achieving goals within the industry
Biotech companies make products that benefit human beings, including drugs and therapies that can help save lives, boost yields on farms, and create eco-friendly chemicals and fuels. Bioinformatics also is a part of the industry as the study of biological processes and information. It can be applied to a wide range of industries.
Biotech’s beginnings date back to the early 1970s when the technology of recombinant DNA (genetic engineering) was developed and patentable. This technique lets scientists splice genes in cells that later begin to create proteins that are valuable.
Biotechnology is a major component of the target-discovery programs of a majority of pharmaceutical companies today. There are also small-scale startups that utilize unique methods to create therapeutic drugs.
Other biotechnology-related applications are being explored by companies focusing on agrobiology, cosmetics as well as the environment, food technology industrial biotechnology, nutraceuticals and food technology along with the field of veterinary medicine. Fully integrated Pharma companies are large commercial companies that study and manufacture generic or brand-name medicines.
New technologies are revolutionizing the biotech industry, allowing for companies to validate their products with respect to conditions that are understood mechanisms (such as sickle cell disease) and to reach a wider patient populations. Some companies are even trying to develop new therapies that target untreated diseases, like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal illness.