Timeline of biotechnology companies

This is a timeline of biotechnology companies, attempting to describe mostly the launch in recent decades of a variety of organizations in the field.

Sample questions

The following are some interesting questions that can be answered by reading this timeline:

• What are the diverse industries and specialties where biotechnology is conducted?
  • Sort the full timeline by Industry/specialty.
  • You will see a large variety of subfields of biotechnology, but mostly related to healthcare.
• What are some milestones in the history of biotechnology?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Background".
  • You will see important scientific developments shaping the field and giving path to business development.
• What are some notable or sample biotechnology companies having been launched over the last decades?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Company launch".
  • You will see the establishment of a number of companies in different industries, all related to biotechnology.
• What are some notable Initial public offerings?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Notable IPO".
  • You will see some notable IPOs by very important companies in the field.
• What are some notable accelerators and incubators in the biotechnology sector?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Accelerator/incubator launch".
  • You will mostly see a number of these organizations launched in the United States.
• What are some notable or illustrative biotechnology funds?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Fund launch".
  • You will see a number of funds launched in the United States.
• What are some notable studies related to the business of biotechnology?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Research".
• You will see a number of studies by different authors, revealing particular aspects of the biotechnology business.
  • What are some figures illustrating the evoution of the biotechnology industry?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Statistics".
• What are some publications specialized in the business of biotechnology?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Literature".
  • You will see a variety of books in the field.
• What are some other notable events in the history of biotrchnology companies?
  • Sort the full timeline by Event type and look for the rows with value "Notable case".
• Other events are described under the following types: "Concept development", "Industry size", "Legal", "Market size", and "Statistics".

Big picture

Time period	Development summary	More data
1950s	Early development	Biotechnology arguably takes off around this time, spurred by a better understanding in the post-war period of cell function and molecular biology. A major milestone in this decade is the discovery of the 3D structure of DNA.
1960s	Field identity creation	In this period, biotechnology acquires a single identity. Around the end of the decade, the exceptional developments in electronics initiate a period of exponential growth in biotechnology, particularly in the fields of bioimaging and functional evaluation.
1970s	Pioneering work	Pioneering work in biotechnology can be traced back to the mid-decade. Technological advances, start altering the production process and facilitate production of specialized products from generalized machinery, particularly in high throughput screening, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), polymerase chain reaction, advances in massspectrometry and crystallography. Massive strides in DNA research are conducted.
1980s	Business emergence	The biotech arena emerges, when molecular biology is introduced in the business world. The evolution of the modern biotech industry as it is known today is considered to begin in this decade, with scientific innovations leading to the commercialization of products. Great advances in biotechnology are made. The development of the first biotech-derived drugs and vaccines to treat diseases such as cancer and hepatitis B are milestones of the 1980s.
1990s	Explosive growth	This is often seen as the decade of biotechnology. An explosion in understanding the pathophysiology of human diseases leads to the development of many innovative new medicines. Molecular engineering becomes prominent, and the full potential of monoclonal antibodies is finally realized.
2000s	Focus toward chronic diseases	A notably continued expansion of biotechnology into chronic diseases is experienced, including new biotech products and second or third indications for existing biologic products. An emphasis is put on the commercialization of biotech products for chronic diseases with an immune etiology. Also, this decade can be characterized as the era of acquisitions of biotech companies by big pharmaceutical companies.

Full timeline

Year	Industry/specialty (when applicable)	Event type	Details	Location
1951		Background	Artificial insemination of livestock is accomplished using frozen semen.
1958		Background	DNA is made in a test tube for the first time.
1975		Background	German biologist Georges J. F. Köhler and Argentine biochemist César Milstein discover how to make monoclonal antibodies. This scientific event would revolutionize the medical diagnostics and therapeutics industry sectors. For the first time, specific antibodies to various epitopes (targets) could be isolated and produced in significant quantities for applications in medicine.	United Kingdom
1975		Research	J.M. Utterback and W.J. Abernathy explore the concept of dominant design and suggest that its occurrence may effect innovation in a firm or an industry. A dominant design is a new product synthesized from individual technological innovations introduced independently in prior product variants.
1978		Background	Recombinant human insulin is produced for the first time.
1979		Background	Human growth hormone is synthesized for the first time.
1979–1981		Research	Eighteen official reports across the industrialized world announce that biotechnology would be "the new technological base for our civilization".
1980		Background	Following a 20-year mass vaccination effort, smallpox is globally eradicated.	Worldwide
1980		Background	The Supreme Court of the United States approves the principle of patenting organisms, which allows ExxonMobil to patent an oil-eating microorganism.	United States
1981		Background	Scientists at Ohio University accomplish the first functioning germline genetic transformation of laboratory mice by microinjection of cloned DNA into the male pronucleus of fertilized mouse eggs at the one-cell stage.	United States
1982		Background	United States FDA approves Eli Lilly's recombinant insulin Humulin, made from Genentech's specially modified bacteria. This is the first drug produced through recombinant DNA technology and among the first genetically engineered products to be available to consumers.	United States
1982		Research	According to Freeman, patents provide some measure of the "effectiveness" of a firm’s research and development.
1982		Background	The first recombinant DNA vaccine for livestock is developed.
1985		Background	The first DNA marker is found linked to cystic fibrosis. The anonymous marker is known as CRI-917.
1985 (December 16)	Health	Fund launch	Fidelity Select Biotechnology Portfolio (FBIOX) is launched in the United States. It mostly invests in companies researching, developing, manufacturing, and distributing various biotechnological products, services, and processes and companies that benefit significantly from advances in biotechnology.	United States
1986	Recombinant DNA technology	Background	Recombivax HB is licensed in the United States. It is the first recombinant vaccine for humans, a vaccine for hepatitis B.	United States
1986	Genetic engineering	Background	Interferon becomes the first anticancer drug produced through biotechnology , 29 years after the discovery of the drug, when the development of genetic engineering enables the production of large quantities of high-quality interferon.
1987		Research	Monitoring aggregate data over a range of US firms including pharmaceutical companies, Griliches et al. find a very strong relationship between research and development expenditures and patent applications, even after controlling for propensity to patent.
1988		Research	S. Majoro suggests that a continuous flow of ideas provides the antecedents for innovation within an organization.
1988	Agricultural biotechnology	Background	The first pest-resistant corn, Bt corn, is produced. The first permit to field-test transgenic crops containing Bt genes is issued to Monsanto for tomato.	United States
1990	Research and development	Research	According to Cohen and Levinthal, investment in Research and development maintains the absorptive capacity of the firm, a critical aspect of intellectual capital.
1990 (January 1)	Cell therapy	Company launch	Lineage Cell Therapeutics is founded. It engages in the development of novel cell therapies for unmet medical needs.	United States (Carlsbad, California)
1990		Research	American sociologist Howard E. Aldrich makes the observation that a specialty, technology-based, innovation is often linked to entrepreneurship and business foundings.	United States
1990	Gene therapy	Background	The first successful gene therapy is performed on a 4-year-old girl suffering from an immune disorder.
