The Start-up Biotech Communication Gap: Explaining the Science Isn’t Enough to Win Partners or Investors

According to StartupBlink, there are around 4,907 biotech startups worldwide. That's thousands of companies competing for a finite pool of investment, pharmaceutical partnerships and customers choosing between competing solutions.

However, most biotech startups keep their messaging entirely confined to their product or platform features, the underlying science, and the disease state they can solve. By doing this, they leave it up to the audience reading their marketing or reviewing their pitch decks to figure out how that science actually stacks up against competing technologies. 

Welcome to the biotech communication gap. Companies explain what their technology does, but typically fail to make the case for why it matters.

Even the most innovative technologies compete with other promising approaches. Companies that clearly articulate what sets their technology apart, and why those differences matter, make it easier for investors, partners and customers to understand the opportunity and want to learn more.

Why does the biotech communication gap exist?

Part of the problem lies in how scientists are trained to communicate. In science, the goal is to present facts, show data, and make evidence-backed claims. The reader is expected to evaluate the evidence and draw their own conclusions. It’s an approach that values objectivity and helps build trust.

But marketing a technology requires a different approach. Beyond explaining the science and the unmet need, companies must articulate what sets their technology apart and why that difference matters. The audience is already comparing competing options, so the messaging needs to make a compelling case for why this approach deserves consideration.

Making that case might require a broader positioning claim than the R&D team is initially comfortable with and that hesitation is understandable. Scientists are trained to be precise about what the evidence demonstrates today, while marketing needs to communicate why that evidence matters in the context of the market.

The answer is never to exaggerate the science or make claims the data cannot support. Instead, it is about identifying the most meaningful point of differentiation and building a compelling, evidence-backed case around it.

The goal is to generate enough interest to make people want to learn more.

What Closing the Gap Looks Like

To understand this problem in practice, consider two different ways biotech companies typically write about a technology. In this fictional example, the technology is a plug-and-play protein-linking platform from a company called OmniCure Bio.

The two examples use different words, but both hide what makes the company special.

The "Say Nothing to Please Everyone" Trap

"OmniCure Bio is developing a new generation of biologic medicines designed to address complex diseases by targeting multiple biological pathways within a single therapy. Its lead program, OMC-101, is being developed for multiple myeloma using the company’s proprietary Linkara™ technology platform."

The "Speaking Only to Scientists" Trap
"OmniCure Bio utilizes its proprietary Linkara™ platform to enable targeted proteomic conjugation of proteins, enzymes, and diverse molecules. By leveraging this modular engineering approach, the company is developing multi-pathway therapeutic candidates for complex indications, led by OMC-101 for multiple myeloma."

From a marketing perspective, neither approach works because they describe the science instead of selling the solution. The platform (which is what actually sets the company apart) gets a name and nothing else. Meanwhile, the lead program should be the strongest evidence that the platform works, but instead, it reads like just another drug candidate.

Here is the same information restructured to answer the questions a partner or investor is silently asking. This example is illustrative only, with the contrast exaggerated to make the point.

The “Value Proposition” Messaging

“The plug-and-play platform for complex biologics. Traditional biologic engineering forces developers to rebuild every new therapy from scratch. OmniCure’s Linkara™ platform changes this by acting as a universal connector to link proteins, enzymes, and other molecules together. Instead of restarting discovery for every asset, developers can easily integrate new features into existing biologics—scaling pipelines significantly faster. The clinical-stage lead program, OMC-101, is the first validation of this repeatable model.”

The positioning makes the platform’s potential value clearer, while OMC-101 illustrates how the technology could translate into a therapeutic asset.

Know the Audience: Tailor Messaging to Each Stakeholder

Effective biotech messaging starts with identifying what differentiates a technology and establishing that as the foundation of its value proposition. This core message remains consistent across all marketing communications, regardless of the audience.

What changes is how that value is communicated. Investors, pharmaceutical partners, clinicians, and patients each evaluate a technology against different criteria, so messaging needs to emphasise what matters most to each audience. For example:

• Investors: The size of the market opportunity, the company’s competitive advantage, and the potential return on investment

• Pharmaceutical partners: How the technology addresses a gap in their pipeline or strategy, the strength of the data compared with competing approaches, and the potential for development and manufacturing at scale

• Clinicians: Improvements in outcomes compared with the current standard of care, safety and tolerability, and ease of integration into clinical practice

• Patients: Potential improvements to their health and quality of life, tolerability, and access to treatment

Even the most promising science needs clear positioning and compelling messaging to stand out in a competitive market.

Is your biotech’s value getting lost in the science? Let’s turn your technology’s differentiators into clear, compelling messaging that resonates with investors and potential partners. Get in touch to discuss how I can help.