Biopure Corporation

Case Analysis: Biopure Corporation.

Background Analysis:

General Market Assessment: Biopure Corporation makes Blood substitutes for animals and human beings. Blood substitutes are designed to replicate the oxygen carrying function of blood. Biopure specializes in making blood substitutes that were “bovine-sourced” i.e. from cattle. For the Human market Biopure had a product called “Hemopure”, while its counterpart in the animal market was “Oxyglobin”.

Competition: In the animal market Biopure was the only company to have a blood substitute product and theirs was the first product to have been FDA approved. In the human blood market Biopure faced competition from two major players, Baxter International and Northfield Laboratories. In contrast to Biopure both these companies had blood substitute products which were derived from Human blood and their products needed to be stored frozen. Baxter international was well known as the leader in the blood related products industry, Northfield on the other hand was a relatively smaller company with lower production capacity. It was unlikely that there would emerge new competitors in either market for several years to come as there was lot of research involved in developing suitable blood substitutes and it would take several years for them to get the necessary approvals from the FDA.

Company Strategy and Buyer behavior: Human and Animal blood markets were different in their composition. The Animal blood market is small and very price sensitive. The human blood market is very large and relatively less price sensitive. The entry into both these markets is controlled by approvals from government agencies like the FDA.(Food and Drug Administration.) Biopure has already obtained necessary approvals to market “Oxyglobin” for the animal market. “Hemopure” which is the blood substitute product for the Human market is currently in the third phase of clinical trials. Biopure was expecting an approval from FDA for its product in 1999.

Current Industry trends: All the blood substitute products are currently in the final phase of their clinical trials. The decision from FDA is pending and all the market players are busy setting up their production facilities in anticipation of getting a clean chit from the FDA.

Decision: The Decision pending with Carl Rausch the CEO of Biopure was if the

Recommendation

Positioning Statement:

Marketing Mix:

3) Basis for Recommendation:

4) Assumptions and Uncertainties:

5) Action Steps:

Exhibit 1:

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Weakness

Internal

Analysis

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