The industry continues to remain unprofitable but continues to seek additional funding for current and future products. The biotechnology business is highly concentrated with the five top companies encompassing one-third of industry wide revenues. Of the 1,300 companies that comprise the industry, most have none or very few product revenues for ongoing research and development. Many small biotechnology companies are so starved for cash that many are setting up joint production and marketing relationships with pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies have the necessary capital that many biotechnology companies need to push their products through the marketplace.
Elderly people are the largest consumers of medicines to fight their aging bodies.
These demographic trends will favor those companies that develop products that normally affect elderly people such as hypertension, Alzheimer's disease, and depression. The biotechnology industry will also be impacted from the shifted to managed care networks which provide low cost medical care . Modern biotechnology combines molecular and cellular biotechnology, genetics, and the disease fighting properties of the human immune system. The biotechnology industry draws heavily upon research in genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology. Genetic engineering involves involves the transfer of genetic fragments from the cells of one living organism to another to form a combination of heritable material.