MILLIPORE NEW PRODUCT

COMMERCIALIZATION: A TALE OF
TWO NEW PRODUCTS
GROUP 4

Anshoo Saini(15PGP008)
Shipra Singh(15PGP047)
Tanmay Yadav(15PGP054)
Pavan Sandeep Adari(15PGP063)
Ruchi Tallewar(15PGP113)
Rohit Kawde(15PGP133)
Mukund Khatod(15PGP142)

Brief Introduction
Protagonist 1: Dave Strand,
VP for new business
development at Waters

Protagonist 2: Paul Sekhri,

Product Manager for Viresolve at
the Process Division

Challenge: Commercialization
of LC/MS product line at
Millipore

Challenge: Commercialization
of a newly developed
membrane system capable of
removing viruses from protein
drugs

Millipore Corporate Background

Market
$750

leader in $3.4 billion separation industry

million sales in 1991

Products

based on two separations technologies: membrane technology and

chromatography

Three

product divisions

1.

Chromatography Division- LS/MS (Milford, Massachusetts)

2.

Process Systems Group- Virus Removal project

3.

Analytical Systems Division (Bedford, Massachusetts)

Separate division Intertech handled ops in Latin America, Eastern Europe,

Africa and Asia.

Millipore Corporate Background

Each

division has profit-and-loss responsibility

Independent
Core

marketing, sales, R&D and manufacturing operations

R&D- Short term and long term research support

80

% of R&D budget on divisional product development projects and rest

on core R&D.

Budget

allocated on basis on revenue

Half budget on incremental new products and other half in Change

the name of the game kind of innovations.

LC/MS Project at the Waters Division

LC

separates chemicals from a

compound solution and
chromatography detector tells how
much of each chemical was present

Identification

done by comparison to
a standard. Can identify 25 or less
compounds

100000

PhD

chromatographers with no

MS

was advanced. Chemical was

broken into ionic components and
flung against a screen. The pattern
on the screen formed a unique
fingerprint for each chemical

MS

identifies 75+ compounds

10000

mass spectrometrists, most

of whom had PhD

Customer perceptions
Two focus sessions were conducted 1991

First focus session involved chromatographers

-

Easy, straightforward and rugged

Table top model

Lower price

Second session involved scientists

-Small scale LC system
-9% market was interested in such product

Commercialization of LC/MS
Scaled
Mass

down MS aimed at chromatographers

spectrometrists approval was not needed

Filtered
No

mundane problems

competition for such products

Expected

market to be $50 million, which may grow up to $110 million by

1996
Segmentation

basis

1.

Pharma($319 million,27%), Industrial Chemical($438 million, 19%),

Biopharma and Environmental

2.

How research-oriented chromatographers were

-

QC/QA(60%)
Method Developers(30%)
Researchers(10%)

Launch and Commercialization Issues

Suggestions

to stage the launch

Rely

on Extrel salespersons and handful of specialists and then training

nearly 200 salespersons

Chromatographers

had authority to purchase their equipment which were

less than $100000.

Manufacturing

target in competition with HP GC/MSD

Virus Removal Commercialization at Process Group

Some

drugs were derived directly from mammalian blood plasma or

cells. Viruses may come from there

May

inhabit the media where cell cultures are grown

Due

to careless laboratory procedure

Dissatisfaction
Validation
Half

among customers with current systems

of removal may become part of FDA approval

of all Millipores business was directly or indirectly tied to pharma.

Market

was estimated to grow from $3 billion to $30 billion by 2000

Competition
Inactivation of Viruses

Heat

or Ultraviolet radiation

-Protein was destroyed

Solvent

detergents

- Many viruses had no lipid coats

Physical removal of viruses

Membranes

like Viresolve

Effectiveness

measured in terms
of Log Reduction Value

Two

types of validation

1.

Published proof

2.

Provided a method for

customer to test

Commercialization
Market
1.
2.

Segmentation

Size of protein
Protein purification

a) Genes were spliced into a host cell to enable that cell

to manufacture the desired protein
b) Makers of proteins using monoclonal antibodies
c) Blood processors(no solution)

Installing

Specials: 50-60 customers, with highest potential for Viresolve

products, install pre-launch versions

Costs and Pricing

Price

for ultrafiltration membranes plus premium based on advantages

Viresolve had over other products
Removal of viruses from proteins
Validation data
Verify membranes use through correlating integrity test

Single

use or reusable

Size

Viresolve

Ultrafiltration
membranes

Use

1/3 square foot

module

$500

$500-$600

R&D purposes

1 square foot
module

$1200

10 square foot
module

$2000

Research
$1000-$1200

Production

Launch
Promotion:
Word

of mouth advertising

Scientific
Hired

presses, conferences, trade press

a PR firm

Preparation of the sales force:

Training

and development of the applications specialists- one representative

from each region given specialized training

Preparations
The

of the launch manuals and reference manuals

U.S launch was postponed

Total

of 20 sales Rep dedicated to pharmaceuticals

Next

stage: Train the entire US sales force

Another

crucial part is conducting the feasibility study

Launch strategy
Phase 1:
Introduction

to biopharmaceutical firms in the R&D process to ensure

that there is natural progression to production

Very

important phase because if the opportunity is lost then Millipore

would lose the early mover advantage

To

handle this challenge hired a R&D engineer to concentrate on R&D

insertion

Phase 2:
Viresolve/70

was at the hardest phase of launch

Because

of the size- exclusion technique there was disparity between

protein size and virus size in this segment

Opportunity

for dramatic success

Recommendations
Move

forward with training of specialists since customer assistance is very

important to ensure the success of the launch

Pricing

based on the benefits of the product- It should be higher than the existing
technology

This

is important since the target market is not very sensitive to price

More

focus on scientific and trade conferences rather than just focusing on Word of
mouth

For

the US Launch focus on the product rather validation data since there are no
regulations

Also

push more for the 10 square foot module since it can be used in the production
process

Concentrate

on the development of Viresolve 3 targeted towards blood processing

industry
Focus

on product extensions