Abstract
BackgroundDevelopment of the commercial genomics sector within the biotechnology industry relied heavily on the scientific commons, public funding, and technology transfer between academic and industrial research. This study tracks financial and intellectual property data on genomics firms from 1990 through 2004, thus following these firms as they emerged in the era of the Human Genome Project and through the 2000 to 2001 market bubble.MethodsA database was created based on an early survey of genomics firms, which was expanded using three web-based biotechnology services, scientific journals, and biotechnology trade and technical publications. Financial data for publicly traded firms was collected through the use of four databases specializing in firm financials. Patent searches were conducted using firm names in the US Patent and Trademark Office website search engine and the DNA Patent Database.ResultsA biotechnology subsector of genomics firms emerged in parallel to the publicly funded Human Genome Project. Trends among top firms show that hiring, capital improvement, and research and development expenditures continued to grow after a 2000 to 2001 bubble. The majority of firms are small businesses with great diversity in type of research and development, products, and services provided. Over half the public firms holding patents have the majority of their intellectual property portfolio in DNA-based patents.ConclusionsThese data allow estimates of investment, research and development expenditures, and jobs that paralleled the rise of genomics as a sector within biotechnology between 1990 and 2004.
Highlights
Development of the commercial genomics sector within the biotechnology industry relied heavily on the scientific commons, public funding, and technology transfer between academic and industrial research
Most genomics firms were small businesses. This description of an emerging sector was enabled by two data sources: a database of firms and research and development (R&D) expenditures initiated at Stanford University and continued at Duke University through 2004; and the ability to identify patents making claims that specify terms distinctive to DNA or RNA
One unifying feature among the many companies that became known as genomics firms and were included in our database was that all or a substantial fraction of their business plans hinged on use of large datasets on several or many genes, emerging DNA technologies of sequencing, novel methods of DNA detection, or interpretation of information based on DNA sequence or structure
Summary
Development of the commercial genomics sector within the biotechnology industry relied heavily on the scientific commons, public funding, and technology transfer between academic and industrial research. The business plans, technologies, size and financial health of these firms differed widely, but they shared a common reliance on methods and technologies associated with the -new field of genomics: DNA sequencing, DNA manipulation on the chromosome or whole-genome scale, and bioinformatics. These firms drew heavily on the scientific commons, public funding, availability of startup capital, As originally conceived, the Human Genome Project was a public works project - to construct maps and derive a reference sequence for the human genome and other genomes. The promise of applications in developing pharmaceutical products, diagnostics, and biologics, as well as agricultural uses, led to adoption of genomics by established firms and creation of new firms that extensively used the nascent technologies
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