Biopure Corporation Case Study

Biopure Case Study

        Biopure Corporation was responsible for creating two new blood substitutes in the late 90’s. Oxyglobin for the veterinary market, and Hemopure for the human market. Oxyglobin was ready for release to veterinarian markets while Hemopure was still two years away from gaining final approval from the FDA. Whether to launch it right away, or to wait until Hemopure was approved, was the ongoing controversy for Biopure. If they waited to release Oxyglobin until Hemopure was also ready, Biopure could miss out on creating revenues that could be used to help distribute and promote Hemopure in the future. If they released it now, some argued that they could potentially jeopardize the future selling price of Hemopure because the veterinary market was much more price sensitive.

        I recommend that Biopure release Oxyglobin now. The opportunities and gains that will result from launching it now outweigh the risk of jeopardizing the price of Hemopure later. They will be able to use the revenues from selling Oxyglobin to help promote and distribute Hemopure in the future. Especially since there is higher competition in the human blood substitute market and Biopure is not as well established in the medical community as some of their competitors. Selling Oxyglobin now will help them build a reputation for their company and products. It will also help them create a distribution network and supply chain that they can use for Hemopure.

        Biopure should first focus on selling Oxyglobin through the regional distribution channel, as it produces the highest percentage of sales. Once they are more established, they should focus on the national and local channels. For Oxyglobin, Biopure should target veterinarian care clinics and emergency clinics, as well as animal blood banks and pharmaceutical vendors.   They should take advantage of promoting Oxyglobin in publications and trade shows, as they are popular and can reach a lot of potential clients. For Biopure to ensure that they can receive a much higher price for Hemopure than Oxyglobin, they need be able to emphasize the differentiation between the two products in each market. Biopure should have specific training for their sales representatives to be able to overcome differentiation objections and stress the benefits of their blood substitutes.