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Building a Business > EntrepreneurshipPublished online: 30 November 2004, doi:10.1038/bioent836 Scaling the biobusiness information mountainGwilym Williams * & Gary Walsh ***Gwilym Williams is in the Department of Biological Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 8, Ireland. gwilym.williams@dit.ie **Gary Walsh is at the Industrial Biotechnology Program, Chemical and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Budding bioentrepreneurs need an information-gathering strategy that balances time and budgetary constraints when deciding whether to sift through the glut of free information on biotech or to opt for subscription services offering higher quality, more insightful analysis. The continued development of Internet resources and specialized print media presents a formidable paradox for those seeking information on biotech: accessing information has never been easier, but finding information of the requisite quality and relevance is harder and more time-consuming than ever before. Entrepreneurs at startups may require information on some or all aspects of technology, patent position, market developments and/or the regulatory landscape. This article assesses where young companies might profitably begin to focus their attention in a manner compatible with modest resources. Defining the challengeThe ideal biobusiness information management system would be based on the principle of time and cost-effective information filtering, data interpolation and final conversion into intelligence (e.g., knowledge that can be productively used by an organization). Systems for the effective transfer of information and intelligence among individuals within an organization are also vital. Ideally, over time, such a strategy should breed a corporate wisdom that can be leveraged for competitive advantage. Common sense might tell us there should be a positive correlation between the cost of an information resource and its overall usefulness, and by-and-large, we endorse this view. However, the purchasing of comparatively costly licenses to access specialist online databases, the engagement of a consultancy company to monitor and analyze market trends or the use of custom data mining software are all options that are usually blocked to companies with modest resources. At the other end of the scale, the increasing commoditization of information in the media age means that much biotech information (and increasingly research journals) are now available free of charge, either through complimentary subscriptions paid for by advertising or via the Internet (omitting equipment and service costs). Somewhere between these extremes of resources, the law of diminishing returns kicks in quite quickly and the key question becomes the judicious mix of information sources that can be economically accessed to beat the competitive intelligence hurdle. Critical aspects relate to the speed of access to timely information and the organization's ability to convert this into actionable intelligence. Information 'quality' may also be defined in terms of its uniqueness and relevance to the organization's needs. Available biobusiness information resourcesA previous study has identified published periodicals and the Internet as pivotal resources in maintaining business awareness1, and these are media that are highly compatible with the budgetary constraints of early-stage biotech startups. When complemented and tempered by a paid subscription to a relevant mainstream journal (in the < Although each journal differs considerably in terms of scope, detail, cost and frequency of publication, a broad classification into two categories may be effected on the basis of core focus: either those which concentrate on business-market news (type B in Supplementary Table 1; for example, Scrip), or those that feature research articles and complement this with key business and regulatory news (type R; e.g., Nature Biotechnology). Although the latter type will be largely familiar to many through college libraries, the experience of the authors would be that the awareness of type B publications among many academics is still quite low. Presumably, many of the specialist biobusiness publishing houses also do not see academic entrepreneurs as customers, as most of the type B publications offer a single corporate rate, with no reductions for either a personal or an academic subscription. A detailed comparative evaluation of the merits and shortfalls of each publication is clearly beyond the scope of this article, and although a brief critique is provided in Supplementary Table 1, this should only be considered a subjective rough guide (Table 1 includes type B journals that are recommended by the authors). The specific information requirements and available time-budget of a young life-science venture will determine the choice of publication, but a few tips may be provided at the outset to narrow the field. Full advantage should be taken of free information resources. Although the primary brief of such publications is often to sell equipment and services, some are now providing good news coverage and analysis of trends. Good listings of free publications that are of general interest to biotech businesses are available at http://www.magazine.com and http://bioportfolio.tradepub.com/. Secondly, the majority of publishers listed will provide a complimentary copy or trial subscription at reduced cost for evaluation purposes. Many have an Internet site at which older editions may be freely perused. Introductory special offers to new subscribers are commonplace. Thirdly, although some publishers emphasize frequency of publication or volume of news coverage as key selling points, such strengths may not be compatible with the time constraints facing struggling bioentrepreneurs. Perhaps reflecting this, the majority of the periodicals reviewed in Table 1 are published on a weekly-to-monthly basis (58%), whereas those published more than once a week account for only 3%. Several high-frequency publications have an unfortunate tendency to slavishly report on the copious press releases issued by the biotech public relations machine, without any critical analysis of what is being reported. Such reportage is likely to be of value only to seasoned market analysts, who have developed mechanisms for rapid filtering of information. For a startup's information needs, a publication must separate the 'wheat from the chaff' to permit time-effective review, provide insightful analysis and clearly identify industry trends, while not impinging significantly on the mainstream time priorities of the reader's business. Finally, biotech is increasingly crossing the scientific-social divide, firmly embedding itself in the public consciousness, while also receiving increased attention from an investment community eager to learn more about this sector. Mainstream news and business periodicals now reflect this quite strongly, The Economist and Time magazine being exceptional in the reportage of many key developments; a subscription to The Economist also provides free access to an excellent online archive of past features. Websites and databases Gaining appropriate research and/or regulatory information can be time consuming and costly. However, a number of search and retrieval avenues are available that can provide tailored information inexpensively. Some are subscription-based and some are free. Even if unavailable via the database, selected full articles can be ordered at a cost through many libraries, and complimentary copies can usually be obtained by contacting the author directly. Thompson Corporation's Institute of