From Alchemy to IPO

It is impossible to dispute the extraordinary impact biotechnology is having on our everyday lives. Companies such as Genentech, Immunex, Amgen, and Biogen hold the technological and intellectual keys to controlling our genetic destiny and moving science to a new apex of breakthrough cures.

Written by a well-known industry insider, From Alchemy to IPO chronicles the coming-of-age of biotechnology, and traces its history from its early inception in the '70s to today's heyday of new solutions and innovative treatments. It describes in vivid detail the amazing entrepreneurial trail of product development, novel business models, and critical trials that eventually pave the way to market, and describes advances such as deciphering the genetic code and gene therapy, that have the potential to lead biotech to a higher realm altogether.

This is the first book to accurately record the inner working of an industry that's on the verge of living up to its monumental promise to change the world as we know it. Through compelling stories and first hand interviews, it describes what really drives the people and the products. It also examines from the inside the management practices that have led to enormous profit, and identifies the ingredients that make a successful biotech company different.

Cynthia Robbins-Roth — Forbes columnist, biotech industry consultant and entrepreneur, and former Genentech scientist — untangles the inextricable relationship between science and profit. With anecdotes and first-hand insight she chronicles the biotech revolution — from the laboratory to the boardroom to harnessing the elusive potential of biotech stocks.

An invaluable resource for investors, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in biotechnology's significant promise, From Alchemy to IPO presents the information every one of us needs to understand and profit in a sector that's rich with opportunity and risk.

• Part One: The Roots of Biotechnology
1. Biotech in the Beginning
2. Genentech: The Leader of the Pack
3. The Amgen Story
4. An Exception to Every Rule: Genzyme
5. The Other Biotech: Monoclonal Antibodies
• Part Two: Biotech's Building Blocks
6. Biotech Star Wars
7. The Human Genome Project
8. Tools for Genome Studies: BioChips and Microarrays
9. Treating Diseases at the Gene: Antisense Drugs
10. Gene Therapy
11. Following the Path of Communication: Signal Transduction
12. Brand-New Knees: Tissue Engineering and Cell Replacement
13. Building New Drugs: Combinatorial Chemistry
14. Agricultural Biotechnology
• Part Three: The Business of Biotech: Product Development and Financing
15. The Drug Development Process:; From Test Tubes to Patients
16. Speed Bumps and Brick Walls: Clinical Trial Design
17. Biotech Bankers
18. Initial Public Offerings
19. Creative Financing
20. Corporate Partners and the Urge to Merge
• Part Four: Biotech Stocks
21. The Biotech Stock Landscape
22. Picking the Right Stocks
• Appendix A: Biotech Timeline
• Appendix B: Biotechnology-Derived Products on the Market
• Appendix C: Biotech Web Sites and Resources
• Appendix D: BioVenture Consultants' Biotech Stock Report

In reality the story about the early biotech industry. The IPO part is just a paranthesis, but it is interesting to compare with the dotcom boom.