From Alchemy to IPO The Business of Biotechnology (Hardcover)

by Cynthia Robbins-roth (Author) "Fourteen years ago, Betsy Patterson was a 34-year-old single mom with three kids ages 5 to 10..." (more)
Key Phrases: biotech timeline, biotech execs, big pharma partner, San Diego, Wall Street, Eli Lilly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Despite unnerving swings in individual stock valuations--or perhaps because of them--many knowledgeable observers still believe the 21st century will ultimately earn its stripes as the Age of Biotech. Cynthia Robbins-Roth, named by Forbes magazine as one of the industry's top insiders, certainly is among them. And in From Alchemy to IPO, she persuasively argues investors better take heed because they ain't seen nothin' yet. "Most of us think of biotech as medicine or genetically engineered crops," writes Robbins-Roth. But in the very near future, she continues, it also "may make it possible for humans to reach the stars and to change the environment on other planets." Think that's far-fetched? She says developments like this are already in early stages and, in a deliberately proselytizing manner, traces their roots to the current business nitty-gritty, finally focusing on the long-term moneymaking potential. "The biotech world will never be an easy place for investors," she cautions, but with hundreds of ongoing projects "poised to power into the marketplace," there will be plenty of "opportunities for investors and employees alike." Recommended for readers seeking an informed tutorial on this field of the future. --Howard Rothman

Review
In the early 1980s, the biggest concern facing the biotech industry was collecting enough urine and placenta to conduct crucial genetic research. At one point Genentech researchers even joked about increasing their urine yield by laying sawdust on the floor at their weekly beer bashes. The technical challenges of the Internet industry pale in comparison - and so do the challenges to Internet investors.

So says Cynthia Robbins-Roth in From Alchemy to IPO, a fascinating, if somewhat dry, look at how the biotech industry grew from nothing to one of the most important business sectors in today's economy. Her retelling has important lessons both for biotech investors and Net investors, who can learn much from biotech's technology-driven boom-bust cycle.

The biotech sector first grabbed the attention of individual investors in 1980. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that genetically altered life could be patented, Genentech went public and closed at double its offering price of $35, and suddenly the marriage of technology and biology stepped out of science fiction novels and into doctors' offices and grocery stores. Just a few years later, though, impatient investors, who weren't able - or willing - to understand the often long and expensive process required to turn a test tube reaction into a viable drug, began dropping out of biotech stocks in droves. Today, Net investors will be comforted to know that biotech is again booming, as years of research finally yield concrete results.

As a biochemistry Ph.D, former researcher for Genentech and the founder of BioVenture Consulting, Robbins-Roth knows from whence she speaks. Steeped in technological details, her book can be a fascinating read for those enamored of hard science. However, as an investment guide, complete with stock tickers, dates of public offerings, partnering history and other minutiae, the book too often reads like a series of annual reports and would have benefited from the inclusion of far more case histories and stories.

Robbins-Roth also errs somewhat on the side of industry cheerleading at the expense of giving a complete portrait of the biotech investing environment. Early in the book, for example, she talks about the knockout process, in which researchers turn off certain genes to determine their function. Much of this research is done on organisms other than humans, often with disastrous results for the subject. We know from the reaction of consumers in today's marketplace that many people object to scientific testing on animals, yet Robbins-Roth skates by with nary a comment. Likewise, she barely touches on controversial subjects as timely as genetically altered food. To her, it seems, all discoveries in biotechnology are to the good.

The problem is, the human connection to biotech is far more complicated than that of simple innovation, and choosing to invest or not in a company is a complex problem, not only in terms of picking technological winners or losers, but also in making decisions about work that goes to our very essence. When one company finds a better drug delivery system for diabetics, or an experimental gene therapy for cancer patients, it affects, for better or worse, everyone.

The Net is only beginning to force investors to ask similar questions. Toward the end of the book, the author rhetorically asks whether one should invest in a cure for Alzheimer's or the latest online idea to deliver dog food. The cure gets Robbins-Roth's vote, but often as not in real life, it's the dogs who win out, at least in the short term. A less facile book might have helped us better understand why that is. -- From The Industry Standard

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 253 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (May 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738202533
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202532
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #829,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Alchemy to IPO --the REAL biotech story revealed!, May 18, 2000

By	Ron (New York) - See all my reviews

This is flat out the best book I've read on the biotechnology industry. I found it a riveting journey through both the science and the business of biotechnology, as well as a fascinating introduction to some of the outsize personalities who have invented the industry. The author, Cynthia Robbins-Roth, has a knack for translating complicated science and business issues into language that is both entertaining and, most importantly, understandable (thank you!). This book would make a great movie!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Overview/Explanation of the Biotech Industry!, December 2, 2000

By	tim747 (Glenview, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I have stayed away from investing in drugs and biotechs for over 5 years. That is not my area of expertise. This book is great in being a teacher of biotech history and technology. It ties in biotech implications very well with drug development, agriculture, and other roles it will have in society. If you want to learn biotech for the fun of it or because you want to start investing in biotech/genomics, this is a must read. I have to warn you though, after reading this book, I have come to the conclusion that I will be buying a biotech fund instead of buying biotech companies. The book makes things seem to complex and unpredicatbale for picking individual companies for the long term investment prospects. They are just too many and their success is largely reliant on chance and luck. Even if you are a daytrader or swingtrader, by improving your knowledge of the biotech industry, you will improve your chances of making money when you know what the press releases are talking about.

Let me finish with why I did not rate this book a 5. The wording that the author chooses is sometimes unclear and downright annoying. There were at least 5 spots where I had to stop and ask myself. Am I just stupid for not understanding what the author is trying to say, or is this written in caveman English. I came to the conclusion that the unclear sentences were the fault of the author. I have read many business/investing books where the author writes concise and flowing text. This book was annoying to read at times because of Robbins-Roth's wordings.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars making sense out of chaos, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

dr. robbins-roth's book is the best example i've seen of a text which makes sense of the short yet tangled history of the biotech business. from it's beginning, the biotech business has attracted the dreamers, the -don't-know-how-we'll-get- there-but-we-must-get-there types, and the scientific whiz-kids. this book not only charts the progress of the companies and the products, it also delves into the science and personalities behind the scene. this book is written at a level accessible to the layman, but is complex enough that professionals in the biological sciences will not find it too pedestrian. this is one of the most interesting, hardest-to-put-down science books i've read in many years.