From the Desk of the Editor in Chief
Contagion is on everybody’s mind these days. The banking system remains in intensive care, the credit markets have flatlined, and the economy is slowly, painfully being nursed back to health with massive injections of government triage.
We didn’t plan it this way, but all of the attention being paid to sickness and health happens to coincide with our annual look at the biotechnology industry.
Like every other sector of the ailing economy, biotech has taken a hit from the financial squeeze. Smaller start-ups that depend on infusions of cash to carry them through the lengthy development cycle for new drugs are finding their lifelines cut off.
But while some consolidation may be inevitable, the overall trend is positive. We are pleased to report that numerous states have resisted the temptation to trim their investments in long-term biotech initiatives as an easy fix for budget deficits. Others are “doubling down” on their bets that biotech soon will emerge as a leading industry of the 21st century.
The long-term prognosis calls for “viral growth” in biotech: the global market is expected to grow threefold in the coming decade, exceeding $120 billion.
Now that’s an outbreak worth cheering about.
