Pharmaceutical companies do not like competition. They often try to outdo each other. So, if you accidentally discover a new medication for something, clearly you will have some challenges to face. These challenges encompass three different possibilities: a pharmaceutical company trying to block you from being able to produce your medicine; needing to find investors; and deciding whether to sell your medicine to a company offering a buyout. The following examples are just some of the ways that new medicines and their creators are forced over hurdles to get to market and what you can do to beat the bigger pharmaceutical companies at their own game to get your new medicine on the market.

Blocking Your Medicine from Entering the Market

To get a new medicine on the market you have to first patent it, then develop the means to test it, lobby for its release for sale, and conduct pharmaceutical marketing research to show that the medicine has value. Sometimes that means lobbying senators and congresspeople for help. Your biggest competitors do the same, and because they have more influence than you do, they could lobby to block the production, testing, backing, and marketing of your medicine.

However, if you can back the pharmaceutical market research on your medicine yourself, you can get enough of the research completed to show that your medicine is both effective and valuable. Politicians want to see proof of something before they back it. They want irrefutable evidence that what you have could change the world, even if it is in a very small way. Making sure your proof is irrefutable helps you stand up to your competitors so that your efforts are not in vain.

Offering to Back You

If a pharmaceutical company offers to back you for part of the profits on your new medicine, be sure to have a lawyer on hand to read the contract. You need to know what you are getting into and how much input and stake in this new medicine the competing company wants. Once your lawyer explains the terms and stakes to you, you will have to decide if the backing is worth it.

Your medicine could be worth millions, billions, or even trillions of dollars but you are stuck in a particular rough spot. You need backers, both financial and supportive, to get your medicine to market, but you also want most of the credit for its discovery and most of the profits. If the arrangement gives you exactly what you want from it, then you are safe to sign the documents in the presence of your lawyer.

Offering to Buy You Out

If a pharmaceutical company offers to buy you out, you may feel like you are on top of the world! Most pharmaceutical companies will not do that unless you have definitely stumbled onto something huge or you have managed to beat them at their own game and can get your medicine all the way to market without their help. Considering the circumstances and the possibility that your medicine could amass quite the fortune, you have to decide if you are going to sell or if you are going to keep what you have and make your own money.

It is also advisable to wait out your buyers until they become a little more desperate. Their offers may climb higher the longer you refuse and the more you wait. Additionally, you may want to start your own pharmaceutical company with your new medicine as the flagship medicine of your fledgling company. More hurdles may come your way, but it is clear that you have something others want.