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Part - II

Recent path-breaking successes, such as the clone Dolly, the complete mapping of the human genome, and the commercial use of genetically engineered products, have underscored biotechnology as the newly emerging 'knowledge industry'. The international biotechnology market, which started 30 years ago with a few US start-ups to manufacture protein drugs, is now an emerging global industry with 4,300 companies in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The science now caters to finding new solutions in the healthcare, agricultural and industrial disciplines. In the last ten years, the international biotech industry revenues have increased at a CAGR of 17.51 per cent, from $ 8.1 billion in 1992 to $ 41 billion in 2002. The industry has developed mainly in the US, due to the easy availability of venture funding, when it accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world market. The Asia- Pacific region accounts for around $ 1 billion of the global biotechnology market. The productivity of US companies is higher in terms of revenue per company. This can be ascribed to the existence of a large market in the US for biotech products. Although the US market has maximum revenue per company, the loss generated per company is also the highest. This is purely attributable to the high R&D cost incurred at the initial stage of product development. Amgen, Genentech and Biogen are some of the top-notch global players with high earnings, diversified product base and almost 30 % spending on R&D activities.

Governments around the world are embracing biotechnology as the next major technological driver of economic growth, striving for an optimal balance between rewarding innovations and ensuring the broadest possible access to the benefits of biotechnology. But while the industry has experienced an impressive growth globally, it has also sparked a number of international controversies. Since biotechnology seeks to understand and manipulate life itself at the molecular level, the field provokes far more profound ethical dilemmas than any other technology previously conceived, save perhaps nuclear technology. Both industrialized and developing nations are facing demographic crunches that demand biotechnology solutions. The aging western population and growing population in developing countries as well as the control of endemic diseases remain the leading challenges. The biotech sector can witness a stupendous growth attributable to such spurt in technological demands.

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* Contributed by -
Vivek Bajaj,
PGP 2,
IIM Indore.