capital raised by European biotechs fell from €5.5 billion in 2007 to less than €2 billion in 2008.

Asia-Pacific

• Asia-Pacific biotech revenues grew by 25% in 2008, led by strong growth in Australia.
• In Australia, public-equity funding fell to levels not seen since 2002. There were a handful of IPOs in Japan and China and strong private-equity funding growth in India.

Biotechnology Management

India is emerging as destination for biotech development requirement of global companies. Economic Times, 23rd Nov., 2008.

Is that true ? Whats happening to biotech industry at the global level especially in the troubled economy . News is that US biotech industry sector is suffering. Small and medium units are on run away money while large ones are holding their resources with no new recruitment.

How is Indian Biotech industry performing these days ? Biotech sector in India was growing at the speed of 35% for the last five years. Growth slumped to 20% in the fiscal year 2007-2008 and 2009. The sector is expected to touch US$ 5.00 billion mark by 2010.

This prediction could stand true as DBT, Govt of India has taken specific steps to promote this sector. Such as providing angel finance through various schemes, launch of biotech parks in various parts of the country and providing single window systems for govt clearances. The Patenting scenario has also been improving in the country. This naturally will boost the biotech sectors growth.

The most important need of the biotech sector is appropriately trained manpower. Is it available in the country?. The wave of biotech has created spawn of the institutions imparting biotech education but with inadequate facilities. Large number of the graduates (B.Sc. and B.Tech) are being pushed in to market. The training skills imparted to them are so week that they do not find right job opportunities.

There is also no correspondence between the number of biotech graduates qualifying to the number of seats available to join the post graduate programs in biotechnology. There are very few institutions in the country that have adequate facilities to conduct the biotech programs.

This forum will discuss the current issues in biotechnology at education, research and management fronts. Forum also will post information on select post graduate programs in biotechnology.

Comments and Suggestions are most welcome.