BIOT5219 - Review: Managing Biotechnology, Northeastern Univ.

This book review assesses “Managing Biotechnology: From Science to Market in the Digital Age” by Francoise Simon and Glen Giovannetti, focusing on how the health ecosystem utilizes medical data and digital technology for solutions. It covers the digital evolution of biotechnology, financing strategies, and collaborative success. The review highlights biotechnology's influence across sectors like health and agriculture, citing key developments such as the discovery of DNA structure. It addresses challenges including information overload, data interpretation issues, and the need for better healthcare apps. The review also delves into precision medicine, emphasizing the roles of biopharm firms, payers, and providers in advancing targeted treatments. It concludes that the book prepares students for biotechnology careers by equipping them with skills in research, quality control, and ethical considerations, offering direction for the future of biotechnology through digital innovations and stakeholder collaboration. Desklib provides this and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: BOOK REVIEW 1
Book Review
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

BOOK REVIEW 2
Book Review
In fulfillment of the course requirements, the following is a review of the book
“Managing Biotechnology: From Science to Market in the Digital Age by Francoise Simon
and Glen Giovannetti.” Overall, the book elucidates on how different players in the health
ecosystem can leverage medical data using science and embracing digital technology to come
up with solutions to human problems. In the first part; the authors take us through the digital
evolution of biotechnology, biotechnology financing strategies and lastly attaining success
through collaboration. The second part of the book explores new business and marketing
models, and the last part takes us through new models for digital health. The book gives us
insight into the risks, opportunities, and challenges of the biotech industry.
In the first part of the book, the authors discuss how biotechnology has had an
influence on various sectors from health, energy, food to agriculture among others. For
example, in food and agriculture (green biotechnology), biotechnology has been used to
invent food and feed varieties that have commercially valuable genetic characteristics as in
the development of genetically modified soybeans and crops resistant to some herbicides and
insects. (Uecke, 2012)
The book has also highlighted the developments in the area of biotechnology; for
instance, the discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick’s in 1953 and draft of
the human genome by Celera and the Human Genome Project in 2000 among many
discoveries (Giovannetti, 2017). As much as there have been these developments, there have
been emerging trends that have had an impact on the commercialization of biotechnology
discoveries. For instance, with longer lifespans, there has arisen chronic diseases globally
prompting manufacturers to produce drugs, but these are again faced with financial
constraints from the payers.

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Researchers are also faced with information overload from gadgets such as
smartphones, biosensors, and others like genomic, clinic trials and insurer databases which
they cannot handle. It results in non-linkage in the biopharma space. In addition to these, data
generated from clinical trials should be submitted online and needs professional
interpretation, but healthcare officers cannot do these for fear of liability and reimbursement
issues.
A major hurdle facing biotechnology is electronics such as desktops, tablets, and phones with
low functionality; that is, most of them do not have apps on disease and treatment
management as well as apps that do not connect patients to their healthcare professionals as
well as healthcare system (Mohammad Bajwa, 2014). However, some companies such as
WellDoc, AliveCor, Proteus Digital Health, and Dexcom among others have come up with
applications that are approved, physician prescribed and payer reimbursed that leverage on
biotechnology discoveries.
In the second part of the book, in the chapter on precision medicine which means the
use of genetic technologies to determine if a particular patient is going to respond to a
specific drug if administered at the right time (Woodcock, 2015); the authors aver that
precision medicine is already being used in the treatment of certain cancers. Biopharm firms
can assist in overcoming challenges related to precision medicine by having new mindsets,
adopting new digital technologies and involving themselves in collaborations with traditional
healthcare stakeholders and new players. Precision medicine is not only advanced by
biotechnology but also by patients, providers, and payers being enabled by new digital
technologies and data sources. How do payers affect precision medicine? Governments and
commercial agencies avail funds to target treatments to particular segments of society (CW,
2001) Depending on these funds, treatments start with the most cost-effective drugs before
offering patients more expensive drugs. On the other hand, providers provide infrastructure

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and install systems to facilitate precision medicine; moreover, biotech information is used to
lessen inappropriate medication use and unnecessary costs.
The book Managing Biotechnology prepares graduates for fascinating work in
different laboratory settings, for example, analytical laboratories, bioresearch facilities,
biotechnology goods, commercial, service production, and biotechnology goods. The book
also prepares students to work in the agricultural sector, academic and government
laboratories. Upon completion of the text, students will have acquired skills applicable to
research and development, quality control and assurance work, pharmaceutical production,
food production, environmental protection, and other biotechnology product manufacturing.
The book Managing Biotechnologies helps equips the students with a solid foundation of the
complex ethical, social, and political implications of the remarkable field of biotechnology.
The students will therefore be able to make exciting and informed career choices.
In conclusion, the book is about scientific breakthroughs in the field of biotechnology
brought about by digital technologies and how then biopharm firms can collaborate with
stakeholders to deliver these innovations to the patient who needs up-to-date medical care.
Further, the book also gives us the direction where biotechnology is headed.

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Reference
Bubnov, I. A. (2017, March). Innovative payer engagement strategies:will the convergence
lead to better value creation in personalized medicine? Springer EPMA Journal, 1.
CW, W. (2001). Capitalizing on New Needs and New Opportunities:Government-Industry
Partnerships in Biotechnology and Information Technologies. Washington DC:
National Academies Press.
Giovannetti, F. S. (2017). Managing Biotechnology: From Science to Market in the Digital
Age. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Mohammad Bajwa. (2014). Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 649-655.
Uecke, O. (2012). How to Commercialise Research in Biotechnology?:Effectiveness of the
innovation Process and of Technology Transfer in the Biotechnology Sector. Bucher:
Springer Science & Business Media.
Woodcock, J. (2015). Precision drug development. American Society for Clinical
Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 23-25.