Precision medicine company Blueprint Medicines was building a successful track record for bringing drug therapies to market 40% faster than average. The company had spent $40 million dollars and two years building a compound library that became its drug development engine. Blueprint's drug development strategy was twofold-it focused on creating a single drug compound for multiple disease indications, while at the same time developing drugs to track a disease through its progression. The company's goal was to become a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company that could move from drug discovery to development to marketing. But it was increasingly challenging to prioritize and manage programs, personnel and partnerships.
After the British government searched for a venture capital organization to create a new dementia fund, it selected SV Health, a UK- and US-based healthcare VC fund. The case follows Kate Bingham, a partner at SV Health, as she starts the fund, raises money, makes investments, and hires a fund CEO.
The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.
The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.
The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.
Hawk Electronics ("Hawk") presents the problems that a company can encounter when its divisions have distinct strategies, especially when one division has been favored at another's expense. It also highlights how such problems can reflect cognitive biases, which influence resource allocation decisions by senior executives. Further, the case challenges students to develop an action plan for Hawk's CEO. The case begins with excerpts from a letter that Jorge Martinez, the president of Hawk's Peripheral Division and a member of Hawk's Board of Directors, has written to Sarah Chan, Hawk's CEO. Martinez is concerned about the resources that Chan has funneled away from his division to fund outside ventures. Martinez feels that this pattern of resource allocation, and the consequences ensuing from it, make his division unable to compete. He also believes Chan's decisions threaten Hawk's long-term viability. Chan needs to respond to the issues raised in Martinez's letter, but she believes her decisions have been largely correct.
The National Football League (NFL) was both the most popular spectator sport in the U.S. and a major economic entity, taking in roughly $10 billion a year in revenue. However through the early twenty-first century, an increased understanding of the long-term effects of head injuries on NFL players indicated a serious threat to the long-term viability of the game. Particularly concerning was the indication that some deceased professional football players had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)-a neurodegenerative disease which had a strong influence on a person's mental and physical health-most likely as a result of repetitive hits sustained during their football careers and which may have contributed to their deaths. Over 4,000 retired players had jointly sued the NFL over the head injuries they had sustained during their time in the NFL and the resulting health problems they attributed to these injuries. In part, the lawsuit alleged that the NFL had not been forthcoming with players about the health risks of head injuries. The two sides had reached a tentative $765 million settlement in 2013, the bulk of which would go to compensating retired players suffering from such diseases as Alzheimer's or dementia. While this settlement compensated retired players, it was not applicable to current or future players. Could the NFL preserve the sport by making it safer through new rules or equipment changes, or was football an inherently physical game that no amount of new rules or equipment could make completely safe? Were current and future players, now knowing full well the potential long-term health implications of football, tacitly accepting the risks involved? As a team owner, is now the time to sell while franchise value and fan support are at their peaks, or will the business of the NFL be viable for years to come?
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment to improving health care outcomes and lowering costs by reducing treatment variation, made the surprising decision to invest significant resources in an innovative precision medicine unit, which would provide life-extending, genetically-targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients. Precision medicine was associated with treatment variation and high costs, the latter of which was of particular concern given that Intermountain often served as both payer and provider for its patients. But Intermountain's management was convinced by Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, who joined Intermountain's oncology team in 2013 and spearheaded the creation of Intermountain Precision Genomics (IPG). By 2016, IPG had a cutting-edge genomic sequencing laboratory that provided sequencing services to Intermountain and non-Intermountain physicians, and IPG's team had conducted research indicating that targeted therapies administered through IPG extended patient lifespans but increased overall costs. Now, in mid-2017, IPG is undergoing a major transition as it prepares to outsource the bulk of its genomic testing volume to Navican Genomics, a for-profit, Intermountain-owned spinoff. As Nadauld contemplates the future of IPG, he must evaluate two exciting opportunities, and students are asked to consider where Nadauld should focus IPG's resources: should IPG partner with Intermountain's behavioral health team to conduct joint research on the relationship between genetic markers and antidepressant effectiveness, or should IPG push for the testing of a large biorepository, which will cost $12 million but could lead to the identification of new precision medicine applications?
Thaddeus Fulford-Jones and Eric Weiss, founders of healthcare technology startup Radial Analytics, have been busy developing a software program designed to save hospitals money and improve patient outcomes by producing customized care plans for patients leaving the hospital. Having piloted the program at an urban hospital in Massachusetts, they're ready to disseminate the software to other accountable care organizations and bundled-payment hospitals. The case explores the issues the two entrepreneurs consider as they pursue the funding, clients, and business strategy that will allow them to scale their company and cut waste in Medicare spending.
