Abstract
Research Objectives
This Fuji-Keizai USA report explores research and development activities,
business operations, investments and overall policies on biotechnology from
the non-pharmaceutical, non-biotech company perspective. The organizations
included in this report were selected because their core business is outside
pure-play biotechnology and pharmaceutical drug development. The purpose is to
understand to what extent, and why, industries such as IT, chemical companies,
electronics giants, energy companies, among others, have an interest in
biotechnology.
Target Companies
We start with a big picture of 100 non-pharma, non-biotech organizations. The
organizations are predominantly U.S. Fortune 500 and European Fortune Global
500 businesses, as well as top U.S. hospitals and educational institutions.
Next, we look at a piece of that organization - the divisional picture - and
describe the business unit or other internal group, often within R&D, that is
advancing biotechnology, either through commercialization of a product,
internal research and/or a strategy of partnerships or acquisition. Our
sources were publicly available data and phone interviews. Because the
organizations come from different industrial sectors, their uses for
biotechnology range from medicine, to consumer products such as clothing and
food, to biofuel production. One of more biotechnology-related projects at
each of the companies is described.
Biotechnology Defined
Biotechnology is synonymous with genomics (the study of genes) and proteomics
(the study of proteins), where molecular biology and information technology
are the tools used by scientists to develop advanced drugs. Because our scope
is beyond pharmaceutical biotech alone, we have broadened the definition of
biotechnology for this report to mean any technology where biological
substances (e.g., human cells, tissue, plants, microorganisms, enzymes, etc.)
are converted into a marketable product, system or process for medical or/and
industrial application.
Overview of R&D Trends
- 1. Development of drugs or therapies to improve human health is still a
primary focus of biotechnology research being done outside of the
pharmaceuticals industry.
- 2. Commercialization of biotechnologies as applied to industrial processes
is the next wave.
- 3. Fortune 500 companies have or are refashioning their role in the
biotech universe in the face of marketplace realities.
- 4. Major consumer-oriented companies are showing a willingness to get
involved in a new generation of biotech food research.
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