Only a week before, biotech indexes had their 15 minutes of fame as they reached all-time highs. It's not as if biotech firms have ever had an easy time of it to begin with. Unlike Internet firms that spend millions of dollars on marketing, so that they can become household names, biotech firms are allocating millions of dollars on nuts and bolts scientific research. Consider the fact that 40 million Americans will be reaching their 50s over the next decade. Health will be the primary concern for this group as it ages, and will be the driving force to develop new drugs and diagnostics.
Drugs are the least expensive way of dealing with illness.
What a difference a month makes. First, in an attempt to repair his handiwork from the previous month, President Clinton reassured the biotech industry that its commercial gene discoveries could be patented. Then, after a two-day biotech rally, Celera Genomics Group announced that it had completed the sequencing phase of one person's gentetic map. Now Wall Street is taking another look. Apart from the obvious, many biotech firms are excellent takeover or joint venture candidates.