Team:Uppsala/PolicyPractices MicrobialDesigns

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document.getElementById("tab4").innerHTML = '<h2>Product properties</h2><p>The unique characteristics of our probiotic compared to generic drugs is that our product eliminates the pathogen without using antibiotics. This is a major asset for the future marketing of our product since antibiotic resistance is a well known and severe problem, making treatment of diseases more problematic.<br><br>The product will be easy to distribute as it will be produced as a pill, making it compatible with established drugs in respect to shipping. Both probiotics and antibiotics derives from cultivations of microorganisms grown in large batches. However, in comparison to probiotic drugs, antibiotics need to be extracted and purified from such cultivations. Thus the production of probiotic will be easier and also hopefully cheaper in comparison to antibiotic production.</p><h2>Target customers and positioning strategy</h2><p>Initially, to establish our product, we intended to target the Swedish market simply because of the convenience of location. However, according to our laws and regulation research, it’s difficult to get approval from appropriate authorities for such a product. It was further concluded that a better choice of location for establishment is the United States of America, where it’s easier to get companies authorized.<br><br>Target customers are people infected by the pathogen (Yersinia enterocolitica). To reach our customers we would approach hospitals and pharmaceutical companies and promote our product. By highlighting the threat of antibiotic resistance we believe that our product will be sought. Thus we will be able to establish a market which will be of major importance for the future success of the product.<br><br>The widespread of Y.enterocolitica is relatively low and seem to be most frequent in northern Europe and as an example, the disease affects about 500 - 800 people per year in Sweden[1, 2]. Further, most infections are uncomplicated with most cases resolving themselves without further need of treatment. Hence it’s likely that the profit will be low if selling our product in the northern Europe. However we believe that our product will function as a stepping stone in the future development of pathogen killing probiotics, which hopefully can reduce the usage of antibiotics. Hence we believe that the logical regions, for marketing our product, are those which have problems with antibiotic resistance. Regions such as the United States, the western and southern parts of Europe have been identified as having high occurrence of antibiotic resistance. Thus these regions will be our main target for marketing our product [4].</p><h2>Size of the total market</h2><p>As described previously, the market is not particularly large as the infection rate is low and only those with a compromised immune system, such as elderly people or infants, will be needing treatment. Thus making it difficult to advance our product on the relatively small market.<br><br>If antibiotic resistance emerges to a level where many bacteria will be resistant, people will be forced to step out of their comfort zones and hopefully embrace this new technology. If we can evolve our technology into targeting pathogens that poses a greater threat than Y.enterocolitica we believe the market will expand at a fast rate.</p><h2>Promotions strategy (Commercial)</h2><p>There are many different ways when it comes to advertising a new product. When attracting customers you want to make sure to capture their attention in a memorable way. Another important aspect is the ability to reach as many people as possible. Hence we decided to make an animated infomercial. The goal of the infomercial was to show a schematic description of our modified probiotic and how it attacks the pathogen in the intestinal region. We determined that this would be a convenient and easy way to both describe and promote our product.<br><br>A lot of focus would be aimed towards providing the commercial to the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. It is also highly important to combine the commercial with lectures to be able to thoroughly educate about our product and its focus on preventing antibiotic resistance.</p><h2>Summary</h2><p>As mentioned earlier, the market for treating Y.enterocolitica does not look promising, due to its low pathogenicity. However, if we manage to develop the idea of targeting other pathogens, we can be sure it will expand into a larger and more advantageous market.  If we can promote the probiotica properly, it stands a fair chance of competing against antibiotics and therefore preventing the increase of antibiotic resistance. In the long run, this will hopefully decrease the threat against future medical treatments, saving millions of lives.</p><ul class="reference"><li>[1]Wallén Norell , Annica et al. 2013-11-18. Infektion med Yersinia enterocolitica. www-dokument.http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/Lists/Artikelkatalog/Attachments/19253/2013-11-18.pdf (accessed: 2014-08-07)</li><li>[2]Brink, Erik. 2006-01-07.Yersinia vanligt i nordeuropeiskt griskött. www-dokument. http://ja.agriprim.com/nyheter/visaNyhet.asp?NyhetID=6001&highlight= (accessed:2014-08-07)</li><li>[3]Lavinsky, Dave. 2013-09-30. Marketing Plan Template: Exactly what to include. www-dokument.http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/09/30/marketing-plan-template-exactly-what-to-include/2/ (accessed: 2014-07-10)</li><li>[4]Farrar, Tabitha. 2014-07-25. Antibiotic Resistance is fast approaching. www-dokument. http://guardianlv.com/2014/07/antibiotics-resistance-is-fast-approaching/ (accessed: 2014-08-07)</li></ul>';
