The Biotechnology Industry

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Evens

Growth and change are the hallmarks of the developing biotechnology industry. Since the first approval of a biological product in 1982, over 40 biologicals, many of them medical breakthroughs, have been brought to market. The majority of biotechnology companies focus on developing human therapeutic agents, but about 25 percent of biotechnology companies focus on the diagnostic area, using monoclonal antibody technology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, and genetics to provide advances in diagnosis and disease monitoring. Structurally, few biotechnology firms are fully integrated companies with full capabilities in research, development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing. Many pursue strategic alliances with other companies to enhance their capabilities in research, development, and sales and marketing. Research alliances between companies and universities are also frequently used to enhance research capabilities. As the industry has matured, consolidation has occurred, with major pharmaceutical companies purchasing biotechnology companies and biotechnology companies merging to expand their capabilities. Research investment, as a percentage of gross sales, continues to be very high for biotechnology companies compared with traditional pharmaceutical companies. The cost of drug development is high, but the probability of approval appears to be somewhat better in the biotechnology field compared with traditional pharmaceuticals. Today, the biotechnology product pipeline is rich, with between 400 to 700 products in various stages of clinical development. Technology developments beyond recombinant DNA technology and monoclonal antibodies, such as antisense, genomics, and combinatorial chemistry, will lead to additional therapeutic and diagnostic breakthroughs.

10.5912/jcb68 ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiz Kermani ◽  
Pietro Bonacossa

The number of biotechnology compounds has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years, reflecting the key contribution that biotechnology is now making to healthcare. Recombinant DNA technology has been used to develop a number of therapeutic proteins, including antibodies, cytokines, hormones and vaccines for use in tackling and diagnosing a range of disorders. Worldwide there are more than 4,000 specialised biotechnology companies. The most well-known companies are located in the USA and Europe, but there are significant companies emerging in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Asia – particularly in Japan. Most of these companies are small in size and limited when it comes to finances and this has had an impact on the output of the industry in terms of new drugs.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Daniel Blakeslee

Abstract The biopharmaceutical industry has been undergoing change for a number of years and that change is accelerating.  Larger pharmaceutical companies are acquiring smaller ones, companies are merging, laboratories are being closed, and the number of scientists performing research in the pharmaceutical industry is declining.  Overall, commercial industry, including the biotechnology industry, is becoming more interested in the benefits of collaboration with research institutions.Universities are also changing their view of relationships with industry.  Shrinking federal budgets are causing universities to look at other sources of revenue, including collaborations with industry.  Federal and state governments are also looking closely at the benefits of sponsoring university research, and in particular are seeking to accelerate commercialization of university discoveries not only to obtain the benefit of invested research dollars, but also for economic development and job growth.  Universities, and in particular university technology transfer offices, must understand these changes and adapt to them. This paper discusses the university/industry relationships, and the particular issues important to universities which shape that interface. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Melvyn Wei Ming Loh

<p>Building a sustainable bioeconomy requires strategic alliances, intellectual property,funding and talent. The research focus of this empirical study was to assess Malaysian biotechnology companies regarding their opinions on priorities and capabilities necessary to establish a thriving bioeconomy. The research questions that form the basis of this paper explore the extent to which initial factor endowments affect the trajectory of biotechnology industry development and how Malaysia should prioritise, mobilise and coordinate resources to build a bioeconomy. A mixed methods approach using qualitative interviews and case studies, as well as a quantitative survey, indicated that respondents advocated a resource-based-view in terms of resource allocation and agglomeration towards building Malaysia's bioecnomy. That is, there was strong support to leverage Malaysia's existing capabilities in agriculture and biofuels to derive value-added products towards gaining leadership positions in these respective biotechnology sectors globally. Access to funding and talent emerged as the highest priority capabilities necessary for commercialising discoveries, conducting research and development and accelerating innovation. Respondents perceived the government as having a 'very important' role in building and accelerating the Malaysian biotechnology industry. The gap between required capabilities and strategic priorities provides a framework within which the government may play a central role in coordinate, accelerating and resourcing Malaysia's nascent bioeconomy.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwangsoo Shin ◽  
Minkyung Choy ◽  
Chul Lee ◽  
Gunno Park

