What is Biotech?
The biotech label usually applies to firms applying genetic engineering to the manufacture of drugs or other products. Most biotech drugs are developed by small companies hoping to come up with a blockbuster product such as a cure for cancer or AIDS. Biotech investing is difficult for most investors, because few of us have the background to understand the issues involved in determining the potential success of a biotech product. Nevertheless, there is a remarkable amount of information available on the Internet to help us become better biotech investors. A good place to start is “The Drug and Biotech Investor,” a weekly newsletter published by “The Bull Market Report,” a newsletter focusing on technology stocks. Although their Bull Market Report requires a subscription, the Drug and Biotech Investor is free. You can get the newsletter by email, or you can access it on the site (www.bull-market.com). Start by clicking on “The Drug and Biotech Investor” on Bull Market Reports home page.
In its most general sense, biotech can be used to refer to any sort of technology that uses biology to accomplish its end. This includes such ‘low-tech’ methods as grafting different plants together, adding yeasts to a drink to ferment it into beer, or supplementing soil with organisms to help manage pest problems. In a more specific sense, biotech is usually used to refer to a higher level of technological intercession, especially in the field of agriculture. There are four main subfields of biotech, which most implementations fit under: green, blue, white, and red. Green biotech has to do with plants and growing, blue biotech has to do with aquatic uses of biological technology, white biotech is used in industry, and red biotech is used for medical purposes. While all four subfields have contributed a number of valuable processes, green biotech is probably the most widely used, while blue biotech is still relatively rare. White biotech, which is also sometimes referred to as grey bio
Biotechnology brings together discoveries and insights from many different kinds of science. Obviously, molecular biology, microbiology, and chemistry are important. But the scientific background of biotechnology also involves botany and zoology, mathematics and computer science, and even physics and geology. Over the last three centuries, scientists have built up the world’s knowledge about the many forms of life on Earth and the basic building blocks that they all share. This body of knowledge is what makes biotech possible.