document.getElementById("tab4").innerHTML = '<h2>Product properties</h2><p>The unique characteristics of our probiotic compared to generic drugs is that our product eliminates the pathogen without using antibiotics. This is a major asset for the future marketing of our product since antibiotic resistance is a well known and severe problem, making treatment of diseases more problematic.<br><br>The product will be easy to distribute as it will be produced as a pill, making it compatible with established drugs in respect to shipping. Both probiotics and antibiotics derives from cultivations of microorganisms grown in large batches. However, in comparison to probiotic drugs, antibiotics need to be extracted and purified from such cultivations. Thus the production of probiotic will be easier and also hopefully cheaper in comparison to antibiotic production.</p><h2>Target customers and positioning strategy</h2><p>Initially, to establish our product, we intended to target the Swedish market simply because of the convenience of location. However, according to our laws and regulation research, it’s difficult to get approval from appropriate authorities for such a product. It was further concluded that a better choice of location for establishment is the United States of America, where it’s easier to get companies authorized.<br><br>Target customers are people infected by the pathogen (Yersinia enterocolitica). To reach our customers we would approach hospitals and pharmaceutical companies and promote our product. By highlighting the threat of antibiotic resistance we believe that our product will be sought. Thus we will be able to establish a market which will be of major importance for the future success of the product.<br><br>The widespread of Y.enterocolitica is relatively low and seem to be most frequent in northern Europe and as an example, the disease affects about 500 - 800 people per year in Sweden[1, 2]. Further, most infections are uncomplicated with most cases resolving themselves without further need of treatment. Hence it’s likely that the profit will be low if selling our product in the northern Europe. However we believe that our product will function as a stepping stone in the future development of pathogen killing probiotics, which hopefully can reduce the usage of antibiotics. Hence we believe that the logical regions, for marketing our product, are those which have problems with antibiotic resistance. Regions such as the United States, the western and southern parts of Europe have been identified as having high occurrence of antibiotic resistance. Thus these regions will be our main target for marketing our product [4].</p><h2>Size of the total market</h2><p>As described previously, the market is not particularly large as the infection rate is low and only those with a compromised immune system, such as elderly people or infants, will be needing treatment. Thus making it difficult to advance our product on the relatively small market.<br><br>If antibiotic resistance emerges to a level where many bacteria will be resistant, people will be forced to step out of their comfort zones and hopefully embrace this new technology. If we can evolve our technology into targeting pathogens that poses a greater threat than Y.enterocolitica we believe the market will expand at a fast rate.</p><h2>Promotions strategy (Commercial)</h2><p>There are many different ways when it comes to advertising a new product. When attracting customers you want to make sure to capture their attention in a memorable way. Another important aspect is the ability to reach as many people as possible. Hence we decided to make an animated infomercial. The goal of the infomercial was to show a schematic description of our modified probiotic and how it attacks the pathogen in the intestinal region. We determined that this would be a convenient and easy way to both describe and promote our product.<br><br>A lot of focus would be aimed towards providing the commercial to the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. It is also highly important to combine the commercial with lectures to be able to thoroughly educate about our product and its focus on preventing antibiotic resistance.</p><h2>Summary</h2><p>As mentioned earlier, the market for treating Y.enterocolitica does not look promising, due to its low pathogenicity. However, if we manage to develop the idea of targeting other pathogens, we can be sure it will expand into a larger and more advantageous market.  