Biotechnology An Industry Comes of Age (1986) / Chapter Skim
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The New Biotechnology Firms
The New Biotechnology Firms
Pages 84-90
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From page 84... ...
And since about 1981 many established firms have set up major in-house biotechnology programs. Although it is not always easy to characterize a specific industrial undertaking as "biotechnology" (which makes the "biotechnology industry" similarly hard to define)
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From page 85... ...
Characteristics of the New Firms Historically, small firms have often established the prominence of the United States in emerging advanced technologies, and biotechnology seems to be no exception. Within just a few years of the first experiments with recombinant DNA, small firms were being established, often by distinguished academic scientists, to commercialize the new techniques.
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From page 86... ...
One way for them to do this has been to establish joint ventures with foreign companies. In these cases, the start-up firms often retain the rights to sell their products within the United States while selling the overseas sales rights to their foreign partners.
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From page 87... ...
Centocor bridges the gap between new innovations and the already existing product distribution networks." To find products to feed into these networks, Centocor's in-house technical groups keep close tabs on the research being done in universities and in public and private research institutes. When the company uncovers work with commercial promise, it seeks to establish collaborative agreements with the investigators or research institutes that have done the work.
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From page 88... ...
the project is brought into the company, where Centocor's own staff develops the product, performs any clinical tests needed to have it approved in world markets, establishes the market for the product, and introduces it for commercial sale. According to Schoemaker, the company can usually ready a monoclonal antibody blood test for sale within four to six years of the antibody's development.
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From page 89... ...
According to Schoemaker, Centocor intends to continue to act as a product development company that links academic research to health care distribution networks. "We believe that in biotechnology the innovations will still be made to a large extent within the academic realm.
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From page 90... ...
In 1984 both Monsanto and du Pont opened major life science research facilities representing a combined investment of more than $200 million. Such resources dwarf the amounts available to any new biotechnology firm.
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