Welcome to the latest issue of the G2D newsletter!
Newsletter Contents
• 2008 Life Science Industry Awards™: Recap and Highlights
• 2008 Life Science Industry Awards™: Congratulations to the Winners
• Methodology Spotlight: Selecting the Best in Class Suppliers
• Blog Spotlight: Exploring the Microbiology Market
• Feature Highlights: Challenges and Opportunities in Pharmacogenomics Research
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The 2008 Life Science Industry Awards™ winners were announced with great fanfare on June 3, 2008. The Life Science Industry Awards™ (LSIA) are unique in that they allow scientists to determine the "best-in-class" suppliers in each of the product and customer communications/support categories featured at the awards ceremony. The ceremony took place at the deluxe Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel in conjunction with The American Society of Microbiology (ASM) General Meeting. Over 200 industry guests attended from over 50 companies. |
The Life Science Industry Awards™ recognize those life science suppliers with the best solution in 14 separate product categories as well as suppliers that are “best-in-class” in six customer communications and support categories. The Winners of these prestigious awards were determined by the industry’s own customers—scientists in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, in government and academia who use the products day in and day out. The awards were hosted by The Scientist magazine and BioInformatics, LLC with the support of The Life Science Executive Exchange and The Science Advisory Board. These awards have become a source of pride and a touchstone of excellence for the companies that participate in the life science industry. “The equipment and services that these finalists provide are an essential part of the life science enterprise and fuel the research done by scientists around the globe,” explains Bill Kelly, President of BioInformatics, “These companies should be extremely proud of their achievements, especially because they were chosen by scientists who use their products on a daily basis.”
The Master of Ceremonies for the high-profile event was Dr. Laurie Goodman, who is a science writer and editor in addition to the Public Information Officer of the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen, China. Dr. Martin Leach, Executive Director of IT for Basic Research and Biomarker Discovery at Merck gave the keynote address reflecting on the changing needs of scientists as laboratories become increasing digital, automated and interactive.
To obtain your complimentary copy of the Enabling Discovery: The 2008 Life Science Industry Awards™ report, please click on the following link, http://www.gene2drug.com/reports/194/ The theme of this year’s report is “Look Beneath the Surface.” It is what’s beneath the surface, and profiled in this report, that really provides the details of how suppliers are perceived by their customers. These perceptions can be eminently useful in directing corporate strategies. Only when life science companies truly appreciate the forces beneath the surface can they understand how to change or improve their standing in the eyes of their customers.
Congratulations to the WinnersBioInformatics, LLC congratulates the Winners of the 2008 Life Science Industry Awards™. The Winners are presented for each of the 14 product categories and 6 service and support categories:
- Cell Biology Instruments-Flow Cytometer-Based – BD Biosciences
- Cell Biology Instruments-Microscope-Based – Carl Zeiss
- Cell Biology Kits and Reagents – Invitrogen
- Cell Culture Media and Reagents – Invitrogen (Gibco)
- Computer Hardware – Dell
- Gene Expression Analysis Products – Applied Biosystems
- High Throughput Screening and Analysis Systems – PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences
- Image Analysis Systems Systems used for measuring and/or visualizing – Bio-Rad Laboratories
- Instrumentation for Genomic Analysis – Applied Biosystems
- Instrumentation for Protein Analysis – Bio-Rad Laboratories
- Laboratory Plasticware – Fisher (FisherBrand) (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
- Nucleic Acid Purification and Separation Products – Qiagen
- Protein Purification and Separation Products – GE Healthcare
- RNAi Products – Dharmacon (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
- Most Useful Print Catalog – New England Biolabs
- Most Responsive Customer Service – Invitrogen
- Most Knowledgeable Technical Support - Invitrogen
- Most Useful Web Site – Invitrogen
- Most Supportive Sales Representatives – Fisher Scientific (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
- Most Memorable Print Advertisements – Invitrogen
Was your company among those nominated for one or more awards? To find out, visit http://www.lifescienceindustryawards.com/2008/categories.html
Selecting the Best in Class Suppliers for the Life Science Industry Awards™
The Life Science Industry Awards™ are unique as they allow life science suppliers’ own customers, scientists from all over the world, to determine the Winners. BioInformatics designed and fielded a 34-question electronic survey to registered members of The Science Advisory Board—the world’s largest market research panel of scientific customers—as well as readers of The Scientist magazine. These respondents, using their experience as product users, voted for their favorite suppliers—taking into consideration practical factors such as satisfaction with product features, likelihood to purchase again, likelihood to recommend the supplier, the supplier with best overall solution, and cost-effectiveness.