1990	Probiotics	Company launch	BioGaia is founded. Based in Stockholm, it is a probiotics company engaged in microbiome research. It develops and sells probiotic products.	Sweden
1990 (August 28)	Oncology, telomerase activation, cell therapy	Company launch	Geron Corporation is founded. It researches and develops therapeutic products for cancer.	United States (Menlo Park, California)
1990	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	Nektar Therapeutics is founded. Based in San Carlos, California, it focuses on the discovery and development of novel therapies which selectively modulate the immune system to treat cancer, autoimmune disorders, and chronic inflammatory conditions.	United States
1991	Aquaculture	Company launch	AquaBounty Technologies is founded. Its land-based fish farms produce genetically engineered salmon.	United States (Maynard, Massachusetts)
1991	Pharmaceutical, biotherapeutics	Notable IPO	Vertex Pharmaceuticals completes its IPO, trading as VRTX on Nasdaq. Based in Boston, it one of the world's biggest biopharma businesses.	United States
1991	Oncology, health diagnostics	Company launch	ARIAD Pharmaceuticals is founded. An oncology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines for the cancer patients, it would be acquired by Takeda for US$5.2 billion on January, 2017.	United States (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
1991	Healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Camurus is founded. It is Swedish science-led biopharmaceutical company which develops and commercializing innovative and differentiated medicines for the treatment of severe and chronic conditions.	Sweden
1991 (September)	Blood transfusion products	Company launch	Cerus Corporation is founded. Headquartered in Concord, California, it develops and provides a treatment system to pathogen-reduce human blood products for the healthcare industry.	United States (Concord, California)
1991 (September 17)	Healthcare, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Synthon is founded. Medications made by Synthon include simvastatin (a statin), tamsulosin (an alpha blocker for the symptomatic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia), paroxetine (an antidepressant), and fluvoxamine (an antidepressant)	Netherlands (Nijmegen)
1991	Healthcare, molecular diagnostics, biotechnology, precision medicine	Company launch	Myriad Genetics is founded. It is a molecular diagnostic focused on the discovery and commercialization of diagnostic tests for several major diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes, among others.
1991	Antibodies, genetics	Company launch	Santa Cruz Biotechnology is founded by Dr. John Stephenson and his wife Brenda Stephenson in Santa Cruz, California.. A developer of biological products for medical research, it is one of the world’s largest suppliers of antibodies.	United States (Santa Cruz, California)
1991		Research	Philip Kotler suggests that a continuous flow of ideas provides the antecedents for the development of new products.
1991 (July 16)	Biopharmaceutical	Notable IPO	Alkermes completes its IPO, trading with ticker name ALKS on Nasdaq. Founded in 1987, it is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on central nervous system.	United States
1992	Genetics, medical	Company launch	Affymetrix is founded as a spin-off from Affymax Research Institute by Stephen Fodor. The company would introduce its first product in 1994, an HIV genotyping chip. Affymetrix is based in Santa Clara, California.	United States
1992	Healthcare, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Angiotech Pharmaceuticals is founded. In 2017, Angiotech would be acquired by a consortium led by the U.S. healthcare investment firm Vivo Capital and China's ZQ Capital.	Canada
1992	Bioinformatics	Company launch	Applied Maths is founded in Belgium as a bioinformatics company developing software for the biosciences. It would gain worldwide recognition with the software GelCompar, used as a standard tool for the normalization and comparative analysis of electrophoresis patterns (PFGE, AFLP, RAPD, REP-PCR and variants, etc).	Belgium
1992 (May)	Biopharmaceuticals, biotherapeutics	Company launch	Cubist Pharmaceuticals is founded. On 8 December 2014, Merck & Co. would acquire Cubist for US$102 per share in cash ($8.4 billion).
1992	Biomedicine	Company launch	Dendreon is founded. Its lead product, Provenge (known generically as sipuleucel-T), is an immunotherapy for prostate cancer.	United States
1992	Biotechnology, healthcare, health diagnostics, medical	Company launch	MorphoSys is founded. Based in Planegg, Germany, it focuses on the research and development of fully human antibodies.	Germany
1992	Dairy farming technology	Background	The United States FDA approves bovine somatotropin for increased milk production in dairy cows.	United States
1992		Background	The first version of the Oslo Manual is issued, separating innovations into two types: product and process innovations. A product innovation is "the commercialization of a technologically changed product". A process innovation, alternatively, is a "change in the technology of the production of an item [which] may involve new equipment, new management and organization methods, or both".	Norway
1992 (September 8)	Biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products is founded. It is a Chinese company that makes vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis B and measles.	China
1993 (January 2)	Vaccines, soy protein, healthcare	Company launch	Bionor Pharma is founded. It is a Norwegian biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing its proprietary therapeutic vaccine Vacc-4x in combination with other medicines toward a functional HIV cure.	Norway
1993	Biomedicine	Company launch	Applied Spectral Imaging is founded. It is a multinational biomedical company that develops and manufactures microscopy imaging and digital analysis tools for hospitals, service laboratories and research centers.	United States
1993	Oligonucleotide-based tools	Company launch	Biosearch Technologies is founded. It designs, develops, and manufactures custom oligonucleotides and associated reagents for the molecular diagnostics, research and applied markets.	United Kingdom
1993	Immunostimulants	Background	The United States FDA approves Betaseron, the first of several biotech products that have had a major impact on multiple sclerosis treatment.
1993	Vaccines	Company launch	Shantha Biotechnics is founded. It is one of the first Indian biotechnology companies to create a recombinant product, obtaining World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification for its Hepatitis B vaccine in 2002. By 2013, Sanofi would complete the acquisition of 100% of the company.	India
1993	Biopharma, biotechnology, medical pharmaceutical	Company launch	Millennium Pharmaceuticals is founded . On May 14, 2008, Japanese company Takeda Pharmaceutical would complete its acquisition of Millennium for a deal worth US$8.8 billion. The new subsidiary would finally be renamed Takeda Oncology.	United States
1993	Pharming	Company launch	Ventria Bioscience is founded. It is the first company to commercialize recombinant proteins derived from a plant-based manufacturing system.	United States
1993 (November 12)	Medical, medical device, pharmaceutical	Notable IPO	Incyte Corporation completes its IPO, trading under ticker INCY on Nasdaq· It is a hlobal biopharmaceutical company, which discovers, develops and commercializes proprietary cancer therapeutics.	United States
1994 (January 1)	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	Fermentek is founded. Based on Jerusalem, it specializes in the research, development, and manufacture of biologically active natural products isolated from microorganisms and other natural sources such as plants and algae.	Israel
1994 (February 16)		Literature	American journalist Barry Werth publishes The Billion-Dollar Molecule, which recounts the founding and early research efforts of the American biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The book is notable as an inside look at a biotechnology company, and the stresses and marketing pressures on funding research into drug design.	United States
1994	Oncology, immunotherapy, vaccines	Company launch	Agenus is founded . It develops and commercializes immunotherapies and vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases.	United States
1994	Stem-cell therapy	Company launch	Advanced Cell Technology, Incorporated (ACT) is founded. Renamed to Ocata Therapeutics in November 2014, in February 2016 it would be acquired by Astellas for US$379 million.	United States
1994	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Cinnagen is founded. Based in Tehran, it is a manufacturing company of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical products.	Iran
1994	Biotechnology, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Corixa is founded in Seattle, Washington. Acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2005, the company would close in 2016.	United States (Seattle, Washington)
1994	biopharmaceutical	Company launch	ViroPharma is founded. A company focused on product development activities on viruses and human disease, including those caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, it would be purchased by Irish drug manufacturer Shire in 2013, with Shire paying around US$4.2 billion.	United States
1994	Genetics, Oncology	Background	The first breast cancer gene is discovered.
1994	Epidemiology	Background	The International Commission for the Certification of Polio Eradication declares the Americas as polio-free.
