Biopure Corp

Biopure Corporation

In this case, the Biopure Corporation faced a long debate between Vice President Ted Jacobs and the Vice President Andy Wright. Their main concerns are the fate of two new products developed by the company, Oxyglobin and Hemopure for the veterinary and human market. Ted Jacobs insisted that the release of the Oxyglobin should be delayed until after Hemopure was approved and had established itself in the market place. On the other hand, Andy Wright insisted that Oxyglobin should go to the market first, saying that the company has the opportunity to adjust the potential mistake that Oxyglobin might generate before the launch of Hemopure.

The company’s two Vice presidents both had their own consideration and speculation under different circumstances, however, some of the points are incomplete due to some facts.

According to Ted Jacobs, the veterinary market is small and price sensitive. However, the information in Exhibit 7 shows that the there 15,000 profiles of Veterinary practices in the United States in 1995 and they have averagely hundreds of monthly case load, which generates $570,000 of revenues per year in average. It is still a profitable market especially for a brand new product. In addition, the information from the Veterinary Blood Market session clearly stated that blood transfusions in the veterinary market were infrequent and there were large number of dogs suffering from acute blood loss. That means the veterinary markets desperately need Oxyglobin. Besides, there are more potential customers than we could think that would be interested in Oxyglobin. For example, the protection of wild animals have been largely concerned by scientists and other organizations in recent years. Scientists as well as Philanthropists are taking much more attention on the endangered species. Not to mention the large demand of domestic animals that raising in farms. These are all potential markets that Oxyglobin could go in.

On the other...