New directions for the biopharma industry in Canada: modelling and empirical findings

The main purpose of this study is to identify features and trends shaping the business models currently prevailing in the Canadian biopharma industry, by disaggregating the business model analysis into four key areas: value creation, investment strategy, business strategy, success factors

Results arise from an empirical fieldwork of qualitative nature, undertaken by the end of 2004, involving deep interviews to a broad variety of key stakeholders of the biopharma industry in the Quebec region, including biopharma firms, large pharma firms, venture capital funds, research centers and recognized experts from consultancy firms and Universities.

Biopharma firms encounter difficulties to bridge the gap between the research innovation focus to the large scale production focus. The biopharma firms need to announce achievable and promising hits in the near future, mainly by filing patents and also through scientific publications, and making believable their prospects to reach the release phase. Venture capitalists and private investors claim for original, innovative and marketable results, keeping away from just imitative enterprises. The one product firms still largely prevail.

Lessons learned through this fieldwork might in the future be complemented with a quantitative survey to biopharma firms in the Quebec region.

When funding biopharma firms, private investors claim for original, innovative and marketable results, keeping away from just imitative enterprises. The business model must evolve, and take into account the quick changes in the environment, coming either from the market or from the technologies and research streams.

Disaggregating the business model analysis into four key areas will make an original contribution to the limited knowledge about expectations and future prospects of the biopharma industry