Hitch Case

The data tells us that Hemopure and Oxyglobin have the potential to produce millions of dollars in sales. With the immediate introduction of Oxyglobin, Biopure has the maximum market potential to generate between $78-102 million in sales.

Currently there are 15,000 small vets with only 5% handling emergency situations. The maximum markets potential is approximately 800 dogs per veterinarian suffering from acute blood loss. On average however emergency care veterinarians used 150 units of blood transfusions per year. These 750 veterinarians were willing to pay between $130-150 per unit generating $14.7-19.1 million in sales. The primary care veterinarians control over 95% of the market. These veterinarians on average use 17 units of blood per year with a willingness to pay $80-120 per unit. With the primary care potential Oxyglobin has the average potential to generate $19.4-29 million in sales. With 84% of veterinarians unhappy with current blood substitutes, Oxyglobin has a potential to effectively increase in popularity among veterinarians.

The human market with Hemopure has a much larger market potential with a maximum market potential of 500,000 units per year selling between $600-800 per unit generating between $300-400 million in sales. On average in the United States there are 200,000 accounts of in-field trauma cases with only 50,000 receiving in-field blood transfusions. Along with the 10% of in-field trauma cases receiving transfusions there is also 1.2 million units that are rejected and 1.5 million units that expire every year, creating an opportunity for Hemopure to become a more popular choice.

Competitor Analysis

Biopure has two main competitors, Baxter International and Northfield Laboratories who are both pending FDA approval for the human market. Baxter International has similar current objectives to enter the human market with a slightly different strategy with HemAssist to enter the market in late 1999 to early 2000. Biopure is expected to enter the market with Hemopure in 1999, holding a competitive advance to be the first on the market. Baxter however has an extreme competitive advantage in two ways. The first way is that Baxter has been an industry leader in medical products since 1936; they also have a production facility capable of producing 1 million units of HemAssist a year. This 1 million unit production dwarf Biopure's Hemopure production