The Impact of Biotechnology on the Health Care Industry1 1The fourth David Perlman Memorial Lecture sponsored by the Microbial and Biochemical Technology Division of the American Chemical Society, and BioChem Technology, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania. Presented

Abstract

This chapter discusses the impact of biotechnology on the health care industry, determining the extent to which the various segments of the industry are based on biotechnology, reviews their historical development, and discusses the present activities in the field. Biotechnology is defined as the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services. By this definition, biotechnology in the health care field is restricted to the production of diagnostic, therapeutic, and prophylactic agents. Sales of pharmaceuticals are commonly broken down into a variety of categories and subcategories. Most of these categories owe a considerable amount to biotechnology and the perseverance and persistence of its practitioners. The field of biotechnology is undergoing one or more period of transition. This has come about because of the application of new tools to the biotechnology field, that is, the use of recombinant DNA techniques and cell-fusion techniques. There is no doubt the new biotechnology companies are leading the industry into new fields of fruitful endeavour. The successful melding of the new approaches with other lines of pharmaceutical research will lead to the development of useful therapeutic agents unidentifiable and unpredictable as of now. Throughout this development, it is critical for the industry that many of the new companies grow and prosper.