JUNE 2008
Biotech's biggest blockbusters
It has been just over three decades since the first biotechnology company - Genentech - was formed in 1976. Since then biotechnology has become a multi-billion dollar industry with ground-breaking products, based on original research. Eklavya Gupte examines five patents that have shaped the sector
The biotech industry was kicked off with the landmark invention of genetically engineered organisms by scientists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen in 1973. The patenting of that innovation established the trends that have shaped the industry ever since. Three years later the first biotech company – Genentech Corporation – was established and today biotechnology has captured the imagination of investors and become a $500 billion global industry. It has already led to more than 200 new therapies and vaccines to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS, with hundreds more products in the pipeline. Biotechnology is now crucial to the growth of the drugs industry: according to IMS Health, biotech accounted for 24% of pharmaceutical sales growth in 2007.
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