Contracts and business deals aren’t necessarily the first things that come to mind when you think about solving challenges in biotech and pharma, but they are a critical step in the process of commercializing new technology. Technical founders and leaders rarely learn about these crucial bottlenecks to their success until they are trying to navigate a large organization and understand the risks of particular contract terms.

Andy Coravos and Abby DeVito experienced this first-hand as leaders of HumanFirst, who built an intelligence platform for clinical research that was acquired by ICON (NASDAQ: ICLR) in 2024. Negotiating, signing, and expanding their first contracts was incredibly challenging, but they found support along the way from people willing to share their successful contracts and tips for understanding the pharma industry. Together with their legal collaborator, Shu Hu, they have built a pharma and biotech sales handbook for software founders with insights about understanding the pharma development process and organizational structure, as well as tactical advice on pricing, negotiating, and contracts. 

At Astera, we are eager to support others who can transform their hard-won insights into public goods that enable others who are building new technologies. You can find links to this handbook and other resources for startups and nonprofits on our website. Please reach out if you have insights and tools to share for guiding science and technology toward greater impact! 

Download the handbook