Personalized Medicine -a viable option for a biotech company

The life science industry has experienced a large increase in size and convergence of traditional industries. This has resulted in a reduction of the space to operate for start-up biotech companies, and in innovative ways to solve the challenges. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate three aspects in relation to personalized medicine based on stem cells – the current patent landscape and how it affects market entry, the possibility of generating intellectual property rights in connection to the personalization aspect, as well as the commercial challenges and advantages these aspects have for biotech companies. This has been analyzed by conducting a case study of a start-up biotech company in combination with literature studies and discussions with professionals within the field. The outcome of the analysis shows that the current landscape creates great hurdles for biotech companies but that there still are good opportunities to reach market within the field for personalized medicine. Conclusions that can be drawn are that personalized medicine offers viable alternatives and that the role of intellectual property should not be underestimated.MSc in Intellectual Capital Managemen

Levering buyouts in a credit crunch A study of the size, structure and pricing of loans on the Nordic LBO market 2005 - 2008

The U.S. subprime crisis in July 2007 caused worldwide financial turbulence and turned several financial markets illiquid. These problems have affected the banks’ willingness and ability to lend money to leveraged buyouts (LBO). The motivation for this thesis is to see how the problems in the financial markets have affected the Nordic LBO market between 2005- 2008 by describing the development of banks’ lending to LBOs in terms of size, structure and pricing. The development is described both through quantitative and qualitative data. The results from interviews with both Nordic and foreign banks have been the main data used for the result, analysis, and conclusion. To summarize the results: Since the credit crunch in July 2007, the prices of the loans have increased, the size of the loans has become smaller, and the structure of the loans has changed significantly. The reasons for these changes are mainly that the macro environment has changed and that the competition, from both banks and institutions such as hedge funds, has decreased. The conclusion that can be drawn based on the result is that the size, structure and pricing of the loans to LBOs are sounder today. The development of the LBO market seen in 2006-2007 could not persist in the long run, hence the bubble finally burst. Syndicating loans are nowadays an embedded part of the LBO process and its liquidity is vital for the LBO industry. In our study, we have also noticed a great influence from market forces on banks’ lending to LBOs, to a greater extent than what banks are willing to admit