BOOKS
Biotechnology and High Finance Reviewed by Roger E. Shamel
On Feb. 2, Roche Holding Ltd., par ent of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche, announced its plans to acquire a 60% stake in Gen e n t e c h for $2.1 b i l l i o n . T h i s megadeal has put biotechnology back in the spotlight and may serve as the opening volley for another round of mergers and acquisitions. The Genentech acquisition comes four years after Eli Lilly bought San Diego-based Hybritech for $300 mil lion. Shortly after the Hybritech deal, Bristol-Myers bought Genetic Systems of Seattle, also for about $300 million. Clearly, the stakes have risen— and rightly so. Genentech is widely acknowledged as the world's lead ing "new" biotechnology company. Its 1989 revenues of $400 million generated net income of $44 mil lion, both records for the emerging industry. Readers whose interest is piqued by the Genentech acquisition may enjoy reading Robert Teitelman's book, "Gene Dreams: Wall Street, Academia and the Rise of Biotech nology." The book provides a wellresearched, behind-the-scenes view of the scientific, financial, personal, and other elements that can lead to the birth, growth, and eventual ab sorption of a new biotechnology company. Although he covers other ground as well, Teitelman traces the life cycle of Genetic Systems from t h e t i m e it w a s a g l i n t in its founders' eyes to the point of its ac quisition by Bristol-Myers and be yond. Along the way, as the title suggests, the author exposes and ex plores the interrelationships be tween the two distinct worlds of sci ence and finance. Biotechnology is a fast-growing, still-emerging industry that is about 15 years into what will probably be a 50- to 60-year life cycle. Product sales in the U.S. will likely approach $1.4 billion in 1990 and exceed $12 billion (in constant 1990 dollars) by 30
April 23, 1990 C&EN
Close interplay between the worlds of science and finance has marked the evolution of the biotechnology industry "Gene Dreams: Wall Street, Aca demia, and the Rise of Biotechnolo gy" by Robert Teitelman, Basic Books, 10 East 53rd St., New York, N.Y. 10022,1989, 237 pages, $19.95
the end of the decade. To date, the industry has successfully introduced eight biopharmaceutical products, including human insulin, human growth hormone, α-interferon, tis sue plasminogen activator, and most recently, erythropoietin. During the current decade, the number of ap proved products is likely to increase by an order of magnitude, with sig nificant progress expected in the battles against AIDS, cancer, heart disease, and other maladies. In "Gene Dreams," Teitelman, se nior editor for Financial World and a columnist for Oncology Times, cor rectly identifies some of the key problems faced and, ironically, often
created by the industry in the 1980s. In retrospect, the problems seem ob vious, and can readily be summa rized by such well-known apho risms as: • Don't overpromise (Genen tech), • Don't put all of your eggs in one basket (Genex), • Build on your strengths (Cetus and others). Beyond this, the book often offers fascinating, little-known stories that illustrate the human side of an in dustry's birth and evolution. Per haps the best-known example is the Friday afternoon conception of Ge nentech, when Robert A. Swanson, a partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner-Perkins, convinced Herbert W. Boyer of the University of Cali fornia, San Francisco, to take 20 minutes out of a busy schedule to talk about an idea Swanson had for a new company. Swanson and Boyer chipped in $500 each in 1976 to launch a company having market value today calculated at about $3.5 billion. In the book's ominously (and coincidentally?) numbered chapter 13, "Just a Few Technical Problems," Teitelman provides excellent insight into the difficulties of moving a con cept in the laboratory to a viable product on the market. He adroitly weaves together the rise and fall of interferon, magic bullets, and monoclonals with the specific trials and tribulations of representative fledg ling companies. We learn how ru mors often have more influence than reality on Wall Street. Unfortunately, the same thorough research and extensive detail that give the book much of its appeal oc casionally can lead to frustration for the reader. For example, it is only after considerable stage setting that Teitelman begins, in his fourth chapter, to introduce the key charac ters for the Genetic Systems story. Later on, in the middle of the book, the interspersed plots and subplots involving at least a score of different
companies and people may leave the reader wondering if there is a point being made, or if one should just relax and read on. Ironically, Teitelman himself pres e n t s an a p p r o p r i a t e m e t a p h o r when he writes that "this book was not born from the brow of any Zeus; rather it accreted, like an archeological site, over a number of years." Some readers may find points in the
book where they will think that the archeological sifting and sorting are far from complete. Despite its shortcomings, however, "Gene Dreams" is both a timely and an interesting treatment of the early evolution of an industry. Roger E. Shamel is president of Consulting Resources Corp., a biotechnology and chemical management consulting firm based in Lexington, Mass. D
