Back to School 1996: The new complexity

A few years ago, the biotechnology sector consisted of a handful of well-endowed biopharmaceutical corporations and a lower tier of companies - hundreds of them - united primarily by their need for cash. But no longer. In late 1996, the biotechnology industry has become a rich tapestry of companies, spanning the entire spectrum of maturities and geography, and facing an equally rich tableau of issues beyond the simple hierarchy of the "haves" and the "have nots."

For everyone in the industry, from companies to investors to analysts to BioCentury, this growing complexity has necessitated gaining at least a passing familiarity with an ever-widening array of information: in every disease area imaginable; for a multitude of enabling technologies (screening, combinatorial chemistry, genomics); clinical trial design; manufacturing; marketing; partnering; regulations; health care reform; patent law; stock market behavior; and a variety of business models. It simply isn't possible to be good at them all...