In all, over 4,400 scientists completed the ballot between February 25, 2008 and March 31, 2008. The winners for each product category and supplier feature were determined by a quantitative measure of nominations received for each supplier, in addition to their Customer Value Score (CVS). The CVS was calculated for all nominated companies in each category. In each product category, respondents answered questions regarding satisfaction, performance, likelihood to re-purchase and likelihood to recommend the supplier they nominated. The CVS increased for each supplier as more of their respondents answered positively to these questions.
The CVS for the customer communications and support categories was comprised of two components. The first was the frequency with which the respondent utilizes the supplier they nominated. The more often the respondent indicated that they utilized the supplier's category (catalog, sales rep, Web site, etc.), the higher the score for that supplier. The second component involved the reason why the respondent selected the supplier. The more respondents who selected a reason deemed "important" (based on importance ranking results from previous BioInformatics, LLC studies), the higher the CVS for that supplier. These two components were combined equally to create the final Customer Value Score. The combined score (nominations and Customer Value Score) was calculated for all suppliers and used to determine the Finalists and Winner for each category.
Exploring the Microbiology MarketThe researchers at BioInformatics, LLC peer through the Looking Glass to report and comment on trends in the life science tools industry.
Culturing, plate counting and light microscopy represent the hallmarks of microbiology. As such, this original toolset has been remarkably useful for more than 100 years, and for many applications, it remains sufficient and appropriate. However, due to innovations pioneered by the life science industry, the past couple of decades has been marked by the introduction of a number of technological advancements in imaging technologies and the development of culture-independent methods such as in situ hybridization and PCR. Progress in these and other areas has markedly advanced the ability of microbiologists to resolve the features and activities of individual microbial cells.
The field of microbiology has traditionally focused on how cells interact with one another, respond and/or alter their environment, and undergo complex processes such as cellular differentiation or gene expression. New appreciation for understanding the various components that contribute to cellular heterogeneity has led to the adoption and adaptation of new tools and techniques utilized in other life science disciplines to microbiology. Although the results of this survey confirm the use of genomic and proteomic technologies by microbiologists, some suppliers seem not to fully appreciate the opportunities this market presents.
Life science suppliers need to engage with the microbiology community as a whole to get a sense of the exciting applications that represent lucrative business opportunities. Infectious disease research, clinical testing, environmental monitoring, biodefense, bioremediation, food testing and pharmaceutical manufacturing are just a few of the market segments where microbiologists are adopting new technologies to achieve more accurate and rapid results.
Merely relying on the ingenuity of microbiologists to find new applications for existing products is not a strategy for success. Life science suppliers must proactively shape the market for modern microbiology tools in order to dominate this growth market in the future.
Excerpted from May 19, 2008 by Bill Kelly
For more insights, visit the Through the Looking Glass blog at http://marketanalysts.lifescienceexec.com/
Challenges and Opportunities in Pharmacogenomics ResearchRecently, The Science Advisory Board, the world’s largest online panel of scientific consumers launched in 1997 by BioInformatics, LLC, questioned its members as to the challenges and barriers in pharmacogenomics research. This initiative was part of a solicitation from the National Institutes of Health and was intended to highlight the opportunities and to identify specific, achievable goals that will advance the field overall.
The Science Advisory Board petitioned its members to provide insights that would help the National Institutes of Health identify pharmacogenomics research needs associated with discovery-based efforts, validation studies and applied research. This information will help lay the groundwork for accelerating the translation of pharmacogenomics knowledge into the clinical practice setting.
Promising Research Areas for Advancing Clinical Treatment
The lack of consistent regulatory policies regarding pharmacogenomic tests threatens to undermine public confidence in this emerging field. Members of The Science Advisory Board believe that the National Institutes of Health has the objectivity to conduct studies that can standardize the implementation of pharmacogenomics. Establishing universal standards for analysis platform(s) and clinical validation criteria is a major roadblock to translating pharmacogenomics research to clinical practice. Recommendations presented in this report are designed to help establish the guidelines necessary for realizing the clinical applications of pharmacogenomics.
A free copy of this mini report is available for download in PDF format at http://www.scienceboard.net/community/features.34.html.
Thank you for reading this issue of the G2D newsletter! As always, we welcome your feedback. Send me your complaints, comments, or compliments at t.zemlo@gene2drug.com.
All the best,
Tamara
Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH
Director of Syndicated Research & Analysis
BioInformatics, LLC
2111 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 250
Arlington, VA 22201
TEL: (703) 778-3080 x 25
FAX: (703) 778-3081
t.zemlo@gene2drug.com
http://www.gene2drug.com
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