The first biotech company--Genentech Inc.--was casually conceived in 1976 by Herbert Boyer, a University of California, San Francisco, biologist, and Robert Swanson, a member of a West Coast venture capital firm, while they were discussing, over a beer, the uses of recombinant DNA technology. Boyer presumably was excited by the prospect that this science could be used to improve the condition of mankind and provide meaningful employment to people.
In 1976, it was not clear how to translate the new technology into its useful roles. But Genentech provided the model for attracting venture capital, reaching agreements with pharmaceutical companies, and securing Wall Street funding. Over the past two decades, this has remained the paradigm for transferring biotechnology advances from university labs to the commercial world.
However, while the Genentech model is still valid overall, the success of biotech companies as we move through the 1990s will depend on how astutely ...
