From Alchemy to IPO: The Business of Biotechnology

By Cynthia Robbins-Roth

Book Overview

It is impossible to dispute the extraordinary impact biotechnology is having on our everyday lives. From Alchemy to IPO presents the dramatic story of the revolutionary and controversial business of inventing new cures and blockbuster drugs and a look at how biotech progress is generating powerful profit opportunities on all tiers of business and investment. Written by a well-known industry insider, From Alchemy to IPO addresses the coming-of-age of biotech products and companies and traces the history of biotechnology from its early inception in the '70s to today's heyday of new solutions and breakthrough treatments. It describes the amazing entrepreneurial trail of product development, novel business models, and critical trials that eventually pave the way to market, and describes advances, such as deciphering the genetic code and gene therapy, that just may lead biotech to a higher realm altogether. This is the first book to accurately record the inner workings of an industry-biotechnology-that's on the verge of living up to its monumental promise to change the world as we know it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073820482X
• ISBN13: 9780738204826
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Westview Publishing
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

From 0 to 60

If you're a newcomer to the industry, this book will quickly and clearly bring you up to speed on the technologies, companies, and issues behind the biotech industry. And even if you're a grizzled veteran, there are stories-behind-the-stories, background, and perspective you're unlikely to get from any other source.

making sense out of chaos

dr. robbins-roth's book is the best example i've seen of a text which makes sense of the short yet tangled history of the biotech business. from it's beginning, the biotech business has attracted the dreamers, the -don't-know-how-we'll-get- there-but-we-must-get-there types, and the scientific whiz-kids. this book not only charts the progress of the companies and the products, it also delves into the science and personalities behind the scene. this book is written at a level accessible to the layman, but is complex enough that professionals in the biological sciences will not find it too pedestrian. this is one of the most interesting, hardest-to-put-down science books i've read in many years.

Biotech 101

Science today is moving so fast, that it is hard enough to keep track of new scientific developments, let alone all the hundreds of companies set up to exploit the new technologies. Robbins-Roth's Book, from Alchemy to IPO, does a great job of setting the stage and helping a novice understand not only the technology but all the companies as well.

From Alchemy to IPO --the REAL biotech story revealed!

This is flat out the best book I've read on the biotechnology industry. I found it a riveting journey through both the science and the business of biotechnology, as well as a fascinating introduction to some of the outsize personalities who have invented the industry. The author, Cynthia Robbins-Roth, has a knack for translating complicated science and business issues into language that is both entertaining and, most importantly, understandable (thank you!). This book would make a great movie!

Fantastic perspective of Biotechnology from an insider

Biotechnology, quite clearly, will drastically change our quality of life in the coming years. This insider's perspective of the industry seems very apt for anyone interested in the science, business and investing, or cultural issues that biotech presents. As someone interested in all of these current topics, I found it fascinating.