1994	Immunotherapy, oncology	Company launch	MediGene is founded. Based in Martinsried, German, this company works on the development of immunotherapies to enhance T cell activity against solid cancers.	Germany
1994	Monoclonal antibodies, antigens	Company launch	HyTest Ltd is founded. Based in Turku, Finland, it is a producer of monoclonal antibodies and antigens for the diagnostic industry.	Finland
1994 (November)	Genomics, oncology	Company launch	Exelixis is founded. Based in Alameda, California, it is a genomics-based drug discovery company, and the producer of Cometriq, a treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medullary thyroid cancer with clinical activity in several other types of metastatic cancer.	United States
1995	Genomics	Company launch	Sangamo Therapeutics is founded. It is a genomic medicine company focused on leveraging novel platforms to advance clinical programs.	Australia
1995 (May 5)	Medical technology	Company launch	Aclara Biosciences is founded. It develops microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology.	United States
1995	Healthcare, biotechnology	Company launch	Acorda Therapeutics is founded. Based in Ardsley, New York, it is a biotechnology company that develops drugs to improve therapies that improve neurological function in people with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other disorders of the central nervous system. This company manufactures and markets Zanaflex, Ampyra and Qutenza in the United States.	United States
1995	Pharmaceuticals, life sciences	Company launch	Caliper Life Sciences is founded. It is a provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently.	United States
1995		Accelerator/incubator launch	University of Florida's Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator opens. It is one of the first bio-business incubators in the United States.	United States
1995	Molecular medicine	Accelerator/incubator launch	The Molecular Medicine Research Institute is founded. Based in the Silicon Valley, MMRI is a sovereign, non-profit medical research institute including facilities that are proficient in supporting their efforts in molecular biology, immunology, cell biology.	United States
1995		Research	According to Brown and Eisenhardt, new product development is critical to the success, survival, growth and renewal of organizations. New products provide a potential source of competitive advantage and allow organizations to diversify, adapt and even re-engineer to match involving markets and technical conditions.
1995	Immunotherapy, Oncology	Background	Gene therapy, immune-system modulation, and recombinantly produced antibodies enter the clinic for the treatment of cancer.
1995	Diagnostics	Company launch	Monogram Biosciences is founded. Based in San Francisco, it focuses on the development and commercialization of novel diagnostic technologies to enable individualized patient treatment decisions, and support the discovery and development of new drug and vaccine candidates.	United States
1995	Gene editing	Company launch	Dharmacon is founded by Stephen Scaringe to develop and commercialize a new technology for RNA oligonucleotide synthesis.	United States
1995 (December 29)		Fund launch	T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund (ticker symbol PRHSX) is launched in the United States. It invests in companies that research, develop, produce, or distribute of health-related products and services.	United States
1996	Genealogy, Genetic genealogy, Online publishing, Software publishing	Company launch	Ancestry.com is launched. Based in Lehi, Utah, it is the world's largest provider of DNA services.	United States
1996		Concept development	Persidis describes bioentrepreneurship as the wealth creation derived from the application of the biosciences to the business context. "Bioentrepreneurs look for commercial value in every aspect of technology that they utilize. Innovativeness is vital to the creation of a biotechnology venture while credibility remains the backbone of the bioentrepreneur’s character."
1996	Vaccines, biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Bharat Biotech is founded. Based in Hyderabad, it has one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing plants of its kind in Asia-Pacific. Bharat Biotech specializes in product-oriented research and development leading to the manufacture of vaccines and biotherapeutics with global IPR’s associated to its products.	India
1996	Genetic engineering	Background	The first genetically engineered crop is launched to the market.
1996	Healthcare, medical, therapeutics	Notable IPO	Alexion Pharmaceuticals completes an initial public offering of 2,530,000 shares of common stock, trading as ALXN on Nasdaq.	United States
1996	Genetics	Background	A gene associated with Parkinson’s disease is discovered by National Institutes of Health scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Istituto de Scienze Neurologiche in Naples, Italy.	United States, Italy
1996	Genetics	Company launch	deCODE genetics is founded. by Kári Stefánsson and colleagues with the aim of using population genetics studies to identify variations in the human genome associated with common diseases, and to apply these discoveries "to develop novel methods to identify, treat and prevent diseases."	Iceland
1996	Genetically modified crops	Company launch	Ceres, Inc. is founded. Based in Thousand Oaks, California, it is a provider of seeds of genetically modified crops used for biofuel production, in 2016 it would be acquired by Land O'Lakes.
1996 (November)	Biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Helixmith is founded. Based in Seoul, it develops biopharmaceuticals for untreated diseases. Helixmith has an extensive gene therapy pipeline, including a CAR-T program targeting several different types of solid tumors and an adeno-associated virus vector program targeting neuromuscular diseases.	South Korea
1996	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	United Therapeutics is founded. Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, it develops and commercializes innovative pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders, particularly pulmonary arterial hypertension, and infectious diseases.	United States
1997	Radiopharmaceuticals, oncology	Company launch	Algeta is founded. It is a Norwegian therapeutics company focused on the development of alpha particle emitters as radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. Algeta targets metastatic and disseminated tumor types for which there is substantial unmet medical need.	Norway
1997		Research	Chaston highlights that successful small firms exhibit a proactive commitment to innovation as a means through which to sustain overall performance.
