Biotechnology is the commercialization of living organisms. The main field of Biotechnology is medicine, and the related products like vaccines. Biotechnology is used in industries like agriculture, heavy industry and mining with products such as biopesticides. Numerous large pharmaceutical companies have separate divisions dedicated to biotech-based medicines. Some of these products come from living organisms while others are chemically base. This distinction is crucial because the risk profiles of these two industries are distinct.
Biotech companies can be expensive to run due its genotec-frankfurt.de extensive research and development. A successful drug could yield an impressive financial return. It can take years before a new product is released to the market. The FDA approval process is complicated and time-consuming, and requires preclinical testing, clinical trials and quality monitoring. According to Science Daily only a small percent of the compounds tested will get approved for market.
Biotech companies can opt to focus on technology partnerships or create their own pharmaceutical assets, which they lease to big pharmaceutical companies for manufacturing and marketing. Many biotech companies are taking the latter option since it can help increase revenue. However, it is not without risk since they have to also pay for the costs of clinical development regulatory approval, negotiations for reimbursement of insurance and sales promotion. To mitigate these risks, many biotechs have strategic alliances with big pharma and smaller biotechnology platform companies. The biotech ecosystem in Massachusetts, for example is comprised of top teaching hospitals, universities, entrepreneur communities and venture capitalists.