The Biotech Industry Has the Power to Revolutionize Healthcare.
The modern biotech industry has the power to revolutionize healthcare. Discussion in biotech often focuses on new therapeutics and technologies being developed that have the potential to cure cancer and rare genetic diseases. However, the biotech industry’s effect on the healthcare market, especially in the US, should not be overlooked.
The current model of healthcare in the US was created in the early 20th century primarily to treat acute illness and injury. It is revenue-based, and makes profit its core focus. This means insurance premiums, healthcare administrative costs, and the cost of pharmaceutical drugs remains extremely high. This model of care has long been inadequate with the acceleration of technological development and human longevity.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for urgent healthcare reform. Government subsidies to prop up hospitals overrun with COVID-19 patients, and the need for widespread vaccine delivery regardless of insurance made it more obvious than ever that a costly healthcare system does not benefit its citizens.
Progress from academic research and the entrepreneurship of the biotech industry have the power to revolutionize healthcare. Sophisticated technological development has enabled the delivery of personalized medicine; more precise, targeted therapies; expedited production of medicines (take the COVID-19 vaccine rollout as an example); and greater ease of manufacturing and distributing therapies.
The biotech industry brings innovation to the table. The majority of medical breakthroughs over the last several years have come from smaller, more agile companies. A report from 2018 showed that two-thirds of blockbuster drugs originated outside of big pharma, coming from non-major firms, or out of academic research centers (Moradi & Berry, 2018). This percentage has only continued to increase.
Innovative competition aside, funding for biotech companies also challenges healthcare and big pharma business models. VC and public investment, the rising use of SPACs to fund new companies, government subsidies and changes in regulatory policy, and the greater negotiating power of smaller companies is shifting power dynamics in the biopharmaceutical industry. VCs are more often asking how a company’s technology will make a difference for a patient, and then making sure there is a business model in place to make money, not the other way around (Thompson, 2021).
The past year has highlighted changes that are necessary to keep progressing the healthcare industry toward expanded access to therapeutic treatments. Biotech executive leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators are maintaining momentum toward revolutionising the healthcare industry through embracing several critical considerations.
Firstly, adopting a patient-centered in approach encourages executive leaders to collaborate with regulating authorities, colleagues, and patients; and to embrace data analytics and other digital technologies to best develop new drugs (Agrawal et al., 2021).
Second, using partnerships to enhance functional capabilities is paramount for timely delivery of therapeutics. Whether these partnerships are with similar sized companies that have complementary platforms, big pharma, or digital health networks, leaders are considering how to best deliver therapies to patients logistically, as well as on a personal level.
Lastly, today’s biotech executive leaders are considering how their company’s mission fits into broader public health challenges (Agrawal et al., 2021). The pandemic exposed many of the public health inequities – where healthcare systems are lacking in their ability to provide necessary services to patients in an affordable and accessible way. Biotech business models are using the knowledge of these inequities to their advantage, whether that is designing more inclusive clinical trials, or partnering with organizations that make distribution of therapies more readily available to disadvantaged communities globally.
The biotech industry and its executive leadership have the power to revolutionize healthcare, and it’s the specialty of BayBridge’s life sciences executive search consultants to place these innovative leaders in roles that demand their expertise. If you’re interested in learning more about BayBridge’s Talent Management approach to executive search, please reach out to one of our expert life sciences consultants today.
References
Agrawal, G., Ahlawat, H., & Dewhurst, M. (2021). Biopharma 2020: A landmark year and a reset for the future. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/biopharma-2020-a-landmark-year-and-a-reset-for-the-future
Moradi, M., & Berry, D. (2018). 7 ways the ‘biological century’ will transform healthcare. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/how-the-biological-century-will-transform-healthcare/
Thompson, A. (2021). Venture capital discussions: Bridging technology and healthcare. Pedersen & Partners. https://www.pedersenandpartners.com/news/venture-capital-discussions-bridging-technology-and-healthcare-0
