Overview

Biotechnology emerged as a big business in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The year of its birth was 1977. The promise of biotechnology has been compared to that of alchemy, which in the Middle Ages sought not only to turn lead into gold but to find the secrets of life itself. Biotechnology-related research is mushrooming not only in the field of medicine but in such areas as agriculture, fuels, plastics, the environment, and mining.

The meshing of science with business, however, is not without its problems. While scientific investigations may be done within an academic setting, the problems involved in taking these findings and making practical use of them are legion. This goal requires investment of capital in firms that will produce and package a product. The question of patents also arises. With an...