- 01 Oct 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Negative Shocks and Innovation: Evidence from Medical Device Recalls
This study examines Food and Drug Administration data on all medical device approvals and recalls over the years 2003-2015, finding that firms slow down their own innovation processes in response to recalls, while their direct competitors accelerate innovative activities. Recalls may thus pose a greater strategic disadvantage than previously understood.
- 17 Apr 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Digital Innovation with High Costs of Entry: Evidence from Software-Driven Medical Devices
Although technology shifts often allow new entrants to edge into a market, established firms seem to be maintaining leadership in the medical devices industry, where software integration is increasingly important.
- 08 Mar 2018
- Cold Call Podcast
Could a New Business Model Make Clinical Drug Trials More Accessible to Patients?
Ariel Stern discusses her recent case study about creating a new type of clinical trial designed to deliver life-enhancing drugs to patients more quickly. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 14 Nov 2017
- First Look
New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017
Watching violent crimes...Attracting truthful customer reviews...Approving medical devices
- 21 Aug 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively
Big data is a critical competitive advantage for companies that know how to use it. Harvard Business School faculty share insights that they teach to executives. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 15 Mar 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business
MBA students participating in Harvard Business School’s Climate Change Challenge offer ideas on how companies can negate impacts from a changing environment. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 26 Jul 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe
Biosimilars are large-molecule drugs that, while not an exact copy of already-approved large-molecule drugs, have been shown to be therapeutically equivalent. Much like generic drugs, which become available when a small-molecule drug goes off patent, biosimilars are lower in cost than their reference products and present an opportunity for savings when large-molecule drugs’ patents expire. Biosimilars have been available in the United States only since 2015 but have been regulated, approved, and sold in Europe for over a decade. This paper examines the European experience to help inform policy design and institutional choices for the United States. Topics covered include the entry of distributors and unique products; predictors of average product prices following biosimilar competition; and penetration of biosimilars as a share of total sales.
- 12 Jul 2016
- First Look
July 12, 2016
Rising education costs dampen entrepreneurship ... The economic implications of biosimilars ... How to reduce government error in GDP forecasts.
- 10 Aug 2015
- Research & Ideas
New Medical Devices Get To Patients Too Slowly
The FDA has streamlined drug testing to ensure new therapies come to market quickly. But when it comes to life-giving medical devices, approvals seem unnecessarily slow, according to research by Ariel Dora Stern. Open for comment; 6 Comment(s) posted.
- 08 Jun 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending
There are large regional variations in rates of medical treatments in the United States and other countries. What drives such variation? This paper develops a model of supply of and demand for health care, and suggests that a large degree of regional variation appears to be explained by differences in physician beliefs about the efficacy of particular therapies. As much as 35 percent of end-of-life Medicare expenditures and 12 percent of overall Medicare expenditures are explained by physician beliefs that cannot be explained by patient preferences or justified by evidence of clinical effectiveness. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Pioneer (Dis-)advantages in Markets for Technology
When and how to enter a new market is central to firms’ innovation strategies, including in the medical device industry. The authors show how to evaluate early-mover advantage vs. disadvantage when the primary option to monetize an innovation lies in selling it in an intermediate “market for technology” rather than in a final product market.