The Change Mariner

Is Biotechnology Losing Its Nerve?

New York Times:

Biotechnology companies were once known for going boldly where the big pharmaceutical companies would not, developing genetically engineered medicines like Avastin, the Genentech drug, approved on Thursday, that attacks cancer by a new method and prolongs the lives of patients. Biotech ventures also plunged into experimental areas, like gene therapy and stem cell research, that have not yet paid off and perhaps never will.

But more and more start-ups now seem focused on scrounging around for existing drugs to license, often castoffs from big pharmaceutical companies. In doing so, fledgling biotech companies avoid the toil and risk of trying to discover a new cause of disease or a new compound. Some of the newer biotech companies do not even have laboratories.

"I don't know of a venture capitalist today who is willing to put significant percentages of his fund's money into de novo discovery companies," said Roger Longman, co-publisher of the medical business magazines In Vivo and Start-Up. "Instead, the real model is, 'How can I get to a product quickly, without doing all of that early biology and chemistry?' "

Posted by Jennifer King at March 1, 2004 12:33 AM | TrackBack
Related Categories: Industry - Healthcare | Industry - Pharmaceutical/Biotech | Quadrant - Technological | Theme - 'The Biotech Century'

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