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With a PhD in chemistry and "a general passion" for the work, J. David Rozzell started making enzymes for drug companies seven years ago with a handful of employees in his Pasadena lab. Today, he is president and CEO of BioCatalytics, a private company that has 25 employees and generates enough cash to pay for itself. "From the first year, we were break-even or better," says Rozzell. "we were funded by our operations – by the revenue we could generate. Then our funding came from sponsored research agreements with big drug companies, product sales, and federal SBIR [Small Business Innovation Research] grants."
In a business that can be a minefield, Rozzell's story stands out as a modest success. The attrition rate for biotechnology companies is high, especially in the early stages. Estimates of the chances of commercial success in the biotech world range from one in 10 to ...
