218 ◾ The Guide to Entrepreneurship: How to Create Wealth for Your Company
10.7 The Special Case Involving Biotechnology Patents
“Life sciences and biotechnology are widely regarded as one of the
most promising frontier technologies for the coming decades.”
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Research and development in the life sciences is extremely costly and time-
consuming. The pharmaceutical industry provides a good example of the
timescales (8 to 10 years) and funding to bring a drug or biological product
to market. Most biotechnology startups do not have the nancial resources
available to them to survive for that period of time.
The business model of biotech rms often relies heavily on intellectual
property rights, in particular patents, as they are often the most crucial ...