In Defense of Modern Science "Is Science Necessary?: Essays on Science and Scientists" by Max F. Perutz, E. P. Dutton, 2 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016, 1989, 285 pages, $19.95
Reviewed by Gale Rhodes
In "Is Science Necessary?" Max F. Perutz, pioneer in protein crystallography, offers a collection of his musings, divided into four parts: the title essay, science in war, great scientists, and about science. The essay "Is Science Necessary?" is a strong antidote to those who romanticize prescientific society. Perutz, who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1962, aims to show how science has improved the human lot—life span, health, comfort, productivity, quality of life. He uses charts and tables to document these improvements and argues that if you were plopped into any of history's earlier cultures (social status randomly chosen), your odds of achieving a productive, meaningful life—indeed your odds of having enough to eat—would be much lower than today. For instance, according to Perutz, a visitor to 18th-century Munich would find vast numbers of the poor living on the streets or herded together in horrible slums. The city resembled the Calcutta of today, "except that in Calcutta at least the poor don't freeze." London was much the same, infested with pickpockets and prostitutes, many of them children. In rural areas, bad harvests and severe winters could decimate the popula-
tion. Perutz argues convincingly that "science and technology have eliminated such misery in much of the world today." As Perutz sees its, the most serious threat to continued improvement of our living conditions is unrestricted growth of population. He argues that science has delayed the convergence of human needs upon the limits of available food and resources, but that in the end Malthus was right, and science cannot continue to feed a population that grows unchecked. Other threats include the lack of political will to use all available technologies (including nuclear power) and the insistence u p o n what Perutz calls an "absurdly high standard of living" in Western Europe and North America, where people spend "more on tobacco, drink, and cosmetics in a year than the average Indian's a n n u a l income." I had hoped to obtain from this book some insights into Perutz himself, into the man who, according to biochemists' folklore, has contentedly lurked in the nooks and crannies of the hemoglobin molecule for most of his career. But Perutz seems too modest to write much about himself. The only autobiographical essay is "Enemy Alien," first published in the New Yorker five years ago. He writes, ' T o have been arrested, interned, and deported as an enemy alien by the English, whom I had regarded as my friends, made me more bitter than to have lost freedom itself. Having first been rejected as a Jew by my native Austria, which I loved, I now found myself rejected as a German by my adopted country." All this was done,
he quips, "lest we escape to help our mortal enemies." This essay, easily the most personal and compelling in the collection, includes accounts of Pérutz's contact with other interned scientists, some destined for fame (Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold) or notoriety (Klaus Fuchs); of his enlistment into a boondoggling project to build an aircraft carrier of reinforced ice; and of his surviving the sinking of the Arandora Star after it was torpedoed by a German submarine. Beyond these two large essays lies an assortment of short pieces, most of them previously published reviews of books, including several biographies of scientists. From these I gleaned a little more insight into the author, seeing repeatedly his admiration of kindness and generosity in great scientists, of curiosity, and of desire to know taking precedence over desire to advance a career. Perutz appears, from these writings, refreshingly unpretentious. "The author of the book under review assumes that his readers know what Positivism was all about, but I did not and looked it up in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' " He values openness in science, passing on an aphorism he heard from Peter Medawar: "Any who shuts his door keeps out more than he lets out." Perutz adds, "I am suspicious of scientists who tell me that others have pinched their ideas; far from preventing people from stealing it, I have always had to ram any n e w idea of m i n e d o w n t h e i r throats. Even scientists are unbelievably conservative." These concluding essays, especially the biographical ones, may be of most use to teachers, because they offer a fine scientist's insights into science and its doers. The reviews include brief sketches of Alexander Fleming, Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, and others. All told, however, the collection is a hodgepodge that satisfies neither my curiosity about Perutz nor my inclination to seek, in any work, a thread or theme running throughout. While the book is not destined to become one of my favorites, it will be useful in some respects. It will no doubt come back off the shelf whenever someone tries to tell April 23, 1990 C&EN
31
Books m e t h a t science is m a k i n g o u r lives meaner or more impersonal. P e r u t z w o u l d agree, I believe, t h a t science a n d t e c h n o l o g y a r e n o t i n h e r e n t l y d e p e r s o n a l i z i n g . It is o u r vast a n d g r o w i n g p o p u l a t i o n t h a t threatens to turn u s into mere n u m bers.
