Recent articles mistakenly identified first Genentech1 and then Cetus2 as the first biotechnology company. In fact, both were preceded by some 10 years by Collaborative Research, Inc., which I founded in 1961.
Collaborative Research enjoyed the services of two Nobel laureates, Salvatore Luria and David Baltimore, as scientific advisors, the latter serving as a member of the board and chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for 10 years. On the basis of an earlier publication by two members of the Scientific Advisory Board, David Botstein and Ron Davis, Collaborative was the first biotech company to make a major commitment to genomics. This commitment resulted in a landmark publication in
Company scientists discovered and published the location of the cystic fibrosis gene on chromosome 7.
The research products division ...