If we can promote the probiotica properly, it stands a fair chance of competing against antibiotics and therefore preventing the increase of antibiotic resistance. In the long run, this will hopefully decrease the threat against future medical treatments, saving millions of lives.</p><ul class="reference"><li>[1]Wallén Norell , Annica et al. 2013-11-18. Infektion med Yersinia enterocolitica. www-dokument.http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/Lists/Artikelkatalog/Attachments/19253/2013-11-18.pdf (accessed: 2014-08-07)</li><li>[2]Brink, Erik. 2006-01-07.Yersinia vanligt i nordeuropeiskt griskött. www-dokument. http://ja.agriprim.com/nyheter/visaNyhet.asp?NyhetID=6001&highlight= (accessed:2014-08-07)</li><li>[3]Lavinsky, Dave. 2013-09-30. Marketing Plan Template: Exactly what to include. www-dokument.http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/09/30/marketing-plan-template-exactly-what-to-include/2/ (accessed: 2014-07-10)</li><li>[4]Farrar, Tabitha. 2014-07-25. Antibiotic Resistance is fast approaching. www-dokument. http://guardianlv.com/2014/07/antibiotics-resistance-is-fast-approaching/ (accessed: 2014-08-07)</li></ul>';
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document.getElementById("tab5").innerHTML = '<br><p>To be able to build a company, we must have an approximate idea of the costs that will be involved in developing new designer microorganisms. For budget planning, we have consulted Anders Virtanen, professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Uppsala University, who himself has been involved in starting the company Bioimics. Bioimics is a biotechnology company, which mainly focuses on developing new antibacterial drugs using RNA. Although their activities do not include design and modification of bacteria, their equipment and expertise concerning our field in biotechnology will be similar to ours, and therefore we considered it as a valid source of information.<br><br>When estimating the costs that are involved in building a company, two types of costs should be distinguished. The first type consists of operating costs. These are costs that are made during the production of products. In our case, the product is a microbial design with a potential for killing pathogens and the costs involved mostly consist of disposable equipment and other materials (such as enzymes and chemicals) that are deplenished during research. The rest of the operating costs consists of wages for the employees and external services (such as sending samples for sequencing).<br><br><i>Here are some examples of operating costs for our company:</i><br></p><table id="partsT"><tr><td>Disposable material/equipment</td><td>600 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries(including insurances, taxes etc)</td><td>4500 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>External services</td><td>2000 (Tkr)*</td></tr></table><p>* Tkr = One thousand Swedish Crowns<br><br>The other type of costs that have to be considered, consist of the assets of a company. These can be viewed as the property of a company. In our case, this includes material assets, material properties, such as a research facility and the machines and equipment that are used for developing microbial designs. It also includes immaterial assets, immaterial properties such as patents, liquid assets and financial resources that are needed to run the company.</p><br><br><i>Here are a few examples of the assets needed for Microbial Designs:</i><br></p><table id="partsT"><tr><td>Disposable material/equipment</td><td>600 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries(including insurances, taxes etc)</td><td>4500 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>External services</td><td>2000 (Tkr)*</td></tr></table><br><p>In total, the costs for the first year of Microbial Designs are estimated to be approximately twelve million Swedish crowns. Microbial Designs is mostly involved in the early development of strains, selling developed concepts in the early stages of clinical trials. To get a return on our estimated required investments, this would necessitate selling such a developed strain for multiple tens of millions of Swedish crowns.<br><br>To make such an investment appealing to a larger pharmaceutical company would require the strain to earn more money than was invested in it, that is, to split even. While it may not be necessary to split even completely in the first year, the strain’s revenues should be greater than its operating costs. In that way, the strain will make more money over time than it costs to produce it.<br><br>If we assume that the operation costs remain constant for the pharmaceutical company that has acquired the strain that was developed to target and kill Yersinia enterocolitica, a modest estimate of the yearly revenues that would be required for the strain to be profitable is nine million Swedish crowns per year. When taking into account the number of patients that are infected by Y. enterocolitica each year (500-800), this would mean that our price for every patient treated should be around ten thousand Swedish crowns per year.<br><br>This substantial sum of money might prove to be too high for a disease that can also be treated through antibiotics, at least for now. Furthermore, this price per patient treated does not take the steep rise of costs into account that occur during clinical trials. It is therefore questionable whether revenues of nine million Swedish crowns per year will suffice for Microbial Design’s client to profit on their investment.</p>';