Gale Rhodes, who teaches biochemistry and interdisciplinary courses in science and literature at the University of South ern Maine, also collaborates with research groups at the University of Minnesota and Washington University in St. Louis on the determination of enzyme struc tures by x-ray crystallography. D
Experimental Design in Biotechnology. Perry D. Haaland. xv + 259 pages. Marcel Dekker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $89.75 U.S. & Canada, $107.50 elsewhere.
High Vacuum Techniques for Chemi cal Syntheses and Measurements. P. H. Plesch. xiii + 167 pages. Cam bridge University Press, 32 East 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10022. 1989. $65.
Government Assistance Almanac 198990: The Guide to All Federal Finan cial and Other Domestic Programs. J. Robert Dumouchel. χ ν + 749 pages. Omnigraphics Inc., Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, Mich. 48226. 1989. $55.
Historic Textile and Paper Materials II: Conservation and Characterization. ACS Symposium Series 410. S. Haig Zeronian, Howard L. Needles, editors, ix + 260 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Wash ington, D.C. 20036. 1989. $54.95.
Health Effects of Drinking Water Treatment Technologies. Drinking Water Health Effects Task Force, xix + 146 pages. Lewis P u b l i s h e r s , 121 South Main St., P.O. Drawer 519, Chelsea, Mich. 48118. 1989. $37.50.
Interfacial Phenomena in Coal Tech nology. Gregory D. Botsaris, Yuli M. Glazman, editors, viii + 451 pages. Marcel Dekker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $125.
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Laboratory Automation Using the IBM PC. Stephen C. Gates, Jordan Becker, xiii + 322 pages. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632. 1989. $36. Laser Applications in Physical Chemis try. D. K. Evans, editor, χ + 428 pages. Marcel Dekker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $99.75 U.S. & Canada, $119.50 elsewhere. McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. 2nd Ed. Sybil P. Parker, editor, lxxvi + 2222 pages. McGraw-Hill, 1221 Ave. of the Ameri cas, New York, N.Y. 10020.1989. $110. Molecular Dynamics in Restricted Ge ometries. Joseph Klafter, J. M. Drake, editors, χ + 437 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $75. The Muscarinic Receptors. Joan Heller Brown, editor, xviii + 478 pages. Hu mana Press, Crescent Manor, P.O. Box 2148, Clifton, N.J. 07015. 1989. $89.50 U.S., $94.50 elsewhere. Onsite Wastewater Disposal. Richard J. Perkins, xiv + 251 pages. Lewis Pub lishers, 121 South Main St., P.O. Drawer 519, Chelsea, Mich. 48118. 1989. $49.95. Photons and Atoms: Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Jacques DupontRoc, Gilbert Grynberg. xviii + 468 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $59.95. Polyphase Induction Motors: Analysis, Design, and Application. Paul L. Cochran, xv + 678 pages. Marcel Dek ker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $125. Process M o d e l i n g and Control in Chemical Engineering. Kaddour Najim, editor, χ + 487 pages. Marcel Dek ker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $125 U.S. & Canada, $150 elsewhere. Process Plant Machinery. Heinz P. Bloch, editor, xv + 493 pages. Butterworths, 80 Montvale Ave., Stoneham, Mass. 02180. 1989. $75. Product Innovation: Idea to Exploita tion. J. A. A. Bradbury, vii + 181 pag es. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1989. $39.95. Progress in Heterocyclic Chemistry. Vol 1. H. Suschitzky, E. F. V. Scriven, editors, ix + 334 pages. Pergamon Press, Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523. $70 hardback, $35 paperback; £39 hardback, £19.50 paperback. D
