Biotech, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device
Business Plans and Investor Presentations
that Raise Money
$2000 NO-RISK TRIAL GUARANTEE
(301) 468-9510 • tom@falconriver.com
Some suggestions for your business plan…
If you want investors, focus the business plan on the market opportunity and how your company will make money. Emphasizing technology over market opportunity is the opposite of what most investors want and is usually a mistake.
An effective biotechnology, pharmaceutical or medical device business plan gets right to the point. Begin by telling investors:
• what your company does
• the unmet medical need the company targets
• the size of the market
Defer explaining technology in detail until after you decribe the market opportunity, and then focus especially on how the technology will create products.
If you seek money from angel investors with little understanding of medicine, describe technology with less biomedical jargon than appropriate for sophisticated VCs.
When describing the management team, it is not always a deal killer if the team is incomplete. Well connected angels and VCs can help find the people you need.
Besides explaining how much money the business needs, the business plan should explain how and when investors will get their money back and how much they can make if all goes well.
•••
This is Tom Hollon. As a writer since 1998 and a medical researcher for many years before that, I can help you create a business plan for raising money and help you with PowerPoint slides for investor presentations.
2000 RISK-FREE TRIAL GUARANTEEWhen you hire a consultant, it is natural at the beginning to wonder, “Did I hire the right person?” Let me shoulder the risk as we get started. If you are not satisfied with my services by the time my charges reach $2000, call it quits and walk away. You will owe me nothing. Not one penny. |
Put Me to the Test
Below is an outline I put together for a biotech business plan for developing a biologic from preclinical testing through Phase 1 clinical trials. Feel free to copy and adapt it to your biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or medical device. A business plan following this outline may run 5,000 to 13,000 words.
And if my services and guarantee sound right for your needs, call me at 301-468-9510 or email me at tom@falconriver.com.
I look forward to working with you.
Tom Hollon, PhD
Falcon River Biomedical Communications
5631 Pier Drive • Rockville, MD 20851
BIOLOGIC BUSINESS PLAN OUTLINE
Executive Summary
• The company and the opportunity
• The Biologic
• Business model: to develop through Phase 1 and
sell
• Intellectual property
• Use of proceeds
• Exit strategy
Table of Contents
Market Opportunity
• An unmet medical need, or…
…a way to break into a market without infringing
another company’s patents
• Disease incidence, survival statistics, patient
demographics
• Market size and growth for each indication
• Market segments, if any
The Company
• Background
• Management
• Directors
• Scientific Advisory Board and research
collaborations
Product Development
• Indications for the biologic
• Explain biologic’s science in terms of filling the
unmet medical need
• What is known about biologic’s safety and efficacy
• Plan for preclinical development
• Plan for Phase 1 clinical trials
• How much money will plans require
Competitive Analysis
• Biologic’s competitive advantages, including
potential for orphan drug status
• Current competing drugs for this indication
• Competing drugs now in clinical trials (search
www.clinicaltrials.gov)
• Advantages of biologic’s route of administration vs.
how competing drugs are delivered
• How biologic will be reimbursed by the government
or insurers vs. reimbursement for competing drugs
• Consider doing a SWOT analysis of the biologic
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Intellectual Property
• Include an explanation that your company’s IP wiil
not infringe anyone else’s
Financial Overview
• Capitalization (money raised to date)
• Use of proceeds to be raised with this business plan
Exit Strategy
One possible approach to ROI calculations: Give
examples of how much other drugs or companies sold for after successful Phase 1 trials. From these figures calculate how much investment money it is possible to obtain and deliver to investors a 3-fold, 5-fold, and 10-fold return in 3 or 4 years. VCs will expect much larger returns than angels.
Risk Management
• Technical risks of preclinical development and
alternative approaches
• Management risks
• Business risks
• Regulatory risks
Appendix
One or more appendices may include:
• Collaborations with other companies
• Mechanism of action
• Glossary of scientific terms
• Audited financials
• Scientific bibliography or selected papers
• Media coverage and press releases
Footnotes
A few more biotech – pharmaceutical – medical device business plan tips…
An Executive Summary many times has only a few seconds to capture investors’ attention. If a summary has more than one page, it must generate interest in the company, the market opportunity, and how investors will make money by the end of page 1. Otherwise they may never get to page 2.
Every young company has a weakness. The business plan should not hide this. Also do not exaggerate. Hiding something will diminish investors’ trust when it comes to light during due diligence. They will wonder what else is hidden.
If you are not acquainted with VCs who invest in your kind of company, it is very important to find a business contact who can introduce you. If your contact is too busy to read your Executive Summary or may not fully understand it, try offering a one-page letter that combines a summary of the business with a request for introductions. For guidance in writing this kind of letter, study the examples in a brief and excellent book, The One-Page Proposal, by Patrick G. Riley.