1997	mRNA therapeutics	Company launch	Merix Bioscience is founded as the first mRNA company. Based in Durham, North Carolina, in 2004 the company would change its name to Argos Therapeutics as a sign of its evolution.	United States
1997	Therapeutics	Company launch	Arena Pharmaceuticals is founded. It is a biotechnology company targeting G-protein-coupled receptors.	United States
1997	Biopharmaceuticals, RNA interference	Company launch	Benitec Biopharma is founded. Based in Melbourne, it focuses on the development of novel genetic medicines.	Australia
1997	Recombinant proteins	Company launch	Biolex is founded. Focused on expression of difficult-to-synthesize recombinant proteins, it would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 5, 2012.	United States
1997 (March)	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	BioMarin Pharmaceutical is founded. It is a biotechnology company that develops and commercializes therapies for individuals with serious lifethreatening rare diseases and medical conditions.	United States
1997 (August)	Biopharmaceuticals, oncology	Company launch	GPC Biotech is founded. Based in Martinsried, Germany, it is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of anticancer drugs.	Germany
1997	Biotechnology, pharmaceutical	Company launch	South Korean biotechnology company Macrogen is founded. Based in Seoul, this precision medicine biotechnology company is a global genetic service provider.	South Korea
1997	Agricultural biotechnology	Company launch	Mendel Biotechnology is founded. Based in Hayward, California, it is a plant biotechnology company that develops genetic and chemical solutions for a range of agricultural markets.	United States
1997	Biotechnology, healthcare, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Noxxon Pharma is founded. Based in Berlin, Germany, it develops biostable aptamers and substances based on mirror image nucleic acids.	Germany
1997	Stem cell research & development	Company launch	ReNeuron is founded. Based in Surrey, England, it specializes in stem cell research and development.	United Kingdom
1997	Cloning	Background	Dolly the sheep in Scotland becomes the first animal cloned from an adult cell.	United Kingdom
1997	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Vernalis Research is founded. Based in Cambridge, England, it develops and applies fragment and structure-based methods to drug discovery, and has generated cell active lead compounds and development.	United Kingdom
1997	Oncology	Company launch	Seagen is founded. Based in Bothell, Washington, it is a global biotechnology company that develops and commercializes transformative cancer therapies.	United States
1997 (September 15)		Fund launch	Franklin Biotechnology Discovery Fund Class A (ticker symbol FBDIX) is launched in the United States. It invests principally in equity securities of biotechnology companies and discovery research firms mainly located in the United States.	United States
1997	Pharmaceutical, biotechnology	Company launch	Actelion is founded. Based in Allschwil, Switzerland, it is a pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company established focusing on the manufacture of drugs that treat rare diseases and orphan diseases.	Switzerland
1998	Research antibodies, kits and assays for biological research	Company launch	Abcam is founded. Based in Cambridge, England, it is a global life sciences company providing antibodies and other binders and assays to the research and clinical communities to help advance the understanding of biology and causes of disease.	United Kingdom
1998	Nanotechnology	Company launch	American Biotech is founded. Based in Alpine, Utah, it is a nano-silver biotech company with the goal of creating a more stable and powerful silver technology for consumer products.	United States
1998	Pharmacogenomics, oncology	Background	The United States FDA approves Herceptin, a pharmacogenomic breast cancer drug for patients whose cancer overexpresses the HER2 receptor.	United States
1998	Biotechnology, healthcare, medical pharmaceutical, therapeutics	Company launch	Array BioPharma is founded. Based in Boulder, Colorado, it is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of targeted small molecule drugs. Array BioPharma would be later acquired by Pfizer.	United States
1998		Concept development	Cooper et al. refer portfolio management to the prioritization of a number of new product development projects through the allocation of appropriate resources – capital, labour and materials. They define portfolio management as a tool used to outline the number of new product opportunities presented and the optimal investment mix between risk and return.
1998	Personalized medicine	Company launch	Avesthagen is founded. Based in Bangalore, it is a life science company focused in the convergence between food, pharma and population genetics leading to Predictive Preventive Personalized Healthcare.	India
1998	Agricultural biotechnology	Company launch	BASF Plant Science is founded. Based in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, it is a subsidiary of BASF in which all plant biotechnology activities are consolidated.	United States
1998	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Biotie Therapies is founded. It is a specialized drug development company focused on the central nervous system and inflammatory diseases.	Turkey
1998	DNA sequencing	Company launch	Celera Corporation is founded. Based in Alameda, California, it focuses on the integration of genetic testing into routine clinical care through a combination of products and services incorporating proprietary discoveries.	United States
1998	Agricultural biotechnology	Company launch	CropDesign is founded. Based in Ghent, Belgium, it is an agricultural biotechnology company that offers crops like corn and rice to the seed market.	Belgium
1998 (September 5)	Vaccines, antibodies	Company launch	Emergent BioSolutions is founded. Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, it develops, manufactures, and delivers a portfolio of medical countermeasures for biological and chemical threats.	United States
1998	Epigenomics, molecular diagnostics, oncology	Company launch	Epigenomics AG is founded. Based in Berlin, Germany, it is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostic tests for cancer.	Germany
1998	Pharmaceuticals	Company launch	GW Pharmaceuticals is founded. Based in Cambridge,England, in May 2021, it would be acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals.	United Kingdom
1998		Research	Zucker et al. emphasize the impact of intellectual human capital. In their paper based on data from 751 biotechnology companies in the United States and 327 star scientists, they conclude that the growth and diffusion of intellectual human capital was the main determinant of where and when US biotechnology developed.
1998		Research	P. Swann and M. Prevezer define a cluster as a large group of firms in related industries at a particular location. In the United States, there are five recognized biotechnology clusters. They are known as BioBay (San Francisco, California), BioBeach (San Francisco, California), GeneTown (Boston, Massachusetts), BioForest (Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, British Columbia), Pharma Country (New York/New Jersey and Pennsylvania) and BioCapital (Maryland/Virginia/ Washington DC).	United States
1998	Sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, proteomics	Company launch	Illumina, Inc. is founded. Based in San Diego, California, it is a provider of sequencing- and array-based solutions for genetic and genomic analysis.	United States
1998		Research	According to Andrews and Hahn, the more sustainable organizations are likely to be those that are able to continuously collect, archive, retrieve, create, share and leverage information that can be translated into knowledge and wisdom for real-time decision-making.
1999 (January)	Agricultural biotechnology	Company launch	AgBiotechNet is founded. It is a searchable online database of scientific literature on topics related to agricultural biotechnology.
1999 (January 19)	Clinical trials, gene therapy	Company launch	Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation is established. Based in Alachua, Florida, it conducts human clinical trials of adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies for the treatment of rare diseases.	United States
1999 (April 6)	Pharmaceutical, biotechnology	Company launch	AstraZeneca is founded through the merger of the Swedish Astra AB and the British Zeneca Group. Since the merger, it would become among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. AstraZeneca is involved in developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.	United Kingdom
1999 (September 9)	Omics, genome sequencing	Company launch	BGI Group is founded. Based in Shenzhen, it is a life science group that operates multiple research labs and entities in the field of genomics, healthcare, precision medicine, and more.	China
1999	Life Science	Company launch	Cell Signaling Technology is founded. Based in Danvers, Massachusetts, it develops and produces antibodies, ELISA kits, ChIP kits, proteomic kits, and other related reagents used to study the cell signaling pathways that impact human health.	United States
1999	Genome engineering, oncology	Company launch	Cellectis is founded. Based in Paris, it develops adoptive immunotherapies for cancer.	France
1999	Diagnostics	Background	A diagnostic test is introduced for the quick identification of bovine spongicorm encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
1999	Biosimilars, biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	Celltrion is founded. It is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the research, development, and manufacture of biosimilars and novel biopharmaceuticals.	South Korea
1999 (June 17)	Pharmaceutical, therapeutics	Notable IPO	United Therapeutics completes its IPO, trading under ticket UTHR on Nasdaq.	United States
1999 (June 30)		Fund launch	PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund- Class A (ticker symbol PHLAX) is launched in the United States. It mostly invests in companies within the health sciences sector, such as pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, medical device manufacturers, healthcare service providers and health maintenance organizations.	United States
1999 (July 23)	Developer platform	Notable IPO	BioMarin Pharmaceutical completes its IPO, trading under ticket BMRN on Nasdaq.	United States
1999	Dietary supplements, food ingredients	Company launch	ChromaDex is founded. Based in Los Angeles, California, it is a dietary supplement and food ingredient company.	United States
1999	Immunotherapy	Company launch	EnCor Biotechnology is founded. Based in Gainesville, Florida, it manufactures antibodies to neural and yeast proteins.	United States
1999	Immunotherapy, oncology	Company launch	Genmab is founded. Based in Copenhagen, it is a biotechnology company that develops differentiated human antibody therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.	Denmark
1999	Glycobiology	Company launch	Ludger Limited is founded. Based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, it is a life science company specialized in glycan analysis technology.	United Kingdom
1999	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	Sinovac Biotech is founded. Based in Beijing, it is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes vaccines.
