The Science and Business of Biotechnology

The Science and Business of Biotechnology

This course focuses on early-stage biotechnology companies, with particular emphasis on understanding the underlying science, technology, and disease targets—together with the application of novel business structures and financing methods—to facilitate drug discovery, clinical development, and greater patient access to new therapies.

Current research is enhancing our understanding of the genetic, molecular, and cellular bases of many human diseases, and is leading to many new types of biotherapeutics that we will cover in this course, including recombinant therapeutic proteins; monoclonal antibodies and antibody drug conjugates; cancer immunotherapies, replacement cells and genetically engineered cells; and nucleic acid and gene therapies. Translating these discoveries into drugs and diagnostics increasingly requires the establishment of for-profit companies, but funding for early-stage development of novel therapies is becoming scarcer, especially for therapeutics for “rare” diseases that affect small populations. The dearth of funding for early-stage biotherapeutics companies in the so-called “Valley of Death” can be attributed to several factors, but a common thread is increasing financial risks in the biopharma industry and greater uncertainty surrounding the scientific, medical, economic, political, and academic environments within the biomedical ecosystem. Increasing risk and uncertainty inevitably leads to an outflow of capital as investors and other stakeholders seek more attractive opportunities in other industries.