Competition is growing in the biotech industry. Maintaining your biotech company’s profitability and attractiveness to investors affects all departments in your enterprise. You are always looking for ways to locate the sweet spot between managing investor relations, maintaining productivity, and increasing profit. With this guide, you can examine how each department functions to meet your company’s short- and long-term goals.
1. Maintain Regulatory Compliance
Review and streamline your good practice (GxP) guidelines and procedures. Maintaining GxP compliance is critical to the success of your biotech company. Invest in software that allows you to manage documents regarding product development and clinical trials. Keeping data in one shared location with access via mobile devices and desktops for effective trial processes. The more organized your clinical trials are, the less internal resistance you experience in bringing your pharmaceutical to market.
2. Manage Resources
Employees are your most valued resource. Be sure employees are sufficiently trained and understand their responsibilities toward maintaining your company’s GxP procedures. If you need to change policies, involve your staff by asking how they could improve the process. Asking employees for input gives them responsibility for implementing the change.
3. Utilize Risk Management
Biotechnology comes with its own unique set of risks compared to other industries. Your strategic marketing campaign should focus on investors with a high risk tolerance. Established companies use their proven products to offset the risk of new product development. Newer pharmaceutical firms should promote their human resources and efficient GxP policies.
4. Improve Processes
Efficient procedures are the key to making your business more profitable. Each process needs to be reviewed and analyzed for cost-effective efficiency. In addition to equipment upgrades, review:
- External Procedures: Examine how well team members work with Food and Drug Administration. In addition, review vendor contracts and how employees work with external companies.
- Internal Processes: Look for ways to improve collaboration between quality control, production managers, and senior management.
- Automated Processes: Automating procedures can help save your company money. Ensure that equipment is well-maintained and in good working order.
5. Hire Strategically
There is a limited supply of job applicants for many biotechnical positions. Focus on developing an employee appreciation program to encourage team members to stay with the company. Many competitors actively recruit employees to leave your organization. Design a company culture that prioritizes the needs and wants of your team members. They should feel like valued members of your company. As your company culture grows, applicants will seek employment opportunities in your organization.
6. Research Outsourcing
Outsourcing services is a cost-effective way to produce large quantities of products. They hire employees whose focus is on serving your needs. This can save expenses compared to building new facilities or hiring specially-trained individuals. Make sure you maintain sufficient input into their quality-control procedures. While they should have defined GxP processes, you should not give up your standards to work with them.
7. Improve Investor Relations
On average, it takes 10-15 years to move a pharmaceutical through all stages of development and receive approval to sell the drug. The entire process takes significant financial resources. Your investors are the people that will provide a revenue stream to help you move your product to market. Keeping a trustworthy and professional relationship with those investors is a high priority. Use these strategies to build a solid foundation with investors:
- Develop a comprehensive mission statement
- Offer cash dividends
- Monitor media stories and proactively communicate to investors about it
- Provide a comprehensive communication strategy using email and social media
8. Monitor Patent Status
Protected patents are a great way to ensure your company recovers some of the research and development costs associated with new drugs. Unfortunately, the lengthy research and development process means the product is not for sale for most of those 20 years. Once a patent expires, other companies can sell generic versions of your drug. Most brand-name drugs see about a 90% decrease in sales. Develop a patent monitoring system to ensure you extend the protection as long as you are allowed.
Remaining competitive in your industry will keep your company’s products and services in high demand. Start by documenting these aspects of your business and working through ways you can improve how each one impacts your production.
