It's a fact of life that positive media coverage isn't always good for the share price. Fund managers and venture capitalists have a duty to maximise profits for shareholders, which may not coincide with being an upstanding corporate citizen. Barri has to deal with such quirks of investor relations every day.

First, he thinks about Platypus Flu, informed by the human value judgements (summarised as pie charts and graphs) in MediaDashboard. BetaBio is a nominated supplier of Platyflu vaccine, which has given the share price a boost. But the charts show some negative coverage about BetaBio - reflecting concerns its factories won't be able to produce enough vaccine to fulfil its contract. His guidance note needs to counter that with hard numbers.

Next, the anti-obesity drug. A backlash against thin people has made a large waistline fashionable, and sales of BetaBio's slimming drug BurnButtox have fallen faster than its users' dress sizes. Barri chews the fat with his team until they all understand the financial implications.

Finally, emerging-nation pharma. BetaBio's involved in a social venture developing insect bite protection to people below the poverty line. However socially responsible, this is not a positive point to hard-nosed investors; the profit potential of such drugs is low. Barri's close to this issue: the venture was his boss's idea.

He's got his issues. But these investors will be looking at the whole sector. It's time to check out the competition.

Next: from Big Pharma to garage generics.