INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT RANCHI

Presentation on

The Case of Biopure Corporation

“Whether to launch Oxyglobin immediately or to delayed it

for Hemopure in future”

Group Members:
1. Jafar Ghori (X012-18)
Course: Marketing Management 2. Manish Kumar (X015-18)
Batch: 2018-20 3. Ujjwal Kumar (X021-18)
Term-3 4. Shyam Kumar Paswan (X019-18)
5. Rohan Kumar (X017-18)
 An Overview of Biopure:
o Biopure Corporation was founded in 1984 by Carl Rausch and David Judelson
o It has two new product which is substitute of blood i.e Oxyglobin & Hemopure
o Only company actively engaged in development of blood substitute for small animal veterinary market
o Has invested $200 million in development of blood substitute
o Company has financing of $50 million to support operations for another 2 yrs
o Stake holders are anxious to make the company public

Market Overview:
Human Blood Market Veterinary Blood Market

Around 14million units of RBCs are available from
donations
o It needs exact blood type matching
o It reduced O2 carrying efficiency
o It has limited shelf life
o It needs refrigeration
o Risk of disease transmission is high
Around 14million units of RBCs are available from donations
o Blood transfusions were infrequent
o About 30% of cases would have benefitted significantly
o Primary care practices blood requirement cost $80 to
$120 / unit, and in case of emergency it cost $130-
$170/unit
o Lack of time and resource to type the donor and blood
recipient
Competitor Analysis

Factor Biopure Corporation Northfield Laboratories Baxter International

Product name Oxyglobin & Hemopure PolyHeme HemAssist
Source of haemoglobin Bovine blood Outdated RBC of Human Outdated RBC of Human
blood blood
Cost of Production $15 million $70 million $50 million
Raw Material Cost $1.5 per unit $26 per unit $8 per unit
Storage Stable at room temperature Need frozen <4deg C until Need frozen <4deg C
used until used
Clinical trial phase Oxyglobin – cleared Phase3 clinical trial in 1998 Phase3 clinical trial in
Hemopure- Phase3 clinical 1996
trial in 1998
Pricing Oxyglobin upto $200 $600 - $800 $600 - $800
Hemopure $600 - $800
SWOT Analysis
Strength Opportunity
1. First blood substitute which has received full
1. No prior expertise in launching the product and
governments approval
marketing
2. Technological expertise which enables it to produce
2. No self generated revenues as on date
blood substitute with bovine RBC
3. No distribution network in place
3. Products are “Universal” blood substitutes

Weakness Threat
1. No product is available to cater the urgency needs
2. Aging population of US is a big opportunity 1. Price of product
3. High demand of blood substitute 2. Delay in the approval process
4. No competitor as on date having substitute in veterinary 3. Competition from Hem-assist & Poly-Heme
market

4P’s of Marketing Product: Place:

• Short shelf life
• No refrigeration required
Price:
• Should be higher than primary care units
• Difficult to raise the price in future
• Price approx. between $150 - $200
• Local and regional distribution
• Animal Blood bank
Promotion:
• Targeting hospitals and doctors
• Differentiating Hemopure and Oxyglobin
• Awareness session for doctors
After analysing the case, we are recommending to CEO of Biopure, Carl Raush for
launching the Oxyglobin immediately due to

For gaining the first mover advantages.

It will also create platform for Hemopure to launch in future

It will also market the biggest point of differentiation i.e value of
Human Vs Animal life

Establish deep distribution network of Oxyglobin & market Hemopure

through same channel