Biopharmaceuticals & Biotherapeutics Industry Overview

Companies that research and develop drugs, diagnostics, and other therapeutic products from genomics and proteomics research and related data.

Full Biopharmaceuticals & Biotherapeutics Industry Description

Privatized Scientific Research

Globalization

Antibody Therapy for Cancer

Much of the basic scientific research that underpins the drug industry was and is conducted in universities with public funding. But financial incentives have encouraged more research done by small companies spun off from universities when research reaches the stage of practical application.

Since the technology for producing many chemicals is well-known, production facilities are located all over the world, often near raw materials sources or markets. Developing countries in Asia and Africa are growing users of chemicals. While chemicals are a large US export, increased competition is coming from Asian producers.

Many human cancer cells multiply only after chemical receptors on the surface of a cell bind with specific signaling molecules in the cell's environment. By producing antibodies that attach to either the receptors or the signaling molecules, researchers have been able to block the growth signal. To produce antibodies that the body won't reject, but that can be grown in large quantities, researchers have fused human with cultured mouse cells to produce either human-mouse ("chimeric") antibodies or 100 percent human antibodies.

Full Biopharmaceuticals & Biotherapeutics Industry Trends

• Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Actelion Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd.
• ActivX Biosciences, Inc.

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Hoover's has developed its own industry classifications to better serve its customers. These classifications are mapped to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the older U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The Biopharmaceuticals & Biotherapeutics maps to a number of NAICS codes including:

Full Biopharmaceuticals & Biotherapeutics Industry Codes

• bioinformatics.org
  
• Biotechnology Industry Organization
  
• Genetic Engineering Organization
  

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