1999	Immunology, oncology	Company launch	Trubion is founded. It is a biopharmaceutical company creating a pipeline of product candidates to treat autoimmune disease and cancer.	United States
2000	Test/measurement equipment	Company launch	Arryx is founded. A developer of tools and technology for manipulation and measurement on the micro and nano length scales, in 2006, it would be acquired by Haemonetics.	United States
2000	mRNA therapeutics	Company launch	CureVac is founded. Based in Tübingen, it provides prophylactic and therapeutic application of messenger RNA.	Germany
2000		Research	Baum et al. identify a strong correlation between the number of collaborations for a start-up biotechnology firm and their commercial success. "The presence of well-reputed individuals or teams within or associated with a biotechnology firm will not only facilitate the formation of these linkages, but draw knowledge and resources to a firm through a process we have termed intellectual gravity."
2000	Immunodiagnostics, molecular diagnostics	Company launch	DiaSorin is founded. A global leader in the laboratory diagnostics market, is specializes in the immunodiagnostics and molecular diagnostics segments.	Italy
2000 (April)	Genetic testing	Company launch	Gene by Gene is founded. Based in Houston, it is a genetic testing services provider.	United States
2000	Agricultural biotechnology	Background	Kenya field-tests a virus resistant sweet potato, the country's first biotech crop.	Kenya
2000	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	GlaxoSmithKline is founded. Based in London, it is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.	United Kingdom
2000 (June)	DNA sequencing	Company launch	454 Life Sciences is established. Based in Branford, Connecticut, it specializes in high-throughput DNA sequencing using a novel massively parallel sequencing-by-synthesis approach.	United States
2000 (June)		Background	Scientists at Celera Genomics and the Human Genome Project complete a rough draft of the human genome.	United States
2000 (July 28)	Sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, proteomics	Notable IPO	Illumina, Inc. completes its initial public offering, trading as ILMN.	United States
2000 (October)	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	Renovo plc is founded. Focused in the discovery and development of drugs to reduce scarring, improve wound healing and enhance tissue regeneration, the company would be defunct by May 2011.	United Kingdom
2000		Research	C.M. Christensen and M. Overdorf describe disruptive innovation as a result of research studies conducted during the information technology boom of the 1990s. Disruptive innovation refers to a new product that does not initially address the needs of customers but becomes disruptive to the organization or industry.
2000	Genetics, diagnostic tests	Company launch	Rosetta Genomics is founded. It engages in the discovery, development and commercialization of diagnostic tests for personalized medicine.	United States
2000	Genomics	Company launch	Strand Life Sciences is founded. It is a genomics-based research and diagnostics company which aims to address health by decoding the genetic information contained in an individual's genome.	India
2000 (November 13)	Agriculture, farming	Company launch	Syngenta is founded. Based in Basel, it is an agriculture company that provides products and solutions to help farmers achieve food security.	Switzerland
2000	Oncology	Company launch	TopoTarget is founded. It focuses on the discovery and development of drugs and therapies to treat cancer.	Denmark
2000		Research	R. Batterham recognizes that the biotechnology industry globally lacks in managers and researchers with appropriate entrepreneurial and commercial skills.
2000		Research	According to Hill and Brennan, the facilitation and development of industry clusters, where the colocation of biotechnology firms or related industries complement each other, compete against each other or share common resources leads to increasing economies of scale.
2000		Industry size	As of date, the biotechnology sector includes more than 4,600 companies around the world, of which more than 600 are publicly held.
2000 (December 15)		Accelerator/incubator launch	The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) is founded as a nonprofit research and technology commercialization institute affiliated with three campuses of the University of California in the San Francisco Bay Area: Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. QB3's domain is the quantitative biosciences: areas of biology in which advances are chiefly made by scientists applying techniques from physics, chemistry, engineering, and computer science.	United States
2000 (December 27)	Healthcare	Fund launch	Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology Fund Class A (ticker symbol FBTAX) is launched in the United States. It mostly invests in companies principally engaged in biotechnology, as well as companies that benefit significantly from scientific and technological advances in biotech.	United States
2001 (January 1)	Antibodies (Primary and secondary)	Company launch	Abgent is founded. Based in San Diego, California, it manufactures primary antibodies.	United States
2001		Literature	The U.S. National Research Council publishes Opportunities in Biotechnology for Future Army Applications.
2001	Biomedicine, clinical trials	Company launch	GeoVax is founded. A biomedical company, it develops, manufactures, tests, conducts human trials, licenses, and commercializes human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV and other infectious agents.	United States
2001	Peptide synthesis, therapeutics	Company launch	CPC Scientific is founded. Based in Sunnyvale, California, it helps pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in synthetic peptide production and therapeutic development.	United States
2001	Nano-medicine	Company launch	Abraxis BioScience is founded. A nano-medicine company developing treatments for critically ill patients, in 2010, it would be acquired by Celgene Corporation.	United States
2001	Gene targeting	Background	The United States FDA approves Gleevec, a genetargeted drug for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Gleevec is the first gene-targeted drug to receive FDA approval.	United States
2001 (November)	Nanomedicine	Company launch	Ablynx is founded. Acquired by Sanofi in January 2018 for $4.8 billion, it is engaged in the discovery and development of nanobodies. Ablynx is based in Ghent, Belgium.	Belgium
2002 (March 1)	Immunotherapy, oncology	Company launch	Advaxisis established. It is a development-stage biotechnology company with the focus on developing cancer vaccines that utilize multiple mechanisms of immunity.	United States
2002		Research	Based largely on financial and economic criteria, Fisken and Rutherford identifiy three different business models in European biotechnology companies. The Product Business Model: originates from the pharmaceutical model where value is added along the activities of the value chain to deliver a final product to market. This is a proven model where most of the top biotechnology companies in the world are classed as product companies. The Platform Business Model: This is a relatively new concept which aims to generate value from the front end of the industry value chain. It is based on the development of research tools or platform technology that can provide a service to another organization or can be licensed for further development along the value chain The Hybrid Business Model: "This business model is a hybrid of the product and platform business model. It generally consists of a platform technology that is able to generate a pipeline of products. This model is an evolution of the platform business model in that it aims to generate value through downstream activities of the biotechnology value chain. The pipeline of products can be developed organically or through additional in-licensing, purchasing exclusive or semi-exclusive access to another’s technology, to enhance product development opportunities. The convergence of the product and platform business model to create a hybrid model provides investors with the benefit of reduced risk and the potential for future revenue growth. This approach will need to become the preferred model for new and existing biotechnology companies to maintain growth and sustainability in the industry."
