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Business of healthcare
Innovation remains the lifeblood for an industry where the rewards can be plentiful for big and small companies. One of the signs of the maturity of the biotechnology industry and its inexorable move into the mainstream has been the frequency with which the sector now generates headlines in the mainstream press. - -
Content
Rosy future lies behind drip-feed of headlines
Biotechnology is the fastest growing part of the drugs sector.
Industry deals: Price no problem as big fish court minnows
The need to keep product pipelines filled is encouraging large companies to forge links with smaller players.
UCB: Hopes pinned on Crohn’s drug to join big league
The Belgian company needs a successful launch of Cimzia to fulfil expectations.
Financing options: Pipes could blow
In Europe, when biotechnology companies talk about a pipe, it is usually attached to the word line and refers to the number of potential treatments they are developing. In the US the word conjures up one of the most common forms of fund-raising for listed biotechnology groups.
Monoclonal antibodies: Race to develop simpler approach
Monoclonal antibodies have been the great success story of biotechnology over the past decade. Since 1997 their worldwide sales have grown from zero to an estimated $14bn last year.
Licensing in Asia: Patience a virtue for deal hunters
Soaring drug development costs are driving companies eastwards but there are pitfalls for the uninitiated.
Japan: Thinking smaller in biotech
Global financial centres may have their hedge funds but Tokyo has an Edge fund, too. Established two years ago by the Japanese capital city’s oldest university, it is one sign of how initiatives around biotechnology in the country are gathering pace.
Molecular diagnostics: Better tools for smarter prevention
In the battle to defeat cancer, one of the biggest successes so far has come not from a wonder drug, but from a simple diagnostic test.
Gene therapy: Sector returns to the limelight after setbacks
Once overshadowed by its more glamorous sister, stem cell research, the field of gene therapy could be making a revival as more and more companies report positive data in a range of diseases and bring products closer to market.
Animal rights: US tackles controversial issue
The trial of six activists under anti-terrorism laws sent a strong signal that Washington was getting tough.