Scientific Information (ISI; Philadelphia, PA, USA) provides a range of databases, the most comprehensive of which is the ISI Web of Knowledge. This encompasses not only journal articles but also books, proceedings, patents, evaluated web content and information on grant funding.A compilation of useful Internet sites relating to the commercial biopharmaceutical sector is provided in Supplementary Table 2. It should be noted that although some Internet information providers give free basic analysis as an enticement to visit a site, accessing more detailed information may require formal registration and use of a database on a fee-per-query basis. Bioentrepreneurs often hail from a scientific research background, and thus have little or no prior knowledge of regulatory issues and affairs. An understanding of regulatory affairs is central to the successful development of any pharmaceutical, medical or related product. A detailed understanding of regulatory affairs can be gained only by many years of direct experience working in the area. However, a basic understanding of how the regulatory system works can be acquired by consulting the web pages of a small number of regulatory and related organizations (see Supplementary Table 2). An alternative source of both technical and indeed commercial information (often of a type difficult to source by other means) is that of patents (see Bioentrepreneur IP Toolkit2). Most global patent organizations have comprehensive web pages, two of the most significant of which are the European Patent Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office (Supplementary Table 2). These organizations generally provide free web-based patent search facilities, and patents of interest may then be directly ordered for a fee. Accessing more specialized subscription-based databases is important as a company develops, and some examples of the leading resources are provided in Table 2. Books Journal articles generally provide detailed but specific information relating to an individual topic. Bioentrepreneurs often require less detailed, broader information about a subject or topic area. This is most often appropriately obtained from books. Table 3 provides details of some useful searchable book databases, as well as details of some publishing houses that publish books that are topically relevant to the biotech industry. Again, a person can search such databases by key word, publisher and year published.Book bibliographic databases from Whitaker (Bath, UK) are among the best known. Booksellers, publishers and libraries subscribe to Whitaker databases such as 'book bank' and 'lib web,' and these or related databases can be searched through local libraries or bookstores. One excellent and free web-based searchable book repository is that of Amazon. Key word searches provide pricing, table of contents and often reviews of the book. Smart searching The shear volume of information stored in modern databases inevitably leads to information overload. For example, a search of the Scirus database using the word 'insulin' yields 596,557 hits. To minimize information overload, the retrieval strategy used must be extremely well designed. The use of intelligent, well thought-out key words or combinations thereof is essential to minimizing unproductive use of database interrogation time. Poor search strategies will not only miss useful information, but will source large numbers of hits which may be of marginal interest or use.Market information When developing a business plan, bioentrepreneurs invariably require information relating to market size and potential, both of their target product and competitor products. Sourcing such information can prove difficult to the inexperienced. Several companies exist that provide specialist-consulting services in this respect, or that publish sector reports focusing on different product or market categories. A representative list of such companies is provided in Supplementary Table 3. However, in many instances a substantial body of such information may be compiled relatively easily and with minimal expense. For example, many companies make their annual reports freely available on their web pages. Such reports can provide valuable market size and share data. Moreover, websites of international, governmental and nongovernmental organizations often contain valuable statistics in the context of drawing up a business plan. For example, global (and usually regional) statistics relating to a broad range of disease indications are available on the World Health Organization (Geneva) website (http://www.who.org), and disease-specific statistics and information detailing products relevant to those disease conditions are available on the web pages of national and international support groups. Conclusions and recommendationsBioscience startups, often beginning within the unique environment of academia, face a number of significant challenges in the struggle to develop, and to deliver on their business plans. The company must maintain an up-to-date understanding of such aspects as evolving business models, financing trends, intellectual property and competitor developments, while simultaneously they must consolidate and diversify their own technologies. The expert knowledge of their technical core must therefore not only be maintained, but also be complemented by information on diverse aspects of the commercial world. For some within a company, this will be akin to learning a number of new languages simultaneously. Working against this aim will be the day-to-day workload, challenges and opportunities, which can relegate a proactive stance on knowledge management to a secondary consideration. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to achieving the correct balance in this complex equation, but the following factors are worth recognizing early in developing the company's knowledge base. The Internet, periodicals (both subscription-based and free) and books form an important cornerstone of an information acquisition plan. Although complementary in nature, the relative balance between periodicals (containing collated information) and the Internet (requiring searching and collation-interpolation routines) will depend on whether time or money is the most precious commodity within a company. Supplemented judiciously by consulting more specialized sources on an as-needed basis (consultants, databases), the foundations of any knowledge management scheme can be achieved at a modest cost. Regarding periodicals dealing with biobusiness information, the perceived relevance of the editorial content to the company's core activities can be an important aspect in achieving maximal staff compliance in regularly consulting these resources. Some technology-focused journals will interpret trends in areas such as regulation and intellectual property in the context of a specific market sector; this is vital if the company wishes to incorporate a 'big picture' perspective into their technology development activities. Building on this point, although it is a given that a company's information needs and resources will develop in a stage-specific manner, a constant in life sciences will be the usefulness of those resources that communicate the key aspects of the long product development cycles associated with therapeutics or vaccines.
References1. Williams, G.A. The Biochemist 22, 27–31 (2000). |
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500 ($640) per annum bracket), biotech industry trends and best practice in research commercialization may be tracked with a good degree of certainty.
24 pages). Lacks detailed analysis of sector and has 'newspaper feel.'
390/year (