Government research and development (R&D) subsidies are more important in countries that are latecomers to the biotechnology industry, where venture capital has not been developed, and the ratio of start-ups is high. Previous studies have mostly focused on the additionality of the input and output through government R&D subsidies, such as private R&D investment, technological innovation, and financial performance. In addition, some studies have focused on the behavioral additionality (the change in a firm’s behavior) of firms through government R&D subsidies. However, each study is fragmented and does not provide integrated results and implications. Therefore, this study comprehensively investigated the effects of government R&D subsidies on the multifaceted aspects of input, output, and behavioral additionality based on data from South Korean biotechnology companies. This study used the propensity score matching (PSM) method to prevent selection bias. The results showed that firms benefiting from government R&D subsidies had a markedly higher R&D investment in terms of input additionality, and they produced more technological innovation within a shorter period in terms of output additionality, though financial performance was not determined. Moreover, government R&D subsidies have accelerated strategic alliances and suppressed external financing (debt financing) in terms of behavioral additionality.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Melvyn Wei Ming Loh

<p>Building a sustainable bioeconomy requires strategic alliances, intellectual property,funding and talent. The research focus of this empirical study was to assess Malaysian biotechnology companies regarding their opinions on priorities and capabilities necessary to establish a thriving bioeconomy. The research questions that form the basis of this paper explore the extent to which initial factor endowments affect the trajectory of biotechnology industry development and how Malaysia should prioritise, mobilise and coordinate resources to build a bioeconomy. A mixed methods approach using qualitative interviews and case studies, as well as a quantitative survey, indicated that respondents advocated a resource-based-view in terms of resource allocation and agglomeration towards building Malaysia's bioecnomy. That is, there was strong support to leverage Malaysia's existing capabilities in agriculture and biofuels to derive value-added products towards gaining leadership positions in these respective biotechnology sectors globally. Access to funding and talent emerged as the highest priority capabilities necessary for commercialising discoveries, conducting research and development and accelerating innovation. Respondents perceived the government as having a 'very important' role in building and accelerating the Malaysian biotechnology industry. The gap between required capabilities and strategic priorities provides a framework within which the government may play a central role in coordinate, accelerating and resourcing Malaysia's nascent bioeconomy.</p>


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Leslie Glick

A study was undertaken that validates the business models of biotechnology companies that compete in the pharmaceutical marketplace. Strategic alliances, largely with established pharmaceutical companies, have enabled biopharmaceutical companies to obtain revenues prior to achieving their goal of manufacturing and marketing their own products. As a result, despite the generally long lead-times to commercialisation, an increasing number of biopharmaceutical companies are demonstrating financial success in the marketplace, particularly with respect to revenues, at a faster pace than occurred for both the traditional pharmaceutical and the specialty pharmaceutical companies. There were 244 biopharmaceuticals approved for 366 indications from 1982 to 2005, of which 48 per cent of the approvals for both the products and the indications occurred in the period 2001–2005 (representing just 21 per cent of the 24-year period). From 1990 to 2005, the ten largest US biopharmaceutical companies increased their total revenues from $1.1bn to $31.7bn and turned a combined loss of $0.3bn to net income of $6.2bn. During this time-frame the number of US biopharmaceutical companies reporting revenues in excess of $1bn increased from zero to eight.


2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iulia Lupan ◽  
Sergiu Chira ◽  
Maria Chiriac ◽  
Nicolae Palibroda ◽  
Octavian Popescu

Amino acids are obtained by bacterial fermentation, extraction from natural protein or enzymatic synthesis from specific substrates. With the introduction of recombinant DNA technology, it has become possible to apply more rational approaches to enzymatic synthesis of amino acids. Aspartase (L-aspartate ammonia-lyase) catalyzes the reversible deamination of L-aspartic acid to yield fumaric acid and ammonia. It is one of the most important industrial enzymes used to produce L-aspartic acid on a large scale. Here we described a novel method for [15N] L-aspartic synthesis from fumarate and ammonia (15NH4Cl) using a recombinant aspartase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5352
Author(s):  
Ana Margarida Pereira ◽  
Diana Gomes ◽  
André da Costa ◽  
Simoni Campos Dias ◽  
Margarida Casal ◽  
...  

Antibacterial resistance is a major worldwide threat due to the increasing number of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria with medical devices being a major source of these infections. This suggests the need for new antimicrobial biomaterial designs able to withstand the increasing pressure of antimicrobial resistance. Recombinant protein polymers (rPPs) are an emerging class of nature-inspired biopolymers with unique chemical, physical and biological properties. These polymers can be functionalized with antimicrobial molecules utilizing recombinant DNA technology and then produced in microbial cell factories. In this work, we report the functionalization of rPBPs based on elastin and silk-elastin with different antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). These polymers were produced in Escherichia coli, successfully purified by employing non-chromatographic processes, and used for the production of free-standing films. The antimicrobial activity of the materials was evaluated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and results showed that the polymers demonstrated antimicrobial activity, pointing out the potential of these biopolymers for the development of new advanced antimicrobial materials.


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