2002	RNAi Therapeutics	Company launch	Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is founded by scientists Phillip Sharp, Paul Schimmel, David Bartel, Thomas Tuschl, and Phillip Zamore, and by investors Christoph Westphal and John Kennedy Clarke, as a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, It is a leader in the study of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics.	United States
2002	Agricultural biotechnology	Company launch	Arcadia Biosciences is founded. It develops products such as nitrogen use crops, salt tolerant plants, sunflower oil, and shelf-life produce.	United States
2002	Agricultural biotechnology	Background	The United States Environmental Protection Agency approves the first transgenic rootworm resistant corn.	United States
2002	Healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Botanix Pharmaceuticals is founded. It is a pharmaceutical company that focuses on the treatment of skin diseases.	Australia
2002	Oncology	Company launch	OBI Pharma, Inc. is founded. Based in Taipei, it engages in the development and licensing of novel therapeutic agents for unmet medical needs against cancer.	Taiwan
2002 (June)	Bioinformatics	Company launch	Phalanx Biotech Group is founded. Based in San Diego, California, it develops whole genome microarray, miRNA microarray and hybridization chamber.	United States
2002	Health diagnostics. pharmaceuticals	Company launch	Catalyst Pharmaceuticals is founded. Based in Coral Gables, Florida, it is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of prescription drugs.	United States
2002	Genetically modified insects	Company launch	Oxitec is founded. It is a developer of biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock.	United Kingdom
2002		Literature	C. Mark Tang publishes The Essential Biotech Investment Guide: How to Invest in the Healthcare Biotechnology & Life Sciences Sector.	Singapore (World Scientific)
2002	RNA-based therapeutics	Company launch	Prosensa is founded. It is a biotech company dedicated to the commercialization of products for the healthcare market based on RNA-based therapeutics.	Netherlands
2002	Industrial enzymes	Company launch	Codexis is founded. It is a biosciences company applying synthetic chemistry technologies with the purpose to create improved versions of small molecule therapeutics.	United States
2002	Bioinformatics	Company launch	Integromics is founded. It provides bioinformatics software for data management and data analysis in genomics and proteomics.	Spain
2002	Cloning	Background	The banteng, an endangered species, is cloned for the first time.	United States
2002	Stem cell technology	Company launch	CellResearch Corporation is founded. Based in Singapore, it is a biotechnology company with a primary focus on skin cell and cord lining stem cell research.	Singapore
2002	Genomics	Company launch	NeoGenomics is founded. Based in Fort Myers, Florida, it is a cancer diagnostic, pharma services, and information services company serving oncologists, pathologists, pharmaceutical companies, and academic centers.	United States
2002	Biotechnology	Company launch	DBV Technologies is founded. It is a global biopharmaceutical company that develops investigational epicutaneous immunotherapy technology to treat patients suffering from life-threatening food allergies and other immunological disorders.	France
2002 (August)	Plant biotechnology, Molecular farming (plant-made pharmaceuticals)	Company launch	Guardian Biotechnologies is founded. It is a biotechnology company focused on molecular farming to produce vaccines, diagnostic assay kits, and commercial enzymes.	Canada
2003 (May 24)		Literature	Richard W. Oliver publishes The Biotech Age : The Business of Biotech and How to Profit From It.
2003 (June)	biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Acceleron Pharma is founded. It is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies.	United States
2003	Blood test	Company launch	Theranos is founded by Elizabeth Holmes. Claiming that it could perform a wildly large number of tests, such as measuring glucose levels and detecting different types of antibodies, the company would later be dissolved and liquidated, with founder indicted for wire fraud and conspiracy.	United States
2003	Oncology	Company launch	Cleveland BioLabs is founded. It is a drug discovery and development company that focuses on treatments for cancer, radiation exposure and other areas.	United States
2003		Literature	Martin Grossmann publishes Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology: Managing for Growth from Start-Up to Initial Public Offering.
2003	Whole genome sequencing	Background	The Human Genome Project completes sequencing of the human genome.
2003	Pharmaceutical	Literature	John Abraham and Helen Lawton Smith publish Regulation of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
2003	Gene therapy, oncology	Background	China grants the world’s first regulatory approval of the gene therapy product, Gendicine, which delivers the p53 gene as a therapy for squamous cell head and neck cancer.	China
2003	Plant biotechnology	Company launch	TerraVia is founded. It is a next-generation food, nutrition and specialty ingredients company focused on algae.
2003		Statistics	Ernst and Young estimate that over 50 per cent of Australian biotech firms are generated from public sector research organizations.	Australia
2003	Cord blood banking	Company launch	Crioestaminal is founded. It is a privately held biotechnology company that engages in preservation of stem cells to treat future ailments.	Portugal
2003		Research	Palacios-Marques and Garrigós-Simón operationalize the intellectual capital construct in terms of a multi-dimensional scale of measurement, subsequently validated by surveying managers from a large number of biotech firms. These researchers conclude that for biotech firms, human capital is the most important component, followed by relational capital, and finally structural capital.
2003	Pharmaceuticals	Company launch	Nanjing Ange Pharmaceutical is founded. It is a leading manufacturer and supplier of Sunitinib, Lapatinib, Nilotinib, Dasatinib, Gefitinib, Erlotinib, Imatinib, Canertinib and relative pharmaceutical intermediates.	China
2003		Literature	Martin Grossmann publishes Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology: Managing for Growth from Start-up to Initial Public Offering
2003	Medical device, therapeutics	Company launch	BioLineRx is founded. Headquartered near Tel Aviv, it is dedicated to building a portfolio of products for unmet medical needs or with advantages over currently available therapies.	Israel
2003	Gene Synthesis, protein engineering, protein production, bioinformatics, cell line development, leap-in transposases	Company launch	ATUM is founded. It provides tools for the life sciences, from design and synthesis of optimized DNA to protein production and GMP cell line development.	United States
2003	Synthetic biotechnology	Company launch	Amyris is founded. Based in Emeryville, California, it specializes in creating renewable products focusing on fuels and chemicals.	United States
2003	Genetics, health diagnostics, life science	Company launch	Helicos Biosciences is founded. It is a life science company focused on innovative genetic analysis technologies for the research, drug discovery, and diagnostic markets.	United States
2004 (January 1)	Monoclonal antibody therapy	Company launch	Alder Biopharmaceuticals is founded. It is a biopharmaceutical company focused on transforming the migraine treatment paradigm through the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutic antibodies.	United States
2004	Healthcare, life science	Company launch	3H Biomedical It supplies more than 270 different types of primary human and animal cell-based products for life science research, drug development, screening of chemicals and biomaterials development.	Sweden
2004	Sequencing systems	Company launch	Pacific Biosciences is founded. It designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing systems to resolve genetically complex problems.	United States
2004	Biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Molecular Partners is founded by researchers at the University of Zürich, while studying monoclonal antibodies.	Switzerland
2004	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Medivation is founded. Focused on the rapid development of novel small molecule drugs to treat serious diseases for which there are limited treatment options, it would be acquired by Pfizer in September 2016.	United States
2004	Bioinformatics	Company launch	Genostar is founded. Based in Grenoble, France, it is a provider of bioinformatics software, databases and complete data analysis services for microbial research.	France
2004		Accelerator/incubator launch	The Portland State University Business Accelerator is founded. This accelerator provides office space and fully-loaded lab facilities. The dedicated and skilled staff of the accelerator appeals to the region’s top science and technology startups. The startups are also leveraging the affordable co-working space, access to the conference room, monthly Business tycoons meetings and topic-related Lunch & Learns, fundraising and business management.	United States
2004	Agricultural biotechnology	Background	The Food and Agriculture Organization endorses biotech crops, stating biotechnology is a complementary tool to traditional farming methods that can help poor farmers and consumers in developing nations.
