ABSTRACT
Healthcare as an industry is one of the most costly and profitable activities in commerce yet it is filled with risk. Pharmaceuticals in particular can bring products to market which individually can generate billions in income. The new financial environment and its consequences for the translation of medical research into products will undoubtedly be challenging for many companies. Adapting a business model created in the terms of reference derived from an earlier economic age to be able to deal with these new realities will require a different mindset to be applied to a number of different aspects of the task. The review and discussion of market dynamics in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries calls the process of company start-ups from universities into question. It is no longer the case that an innovative idea which can produce a patentable invention can justify the investment necessary to bring it to market in every case.