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document.getElementById("tab5").innerHTML = '<br><p>To be able to build a company, we must have an approximate idea of the costs that will be involved in developing new designer microorganisms. For budget planning, we have consulted Anders Virtanen, professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Uppsala University, who himself has been involved in starting the company Bioimics. Bioimics is a biotechnology company, which mainly focuses on developing new antibacterial drugs using RNA. Although their activities do not include design and modification of bacteria, their equipment and expertise concerning our field in biotechnology will be similar to ours, and therefore we considered it as a valid source of information.<br><br>When estimating the costs that are involved in building a company, two types of costs should be distinguished. The first type consists of operating costs. These are costs that are made during the production of products. In our case, the product is a microbial design with a potential for killing pathogens and the costs involved mostly consist of disposable equipment and other materials (such as enzymes and chemicals) that are deplenished during research. The rest of the operating costs consists of wages for the employees and external services (such as sending samples for sequencing).<br><br><i>Here are some examples of operating costs for our company:</i><br></p><table id="partsT"><tr><td>Disposable material/equipment</td><td>600 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>Salaries(including insurances, taxes etc)</td><td>4500 (Tkr)*</td></tr><tr><td>External services</td><td>2000 (Tkr)*</td></tr></table><p>* Tkr = One thousand Swedish Crowns<br><br>The other type of costs that have to be considered, consist of the assets of a company. These can be viewed as the property of a company. In our case, this includes material assets, material properties, such as a research facility and the machines and equipment that are used for developing microbial designs. It also includes immaterial assets, immaterial properties such as patents, liquid assets and financial resources that are needed to run the company.</p><br><br><i>Here are a few examples of the assets needed for Microbial Designs:</i><br></p><table id="partsT"><tr><td>Equipment (machines etc)</td><td>5000 (Tkr)</td></tr><tr><td>Rent for facility</td><td>300 (Tkr)</td></tr></table><br><p>In total, the costs for the first year of Microbial Designs are estimated to be approximately twelve million Swedish crowns. Microbial Designs is mostly involved in the early development of strains, selling developed concepts in the early stages of clinical trials. To get a return on our estimated required investments, this would necessitate selling such a developed strain for multiple tens of millions of Swedish crowns.<br><br>To make such an investment appealing to a larger pharmaceutical company would require the strain to earn more money than was invested in it, that is, to split even. While it may not be necessary to split even completely in the first year, the strain’s revenues should be greater than its operating costs. In that way, the strain will make more money over time than it costs to produce it.<br><br>If we assume that the operation costs remain constant for the pharmaceutical company that has acquired the strain that was developed to target and kill Yersinia enterocolitica, a modest estimate of the yearly revenues that would be required for the strain to be profitable is nine million Swedish crowns per year. When taking into account the number of patients that are infected by Y. enterocolitica each year (500-800), this would mean that our price for every patient treated should be around ten thousand Swedish crowns per year.<br><br>This substantial sum of money might prove to be too high for a disease that can also be treated through antibiotics, at least for now. Furthermore, this price per patient treated does not take the steep rise of costs into account that occur during clinical trials. It is therefore questionable whether revenues of nine million Swedish crowns per year will suffice for Microbial Design’s client to profit on their investment.</p>';
document.getElementById("tab6").innerHTML = '<p>Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non e cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>';
document.getElementById("tab6").innerHTML = '<p>Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non e cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.</p>';

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