Business intelligence for the animal health industries
Feature
Identifying animal medicine breakthroughs
Craig Woods DVM, MS, MBA, Animal Health Consulting
26 September 2008

Craig Woods: "It is our obligation to develop breakthroughs and advance medicine."
Photo: Animal Health Consulting
Veterinarians and consumers expect to see developmental progress from the animal health industry in the same way as they have grown used to new treatments in human medicine. They do not expect new products that offer only nominal extra clinical value over the existing technology. In this article, Craig Woods DVM, MS, MBA of Animal Health Consulting, LLC discusses how the animal health industry can best identify promising breakthrough technologies.

 
So what should we expect from our industry? Put simply: breakthrough technologies and products with significant clinical benefits over their predecessors.

The key word is significant, which in this context often means first-in-class technology showing profound clinical benefits over the existing products. In general, finding and fostering breakthroughs should take into account the who, what, where, and why of the opening question. The sequence, however, will be why, where, what, and who.
 
WHY: “The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.” Albert Einstein. 

This is the easiest aspect to consider and is obvious: the reason that we identify and develop breakthroughs is to increase the value of science and medicine. Why? Simply because it is our obligation to develop breakthroughs and advance medicine - to do otherwise would be remiss.

Consider penicillin and ivermectin. These are good examples of breakthrough technologies that have provided major solutions to existing problems and gone on to benefit numerous facets of society and medicine.

They also served as platforms from which to develop a range of analogues, which themselves eventually spawned new classes of products. Crucially, breakthroughs in animal health don’t just affect the animal population, but lead to advances in human medicine and health as well. In summary, the drive to develop breakthroughs should be to increase the value of our industry and science.

WHERE:  “Sometimes you have to go out on a limb, because that is where the fruit is.” Will Rogers. 

Finding breakthroughs necessitates the acquisition of some knowledge of how to search the landscape strategically and efficiently, in order to optimize the probability of identifying a breakthrough.

One rich seam of this particular landscape is the interface between discovery and those individuals born to assume risk - the entrepreneurs. Discovery, in this case, is often fostered in the start-up sector, particularly businesses formed from university spinouts, technology transfer organizations and government agencies. However, one needs to know how to search this environment efficiently to find these breakthroughs.

Strategic searches rely on an organization’s ability to put together the right team to assess intellectual property and scientific feasibility. In today’s environment, teams must sift through multitude of technologies while considering their therapeutic applications, strategic fit and financial fitness. Understanding how to navigate these databases to fit a corporate strategy can be extremely rewarding.

These databases did not exist 20 years ago, so the ability to leverage this information has become a leading factor in a firm’s ability to remain competitive. There are databases from the government, private industry and universities that are easy to search for particular areas of interest.

Additionally, science journals, journal databases and patent offices often display certain compounds or technologies in advance of them becoming formal licensing opportunities.

There is little doubt that companies which can successfully leverage database searches have a substantial competitive advantage over other businesses that do not employ these tactics.

A rich independent source of new breakthroughs exists in the start-up biomedical sector. These companies often assume the discovery component, and remove certain risk elements....