 |
|
Biotechnology markets: From
big bang towards constant growth
Contrary to many other fields in science,
many processes in biology are just beginning to be understood by mankind.
The genetic revolutions of the seventies provoked an exponential
progression of the number of discoveries and new technologies. This
phenomenon has become somewhat of a trend, together with other high tech
ventures that recently suffered in the Nasdaq and other stock market
declines. Nevertheless, many other fields have historically experienced
their "take off" one or two centuries ago, which explains why
innovations are harder to find in these traditional fields than in the
field of biotechnology. For this reason, one can predict that
biotechnology still has its "golden age" to live. The year 2000
was a record in biotechnology history: Record investments, company and
employee number, profits, etc.
Biotechnological applications can roughly
be classified into 2 main categories, pharmaceutical/medical and
bioconversion/remediation. First, the pharmaceutical and medical field.
Traditionally, this field has been mainly occupied by the chemical
industry, which developed new drugs by using high throughput screening
with libraries of small molecules related to a traditional drugs. This
procedure was empirical and expensive. With genetics, targets can be
sequenced and identified; screening can be carried out with antibodies
that are the specific biological answer to a given problem. Antibodies and
proteins can even be engineered (thanks to knowledge in genomics) to
produce an optimised effect. Microorganisms "programmed" with
the required DNA can produce therapeutic proteins and antibodies, which
are far too big and complex to be synthesized by chemical procedures only.
Another revolution is gene-therapy, used with patients suffering from
hereditary diseases. Such patients have a faulty version of some
particular gene and gene therapy is supposed to provide their cells with
the "healthy" version (produced biotechnologically).
Second category: Production, bioconversion
and bioremediation. The genetical engineering of microorganisms allows for
the production of a great diversity of compounds, starting from the cheap
substrate glucose. These processes are in most of the cases far too
expensive to compete with chemical synthesis. The potential of
biotechnology resides therefore mainly in some products that can only be
produced following a biological route. But this is also changing: For many
chemical syntheses, a factory needs to be planned with many different
reactors, tanks and pipelines containing the different reaction steps,
while micro organisms concentrate a very big number of different chemical
reactions in their cells. This large number of reactions often contains
the necessary first steps; therefore it suffices sometimes to add an
enzyme or two (using genetical transformation). These enzymes and cells
work in water whereas organic chemistry often requires large amounts of
organic solvents that later become the waste in the process. Such
"green routes" could be a tool to favour pollution reduction.
Genetical engineering has great potential.
The problem is sometimes the consumer reluctance to purchase GMO products.
For drugs, the GMO concept is well accepted but in the food industry, it
is acquiring a bad reputation. This reluctance, currently very strong in
Europe but almost non-existent in the US, is at times justified. Many
aspects of GMO proliferation are still unclear. But the industry is
carrying out more and more research to understand precisely the risks
connected to GMO proliferation and develop biological systems that are
unable to go beyond a culture dependant barrier (killer genes, etc.). Many
new genetically engineered routes have been developed, tested and found to
be very profitable. Food industries that have discovered such routes do
not use them yet - they prefer continuing with the classical process, more
expensive but outside the GMO controversy. However, companies often
continue developing new GMO processes, waiting for the day GMOs will be
safe and accepted.
 |
Biotech Resources and Information: |
 |
|
|
|