2004	Pharmaceutical	Background	The United States FDA approves the first antiangiogenic drug for cancer, Avastin.	United States
2004		Literature	Bryan Bergeron, Bryan P. Bergeron, and Paul Chan publish Biotech Industry: A Global, Economic, and Financing Overview, which attempts to offer a clear vision of the global biotech market through 2010, including which regions and corporations are best positioned to dominate the market.
2004	Oligonucleotides	Company launch	FlexGen B.V. is founded in the Netherlands. A spin-off from Leiden University Medical Centre and Dutch Space (part of EADS), the company would be declared bankrupt on 21 December 2015.	Netherlands
2004	DNA sequencing, Live science	Company launch	CD Genomics is founded. It specializes in sequencing services, as well as genotyping, library construction, bioinformatics, aptamers, microarray, health diagnostics, mutagenesis analyses and others for the genomics industry.	United States
2005 (March)	Pharmaceuticals	Company launch	Jazz Pharmaceuticals is founded. It focuses on identifying, developing and commercializing innovative products to meet unmet medical needs in neurology and psychiatry.	United States
2004 (September 1)		Fund launch	Rydex Biotechnology Fund Class A (ticker symbol RYBOX) is launched. It mostly invests in biotechnology companies that are traded in the United States.	United States
2005	Biotechnology	Company launch	Micreos is founded. It is a Netherlands-based phage- and endolysin technology development company. Micreos develops Staphefekt, an endolysin that selectively kills Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.	Netherlands
2005	Biofuel	Background	The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is passed and signed into law in the United States, authorizing numerous incentives for bioethanol development.	United States
2005	Real-time polymerase chain reaction detection kits	Company launch	Primerdesign is founded. It is a privately held limited company focused on the design, manufacture, validation and supply of dreal-time PCR kits and reagents.	United Kingdom
2005	Pharmaceuticals, contract research	Company launch	Melior Discovery is founded. It is a provider of in vivo pharmacology services.	United States
2005	Biomedical engineering	Company launch	Medicen is founded. It is a French business cluster mainly focused in biomedical engineering.	France
2005	Immunotherapy (Tailored Leukapheresis (TLA) treatment)	Company launch	Immune Therapy Holdings is founded. Headquartered at the Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, it is a Swedish biotechnology R&D holding company primarily focused on its Tailored Leukapheresis (TLA) treatment for immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).	Sweden
2005	Gene editing	Company launch	Horizon Discovery is founded. A gene editing and modulation technology company, it allows the biopharmaceutical and clinical diagnostics industries to gain a greater understanding of gene function, identify the genetic drivers behind human disease and develop personalised molecular, cell and gene therapies.	United Kingdom
2005	Antbodies, peptide libraries	Company launch	Creative Biolabs is founded. It focuses on the development of human single domain antibodies as therapeutics and affinity reagents.
2005	Scientific instruments	Company launch	CovalX is founded. It specializes in protein interaction analysis based on mass spectrometry. CovalX provides epitope mapping, intact mass analysis, protein interactions, protein aggregation, sequencing, disulfide mapping, and other services.	Switzerland
2005	Healthcare, health diagnostics	Company launch	Celsense is founded. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it is a biotechnology company providing magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents.	United States
2005 (August 5)	Diabetes, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Avid Radiopharmaceuticals is founded. Acquired later by Eli Lilly, it develops molecular imaging agents for detecting and monitoring chronic human diseases.
2005		Business growth	In this year alone, biotech firms participated in 1,400 deals involving billions of dollars.
2006 (January 31)		Fund launch	SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (ticker symbol XBI) is launched in the United States, where it is available as well as in Mexico. It seeks to track the performance of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index.	United States
2006 (March)	Genomics	Company launch	Complete Genomics is founded. It is a life sciences company that focuses solely on complete human genome sequencing.	United States
2006 (April)	Biotechnology, genetic genealogy	Company launch	23andMe is founded. Based in Mountain View, California, it "offers a direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing service based on the use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to determine ancestry and to identify genetic markers associated with specific diseases and conditions and a few specific causal variants that the company claimed could provide information about their clients’ health and how to improve it".	United States
2006	Laboratory equipment, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, healthcare	Company launch	Thermo Fisher Scientific is founded. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, it manufactures scientific instruments consumables and chemicals.	United States
2006		Accelerator/incubator launch	The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) is founded. It is a non-profit life science incubator facility that works "for the building of a global biotechnology centre, to the elevation of local commercial development and creation of jobs, as well as for the education and training of tomorrow’s researchers."	United States
2006	Genetic engineering, polymers	Company launch	Kraig Biocraft Laboratories is founded. A fully reporting biotechnology company, it develops genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies.	United States
2006	Pharmaceutical	Background	The United States Department of Agriculture grants Dow AgroSciences the first regulatory approval for a plantmade vaccine.	United States
2006	Cell therapy	Company launch	InGeneron is founded. It is a cell therapy company that aims to enable treatments designed to heal certain chronic conditions using a patient's own regenerative cells processed at the bedside for same-day application.	United States
2006	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Galena Biopharma is founded. It is a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted oncology treatments.	United States
2006	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	F-star is founded. It is an immuno-oncology company focused in the development of tetravalent mAb2 bispecific antibodies.	Austria
2006	Obesity	Company launch	Gelesis is founded. It develops a novel category of therapies for GI-related chronic diseases.	United States
2006	Oncology, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Beacon Pharmaceuticals is founded. Based in Dhaka, it is an oncology company that manufactures generic drugs, biotech, hi-tech & conventional general products.	Bangladesh
2006	Pharmaceutical	Background	The United States FDA approves Merck & Co. recombinant vaccine Gardasil, the first vaccine developed against human papillomavirus.	United States
2006	Gene therapy	Company launch	Ablitech, Inc. is founded. It specializes delivering gene therapeutics with the potential to stop cancer and most degenerative diseases.	United States
2007	Research reagents	Company launch	MyBioSource is founded. It is a biotechnology distribution company that supplies life science products, notably research reagents.	Canada
2007 (May 31)	Healthcare, pharmaceutical	Notable IPO	Jazz Pharmaceuticals completes its IPO, trading under ticker JAZZ on Nasdaq.	United States
2007	Pharmaceutical	Background	The United States FDA approves the H5N1 vaccine, the first vaccine approved for avian flu.	United States
2009	Agricultural biotechnology	Background	The global biotech crop acreage reaches 330 million acres.
2009	Genetic engineering	Background	The United States FDA approves the first genetically engineered animal for production of a recombinant form of human antithrombin.
