Biotechnology Policies and Innovation Support Infrastructure in the Context of Pharmaceuticals

The use of biological processes by man dates back thousands of years to the discovery of brewing, baking and cheesemaking. It was only in the last century that significant advances were made in the understanding of these and similar biological processes. The industrial applications of some of these developments were realised at the turn of the century, with the fermentative production of commodity chemicals, such as butanol and acetone, and the establishment of industries producing such substances as antibiotics, amino acids and enzymes in the postwar period. However, it is only since 1953, when the structure of DNA was discovered, and more especially since the early 1970s with the development of powerful new techniques – notably, recombinant DNA technology (genetic engineering) and hybridoma technology (leading to the production of monoclonal antibodies) – that biotechnology has attracted public interest and that its commercial potential has been fully appreciated. There is now little disagreement that biotechnology is one of the two or three most significant technologies in terms of commercial promise in the period up to the end of the century.