Biotech’s Declaration Of Independence And What Pharma Needs To Do About It

24 Jan 2012

After a long period when only the bravest, well-funded biotechs attempted to build a commercial organization, more companies than ever are taking the go-it-alone plunge. Campbell Alliance thinks we may look back on the commercializing classes of 2011–2012 for key lessons on what drives success, which companies created value and how, and when market challenges prove too much for a new organization.

From Seattle to Rockville and from Boston to San Diego, biotech companies are stepping out of the laboratory and into the rough and tumble world of independent sales and marketing. After a long period when only the bravest, well-funded mavericks attempted to build a commercial organization, more companies than ever are taking the go-it-alone plunge. In a few years, we may look back on the commercializing classes of 2011–2012 for key lessons on what drives success, which companies created value and how and when market challenges proved too much for a new organization.

There is now a cohort of companies in a market value band between $500 million and $3 billion that has...