Personalized Medicine -a viable option for a biotech company

Abstract: The life science industry has experienced a large increase in size and convergence of traditional industries. This has resulted in a reduction of the space to operate for start-up biotech companies, and in innovative ways to solve the challenges. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate three aspects in relation to personalized medicine based on stem cells – the current patent landscape and how it affects market entry, the possibility of generating intellectual property rights in connection to the personalization aspect, as well as the commercial challenges and advantages these aspects have for biotech companies. This has been analyzed by conducting a case study of a start-up biotech company in combination with literature studies and discussions with professionals within the field. The outcome of the analysis shows that the current landscape creates great hurdles for biotech companies but that there still are good opportunities to reach market within the field for personalized medicine. Conclusions that can be drawn are that personalized medicine offers viable alternatives and that the role of intellectual property should not be underestimated.