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Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: biowa who wrote (4523)	4/1/1998 4:40:00 PM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9719

biowa, <<it might increase the opportunities by making less sizable and more complex indications more economically attractive>> I agree with this - essentially the size of a viable niche becomes smaller. I guess my concern ties in with what I see as a serious current problem for biotech: Too many people chasing the same indication. This is particularly true for the big indications like arthritis, but it is also true for some niches. Once you make drug discovery more efficient, this problem is only going to get worse. On the other hand, looking further forward, many of the big indications might split into small subgroups with even more tightly focussed drugs. In other words, one drug for people with arthritis who have genetic characteristic X, a different drug for those with characteristic Y, and so on. In terms of who will benefit (aside from the patients), I guess you are probably right about the small and agile companies benefitting more than the giants. Sales and distribution is always going to be a problem for the little guys though, so big pharma isn't going away. (Although maybe we'll see more companies like Dura that are primarily sales and marketing organizations for niche products). Peter