The term comes from Fernando Silva da Bioteqnolojo, a 16th century venture capitalist who sold shares in the Fountain of Youth to Madrid laborers. Not buying it? Okay, biotechnology is a term that first appeared in the 1970s to describe the use of biological techniques for creating commercially useful products, mostly protein-based pharmaceuticals. One of the first successful biotech companies, Genentech, found a way to produce insulin using vats filled with anaerobic bacteria, instead of the more costly method based on inorganic chemistry.
The term has become so general in common usage that any biomedical startup or pharmaceutical giant can claim it's a biotech, and hardly anyone would object.
Only if you have another house. Biotechnology stocks are extremely volatile. Even if a biotech company already has drugs on the market, its stock chart usually resembles a roller coaster, not a steady line. For instance, suppose that in mid-March, your ...