In mid-2016, the Broad Institute and the University of California, Berkeley were in the middle of a contentious patent dispute over which entity controlled a breakthrough gene editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9. With CRISPR-Cas9, scientists might soon be able to cure previously incurable genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis, among many others. The dispute had escalated to the point where the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) declared a patent interference and began a process to determine the intellectual property's (IP) rightful owner. The USPTO's decision would not only have serious commercial implications-the technology would be immensely important to biotechnology firms looking to develop gene therapy products, and was therefore sure to generate strong revenues for whichever entity owned the IP-but would also essentially award scientific credit for this technology and thus impact the reputations of the scientists on both sides who had worked so hard to discover the tool. This case touches upon a number of other key issues too: the ethical implications of gene editing; the state of IP and licensing in the biotechnology industry; the impact of lawsuits on developing new technologies and companies; and who should own platform technologies built, at least in part, by the research of multiple parties and government funding.
The Ochsner Health System has developed a proprietary software tool designed to treat hypertension. Built into the system's electronic medical records, the Hypertension Digital Medicine program allows patients to record their blood pressure at home and share readings with their medical providers in real-time. A year and a half after launching the program, the health system's internal startup, innovationOchsner, has gathered promising clinical results and validation from the medical community. The case explores the challenges Ochsner faces in scaling and disseminating the program to other healthcare providers.
Elli Kaplan founded Neurotrack in 2012 with a breakthrough non-invasive cognitive diagnostics test that will detect Alzheimer's Disease in its earliest pre-symptomatic stages. While the company has gained great traction in the three years since it was started, with no therapeutic product available in the foreseeable future Kaplan is considering whether it is time to change the company's business model.
In January 2011, Mohamed Azab, founder and CEO of health care investment firm Seha Capital, made his first health care investment in Hassab Labs, a diagnostic lab in Alexandria, Egypt. Weeks later, a revolution erupted across the country as the Arab Spring swept through the region, and Azab spent the following years active in both the protests and in restructuring and expanding Hassab Labs. From 2011 to 2014, he opened 25 new branches, quadrupled staff, and more than doubled net income. By the end of the revolution in 2014, Hassab Labs was among the top five chains in the country. In October 2014, Seha partially exited Hassab Labs in a sale to an African conglomerate, SAHAM Group. At the same time, Azab learned that foreign investors in a small private hospital in Egypt were looking to exit the market. While Seha's mission was to build diagnostic, hospital, and pharmacy chains in Egypt, Azab had not been planning to enter the hospital market until he further expanded the diagnostic labs. In late 2014, Azab must decide if he should focus on expanding Hassab Labs, either in Egypt or across Africa, or invest in the hospital.
In 2015, Chris Godfrey, founder and CEO of Bloodbuy has to consider the best path to growth for his young company that is attempting to disrupt the blood donation industry.
This case examines an exciting new approach to health care that will help care providers identify when hospice services are the appropriate type of care for patients. The company, Medalogix, already has a product on the market that uses a proprietery algorithm to consider dozens of factors and determine when a patient qualifies for a hospice care eligability review. The product has started to gain traction, and the case explores how Medalogix can scale and disseminate its innovative product.
Describes the formation and rapid growth of a drug testing company. The company needs to decide whether to enter the painkiller testing market, in addition to growing its drug treatment center business. The associated teaching materials provide students the opportunity to weigh the attractiveness of alternative mechanisms for financing the company's expansion.
The Crucell (B) case updates events at Crucell since 2009. In September, 2009, Johnson & Johnson acquired 18% of Crucell for $400 million. This investment was part of a business development deal. Subsequently, in 2012, Johnson & Johnson acquired Crucell for $2.8 billion.
By 2009, Crucell had become the largest biopharma company in the Netherlands and a symbol of national pride. The case traces the evolution of the company from a University spin-off into a fully-integrated company. Crucell's success, particularly in the vaccine space, had begun to attract the attention of much larger pharmaceutical companies. While there was much appeal to working with these companies, these relationships could also challenge Crucell's independence. This issue is highlighted by the decision whether to partner with companies that wanted ownership of 10-20% of Crucell as part of the business development deals.