Entrepreneurs trying to penetrate the fast-moving pharmaceutical industry are often lost in the background noise of the global competition. Do-Coop Technologies has discovered that you can level the playing field with just a bit of smart business strategy.
If “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” as Albert Einstein was rumored to have said, then many entrepreneurs should have their heads examined. Fully convinced that their innovation will “speak for itself”, a startup will knock on the Pharma door, expecting admission to the labs of the Big Boys... only to be lost among hundreds from around the world with the same ambition.
Meanwhile, the doorkeepers of this competitive industry look out over the sea of eager faces, waving signs and clamoring voices. They might well be interested in your technology. But you need to give them a reason to notice your face in the crowd and grant you a hearing.
At Do-Coop, we applied Added-Value Elements that sweetened the deal for potential partners, giving us that edge. You can use these keys to unlock the Pharma door for yourself, where sustained, profitable relationships could be waiting.
A-V Element 1: Perform the business and technology yourself.
A small company seeking to enter the Big Boys' playing field faces a double hurdle. The more innovative your technology claims to be, the more skepticism you will face about its potential success. Regarding a newcomer to the industry, that skepticism naturally increases.
A technology doesn't stand on slick public relations but on verifiable results. The global Pharma players achieved their market position through a track record of such results; they are as difficult to fool as Nature itself. They distinguish "breakthrough technology" from "science fiction" through the reality check known as business and technology claims .
Notice that it isn't enough to prove that the technology works; it must be a workable business idea – meeting a sufficient market need, adaptable for mass production, and transportable to the market (all for a profit).
Claims is an expensive, time-consuming process, a risk in itself. Therefore, an unknown company with an unvalidated technology is perceived as carrying more risk than opportunity.
You can lower the risk and enhance the opportunity by presenting the claims as an established fact. This is what Do-Coop did with Neowater.
Neowater is applied Nanoscience – molecular-level particles – one of today’s most important research frontiers. Nanoparticles are of great interest because all properties of a material (such as melting point, electronic and optical properties) change when particles in the material become nanoscopic.
In Biotechnology, nanoparticles are used in nanometer-scale equipment for probing the real-space structure and function of biological molecules. Auxiliary nanoparticles, such as calcium alginate nanospheres, have also been used to help improve gene transfection protocols.
Our Neowater technology was radically innovative - even for Nanoscience. It gave ordinary water unprecedented properties, demanding a paradigm shift in Pharma thinking.
We knew this would provoke initial skepticism. The opportunity represented by Neowater would be considered a high risk by any sane corporation. Our company overcame that skepticism, and built confidence in the viability of Neowater, by performing the claims ourselves.
Recognizing the risk that still remained, we further bridged the gap with business structure deals that cater to customer needs.
A-V Element 2: Reduce business risk by resolving regulation issues.
In the Pharma business, nanoparticles are used for drug delivery, and the list of applications based on nanostructure is continually growing... as are the regulations that must be addressed.
Do-Coop Technologies resolved these issues before approaching customers, a proactive step to reduce the penetration barrier to the clinical stage. Interested customers can cross-reference our Type IV Drug Master File for Neowater (DMF# 20503) with the FDA, eliminating the need for a separate group in the study of Neowater. By saving them the cost of a customer study, we sweetened the deal considerably.
A-V Element 3: Offer to share the IP wealth.
To remove another barrier to market penetration, our company limits the scope of its Intellectual Property holdings to the Neowater production process and its composition (one family of applications). We allow the customer the right to own the use of Neowater in the customer's IP portfolio, which ensures that we will not be competing with our future customer and partners, and ultimately enhances their potential profits. (The right to use our IP is granted to companies that own IP for the product under evaluation.)
A-V Element 4: Share the burden of product with your partner.
Yet another risk is the customer’s cost of in specific product development using your technology. This includes Proof of Concept: clinical criteria to be met before the company can add a new product to its portfolio.
Do-Coop has adopted the position that we are not a service provider for our technology, but rather a full partner in R&D. After all, no one knows the technology better than its creators, and our willingness to provide risk-free Proof of Concept greatly eases the process for companies to license Neowater technology for their product portfolio. It also increases their confidence in the business viability of Neowater.
Upon request, our company team sits with the customer team to discuss the modifications they need. The first step is to determine the Proof of Concept success criteria. After agreement on these, and a Statement of Working Relationship, we offer the company the option to sign a contract with us to license the Neowater technology (including milestones and royalties).
The business strategy of Value-Added Elements has opened important doors for Do-Coop in the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Chemical industries.
As satisfying as these successes are, they represent only our first target markets. The physical properties of Neowater, and particularly its heat-management thermodynamic capabilities, provide a very broad technology platform that will benefit many industries. We will be adding value to each application, ensuring a smooth playing field for all partners.
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