Genzyme is a leader in the biotechnology industry, and established its reputation as early as 1981 by supplying the market with certain chemicals. The company attributes its success to its focus on rather rare or "orphan" diseases and the development of drugs that capture market share for those ailments. However, there are two sides to this issue. The research and development process for these rarer drugs is tremendously expensive, resulting in a price that is well beyond most consumers. Some drugs, for instance, would cost the patient $100-200,000 per year. To bridge this gap, Genzyme has been forced to rely on government subsidies to realize any profit margin, and to continue work on these orphan diseases. Due to its focus, the company has developed rather close relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and governmental health care organizations. Thus, the company has a niche market, but must continually work to ensure that this side of its business is positioned appropriate to maximize the global market. Genzyme knows that it can only generate revenues if NGOs and governmental agencies will support their work and if the orphan diseases are serious enough for investment. Thus, there is a marketing edge for finding certain disease vectors that tend to congregate and interrupt Third World populations or those in which the disease is hampering economic development (Bartlett, et.al., 2009).
Analysis of Dilemma- Genzyme knows that in the long-term, the strategic partnership between Genzyme and most government agencies (whether foreign or domestic), cannot exist based on commerce. One example is the country of Brazil -- truly a gem in modernizing and using its economic resources to help alleviate social suffering in the country. Brazil accounts of about 10% of Genzyme's revenue (about $108 million). The Brazilian government subsidized 92% of the cost ($100 million) on Cerezyme, a drug used to treat Gaucher disease. Critics believe that the time and money could be better...
From both a strategic and tactical perspective, then, Genzyme must maintain and even enhance its image as an organization that is primarily interested in eradicating disease and discomfort and worried about profits second. To do this, Jim Gerahty, Senior VP at Genzyme, imitated the HAND initiative that focuses on the development of medications for diseases defined by the World Health Organization as neglected tropical diseases. HAND is not about profit, but will even make all intellectual property regarding research and development available to all partner organizations, interested academics, and government agencies. Under the current HAND initiative, there are three diseases that are serious enough to require attention: Malaria, Chagas/Sleeping Sickness, and Tuberculosis. However, Genzyme has perhaps overextended itself a bit in trying to push the HAND initiative due to decreased resources, too many projects, and too many ancillary partnerships.
Analysis of Proposals- Each of the three diseases is serious, more or less serious depending on region. A brief analysis of each shows us that:
Issue
Malaria
Chagas
TB
Population Impact
3.3 billion at risk, 1 million dead annually
160 million at risk, less than 100,000 dead annually
More than 4 billion at risk, 2 million dead annually
Geographical Impact
Africa, Equatorial Asia, Latin and South America
Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa
Global
Current Research
Limited, funded by others
Local R&D, little affective drugs
Use of drugs from 50 years ago; very little new research
Genzyme Internal
Skilled to address issue
Skilled to address issue
Skilled to address issue
Genzyme…
