About

Eric S. Langer, Managing Partner

Eric Langer, President and Managing Partner, has over 20 years experience in biotechnology and life sciences international marketing, management, market assessment, and publishing. He has held senior management and marketing positions at biopharmaceutical supply companies. He is an experienced biotechnology strategist, marketing practitioner, publisher, and researcher. He has published, edited and authored numerous books, reports, and major studies on topics including: Advances in Biopharmaceutical Technology in China, Advances in Large-scale Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing, Biopharmaceuticals in the US Market, cell culture reports, media, sera, tissue engineering, stem cells, diagnostic products, blood products, genetics, DNA/PCR purification, blood components, and many others. He lectures extensively on marketing, pricing and channel management topics, and teaches at Johns Hopkins University and American University: Biotechnology Marketing, Marketing Management, Services Marketing, Advertising Strategy, and Bioscience Communication. In 1989 he co-founded BioPlan Associates, Inc. He has launched and managed marketing programs for product lines ranging from $500k to $500 million.

Ronald A. Rader, Senior Director, Technical Research

Mr. Ronald A. Rader is uniquely qualified, with a B.S. (Microbiology), M.L.S. (Library Science), and 25+ years experience as a biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical information specialist and publisher. From 1988, he was Editor/Publisher of the Antiviral Agents Bulletin, the only periodical specializing in antiviral/HIV drug and vaccine development. In 1994, he published the Federal Bio-Technology Transfer Directory, a 678-page book abstracting and indexing all federal laboratories, e.g., NIH, inventions and technology transfers in biotech/biomedical areas, further marketed as an online database until 2000. Mr. Rader published Biopharmaceutical Products in the U.S. Market first in April 2001. Mr. Rader has been Manager of Information Services, Porton International plc, Prior to that he served as a biomedical/chemical information specialist/manager/analyst with companies including Gillette Medical Evaluation Labs., Gillette Co.; MITRE Corp.; Biospherics; Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC); Technical Resources Inc.; and Bio-Conversion Labs.

Alla Rutstein Bobbitt, Director, Technical Research

Alla Rutstein Bobbitt is a healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biodefense policy expert and biomedical writer and editor with nearly 20 years of public and private sector experience. Her diverse background has provided her with a unique inside and outside perspective on pharmaceutical and biotech R&D, manufacturing, and regulation, with an emphasis on complex issue analysis and problem-solving. Alla’s experience includes seven years as a policy analyst specializing in medical countermeasures at the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR); five years as a reporter (FDA/regulatory beat) and contributing editor for the premier prescription pharmaceutical and biotechnology newsletter “The Pink Sheet”; and two years as managing editor of a comprehensive, international drug and biologic development database. Her work has involved leading subject matter expert groups; interviewing senior officials, reporting on and analyzing clinical research outcomes and regulatory strategies; authoring options papers and reports; and making high-level policy recommendations to senior leadership. Alla has an M.A. in psychology from American University, with a focus on neuropsychology. She is also bilingual in Russian-English and has substantial interpreting and international experience.

Bryan Monroe, Senior Associate

Bryan Monroe has worked in biotech for 25+ years at the discovery, development, and manufacturing level. He has developed, scaled-up and transferred recombinant protein expression processes in yeast, E.coli, insect cells, and mammalian cells: including insulin, Factor VII, Factor X, Factor XIII, Orencia, Belatacept, and Provenge–as well as diagnostic kits for HIV-1, HIV-2, and HTLV-3. Bryan has extensive experience in basal and feed media development and optimization. This included utilizing a variety of technologies to better understand cellular metabolism as it relates to protein expression processes. As a consultant, Bryan has contributed to the successful scale-up and/or transfer of more than 75 different therapeutic programs throughout the global market.

Donnie E. Gillespie, Director, Research Projects

Donnie Gillespie has over 13 years of experience in marketing and healthcare research. She currently manages and oversees the Biotechnology Industry Council (BIC), a network of global industry experts and leaders in specialized areas of expertise within the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry. She also oversees the production and editing of industry reports and newsletters. Donnie’s very extensive contacts in the biopharmaceutical industry ensure she is able to identify and bring in additional subject matter expertise when a project requires in-depth knowledge. In addition, she provides secondary marketing research services as well as primary qualitative research.

Vicky Qing XIA, Senior Project Manager

Vicky Xia, MS in biology from University of Texas-Houston, MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. She has 10 years’ experience in consulting, business development, as well as alliance management in China’s biopharmaceutical industry. Recent positions include manager of open innovation for Janssen’s R&D center in China, senior business development manager for HUYA Bioscience, assistant editor of China Pharmaceutical and Biotech Monthly, etc. A native speaker of Chinese, she also speaks fluently in English and has made numerous publications in both languages in scientific and trade journals. Her expertise includes developing research and analysis on multiple global market segments, and has managed a team of industry experts, and projects.

Leo Cai YANG, Project Manager

Leo’s sales and marketing experience in the biotech and pharma segments includes nearly 10 years in marketing and market research. He understands our clients’ research needs and requirements. He graduated from East China Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology in 2006, and has worked with several western equipment manufacturers in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Leo is familiar with how western and Chinese business work together and can navigate the cultural and communications gaps that sometimes arise. He has a deep understanding of the Chinese industry and can identify trends, and network with senior executives to define strategic opportunities. Leo worked in Europe in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, and participates in training for the American Management Association (AMA). Leo is skilled and familiar with the issues that arise in cooperation with Chinese distributors and has developed the expertise to identify and qualify distributors in various environments. He has researched Chinese distributors for lab reagents, has successfully managed projects involving the acquisition by leading multinational lab reagent distributors. He has also project managed studies involving new biopharmaceutical technology applications in China including interviews, analysis, and strategy development.

Lynn Johnson Langer, Advisory Board Member

Dr. Langer has her PhD from Antioch University in management; she graduated Johns Hopkins University, MBA, Business Management; University of Maryland, BS Microbiology. She works with biotechnology and life sciences organizations to improve their management systems; she provides analysis of current management systems and develops customized programs to improve effectiveness. She has been responsible for market planning and market research for international biopharmaceutical diagnostics and therapeutics companies, and for business development. In academics, as Senior Associate Program Chair, Biotechnology, Director, MS.MBA Biotechnology, Advanced Academic Programs, Johns Hopkins University, she is responsible for faculty and curriculum development for Advanced Academic Programs: Regulatory Affairs and Enterprise Concentrations.

What We Deliver

Confidence. Our clients’ decisions are based on customer needs, about what they want, need, and are willing to pay for. Our technology clients get the decision-making tools and actionable information they need to make decisions today:

• Can I raise my prices today?
• Where are my customers hiding? My competitor seems to be finding them!
• What new products will they be buying tomorrow?
• Should I invest in that new technology development? How big is the market?
• What message do they need to hear from me to get them to buy?
• Why are they buying from my competitors and not me?
• Should I enter that overseas market?

We deliver to our customers the confidence they need to make more aggressive, rapid, tactical marketing decisions. Marketing managers feel more self-assured about their actions. Positive actions get more rapid, positive results. We provide highly targeted, actionable marketing research.

Our “Space”

Biopharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics, and life sciences suppliers seeking customer needs analysis to make smarter decisions.