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editInteresting facts
editFrom USA Today, June 1st, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2005-06-01-biotech-losses_x.htm?POE=click-refer
Excerpt:
The biotechnology industry lost a combined $6.4 billion last year, according to a new report from Ernst & Young. The industry's total accrued loss since its birth in Silicon Valley in the mid-1970s is more than $45 billion.
"What's remarkable about this industry is that you can lose money for many years," said Ernst & Young's Michael Hildreth. "But the whole nature of your business changes dramatically once a product is improved."
Yet there's no getting around the industry's continued losses. For every success like Genentech and Amgen, there are still dozens of failures.
It's essentially like a casino," said Joseph Cortright, a Portland, Ore. economist. "There are lots of bets you can lay down and the potential can be very valuable. But for the most part, the odds that any one will pan out are extremely long."
Biotechnology remains a money-losing, niche industry of 1,400 companies that employ about 183,000 workers nationwide. By contrast, Wal-Mart employs 1.7 million workers itself and its annual revenues rival the entire biotech industry's annual sales.
Cortright, who co-wrote a report critical of biotechnology's ability to drive a region's economic growth, says local government officials who promise companies also sorts of incentives to relocate are ignoring the industry's financials.
"The mistake that people make is confusing science that is really cool with something that is going to have a significant economic impact," he said.