Stronger Biotech Coaxes More Venture Cash

While venture capital funding remains strong for biotechnology companies, most money tends to go to later rounds with lesser risk. The first working draft of the human genome was completed in 2000. Unfortunately, while the science is good, it is also extremely complex. Since then, more basic science has been produced in this area than researchers have known what to do with. Thus, there has been disappointment in the delay in turning basic science into commercially viable properties. Venture capitalists who follow life sciences and make investments in biotechs say, however, that the disappointment is fading. Revenue from biotechs is growing at a rate of 20% in 2005, which includes increased revenue from licensing deals with big pharma, according to Ernst & Young. Similarly, biotech investment is growing at an annual rate of 20%, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). A number of areas in biotechnology have matured to bring this about. The level of development of the science has moved forward enough for companies to be able to apply these technologies to unmet medical needs, more scientists see themselves as having one foot in the commercial world and one foot in the academic world, and universities are seeing the intellectual property coming out of their academic laboratories as a potential profit center. "Source":[ http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/GenomicsProteomics/2005/11/01/1098009?ba=m&bi=6&bp=13].

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