2013	Oncology, biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Iovance Biotherapeutics is founded. Based in New York City, it develops T-cell-based immunotherapy products for the treatment of cancer.	United States
2008 (March 13)	Vaccines, biopharmaceutical	Company launch	Braasch Biotech is founded. Based in Garretson, South Dakota, it is a biopharmaceutical company working exclusively with therapeutic vaccines.	United States
2008	Healthcare, medical	Company launch	ACT Biotech Inc is founded. Based in San Francisco, California, it is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of cancer drugs.	United States
2008		Literature	Gordon M. Binder and Philip Bashe publish Science Lessons: What the Business of Biotech Taught Me about Management.
2008	Chemical, greentech	Company launch	BioAmber is founded. Based in Plymouth, Minnesota, it is a sustainable chemicals firm combining biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstock into chemicals.	United States
2008	Immunotherapy, mRNA-based human therapeutic	Company launch	BioNTech (see Timeline of BioNTech) is founded.	Germany
2008	Renewable chemicals	Company launch	BioTork is founded. It focuses on sustainability through the development of microbial strains and bioconversion processes.	United States
2008	Healthcare, health diagnostics, hospital	Company launch	Epic Sciences is founded. Based in La Jolla, California, it is a diagnostics company engaged in the improvement of cancer management by providing real-time biopsy material to guide personalized medicine.	United States
2008	DNA Sequencing	Company launch	Cofactor Genomics is founded. It focuses in the use of RNA to diagnose disease. Based in San Francisco, California, it is a DNA Sequencing company that focuses on the discovery process.	United States
2008		Literature	Alexandra Carina Gruber publishes Biotech Funding Trends: Insights from Entrepreneurs and Investors, which seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of current trends in biotech funding.
2008	Immunotherapy	Company launch	Immunocore is founded. It is a commercial-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a novel class of T-cell receptor bispecific immunotherapies called ImmTAX – Immune mobilizing monoclonal TCRs Against X disease – designed to treat a broad range of diseases, including cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases.	United Kingdom
2008	DNA profiling	Company launch	PooPrints is founded. It is a US company offering a “DNA solution for dog waste”.	United States
2008	Protein engineering	Company launch	SeSaM-Biotech GmbH is founded. It provides enzyme services in form of Directed Enzyme Evolution, also known as protein engineering.	Germany
2008	Biotechnology, Human resources, search engine	Company launch	Stemgent is founded. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is a provider of reagents, services and training for scientists who study cellular reprogramming (iPS cells).	United States
2008	Pharmaceutical	Literature	Martin Austin publishes Business Development for the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industry.
2008	Pharmaceutical	Literature	R. Berry Ira and Robert P. Martin publish The Pharmaceutical Regulatory Process.
2009		Literature	Alexandra Carina Gruber publishes Biotech Funding Trends: Insights from Entrepreneurs and Investors.
2009	Medical diagnosis	Company launch	OME Care is founded. Based in San Diego, California, it is a precision medical diagnostic and home-care company with mobile applications.	United States
2009		Literature	Craig D. Shimasaki publishes The Business of Bioscience: What goes into making a Biotechnology Product.
2009	Cancer immunotherapy	Company launch	Kite Pharma is founded. It designs and develops immune-based therapies to treat cancer indications.	United States
2009	Cannabis-based medicine	Company launch	Cannabis Science is registered and receives its initial Federal Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code clearance. It is one of the only companies in its industry with the ability to work directly with the US Federal Government.	United States
2009 (July 6)		Fund launch	Janus Henderson Global Life Sciences Fund Class A (ticker symbol JFNAX) is launched in the United States. It mostly invests in companies that the portfolio managers believe have a life science orientation.	United States
2009 (August 17)	Biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, medical devices	Company launch	Siam Bioscience is founded. It is a life sciences business focusing on biopharmaceuticals.	Thailand
2009 (September)	Pharmaceutical	Legal	Pfizer is fined $2.3 billion for illegal marketing promoting uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra (Valdecoxib), after the company promoted Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns.	United States
2010	Applied research, R&D	Company launch	The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology is founded. It is a privately owned non-profit research center specialized on "bridging the gap between basic academic research and experimental industrial development".	Austria
2010 (September)	Biomarkers	Company launch	Abcodia is founded. Based in London, it is an innovative biotech company engaged in the validation and discovery of molecular biomarkers.	United Kingdom
2010 (September)	mRNA therapeutics	Company launch	Moderna is founded. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is a biotechnology company that specializes in drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA. See Timeline of Moderna.	United States
2010	Protein microarray, multiplexing	Company launch	Ayoxxa Biosystems is founded. Based in Cologne,Germanys it is known for developing protein chip capable of detecting at once multiple biomarkers, biomarker signatures (including markers for cancer, allergies, age related macular degeneration AMD, or infectious diseases) from a small biological sample. The protein chip yields large amounts of data, being primarily aimed for use in biomedical research in academia, clinic and industry.	Germany
2011	Biotechnology, pharmaceutical, therapeutics	Company launch	Athira Pharma is founded. Based in Seattle, Washington, it is a drug development company that specializes in biotechnology and pharmaceutical.	United States
2011	Genomics, data analysis	Company launch	Personalis is founded. Based in Menlo Park, California, it is a provider of advanced genomic sequencing and analytics solutions to support the development of personalized cancer vaccines and other next-generation cancer immunotherapies.	United States
2011	Biotechnology, genetics, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Cambrian Genomics is founded. IT is a biotechnology company developing technologies to synthesize DNA. Based in San Francisco, California, it is a biotechnology company which uses a novel, laser based technique to synthesize DNA.	United States
2011	Biotechnology, chemical, chemical engineering, technical support	Company launch	Carbios is founded. Based in Saint-Beauzire, Puy-de-Dôme, France, it is a chemistry company that focuses on discovering and developing enzymatic bioprocesses applied to plastic and textile polymers.	France
2011		Literature	Sally Smith Hughes publishes Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech.
2011	Biotechnology, healthcare, health diagnostics	Company launch	Galecto Biotech is founded. It develops small molecules for the treatment of severe diseases. Based in Copenhagen, it focuses on the development of novel treatments for fibrosis and cancer.	Denmark
2011	Biopharmaceutical	Company launch	GEMoaB Monoclonals is founded. Based in Dresden, it is a biopharmaceutical company with a broad pipeline of next generation immunotherapy product candidates for the treatment of advanced blood cancers and solid tumours in pre-clinical and clinical development.	Germany
2011	Infertility treatment	Company launch	OvaScience is founded. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, it is a life sciences company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of treatments for infertility. It would be later acquired by Millendo Therapeutics.	United States
2011	Healthcare, therapeutics	Company launch	Permeon Biologics is founded. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is a developer of therapeutic drugs.	United States
2011	Genomics, radiomics	Company launch	Sophia Genetics is founded. It is a healthcare technology company dedicated to establishing the practice of data driven medicine as the standard of care and for life sciences research.	Switzerland, United States
2011		Accelerator/incubator launch	StartUp Health is launched as a venture capital firm. Based in San Francisco, it seeks to invest in early stage companies operating in the healthcare and technology sectors.	United States
2011	Cellular senescence	Company launch	Unity Biotechnology is founded. It is a startup biotechnology company that develops drugs which target senescent cells.	United States
2011 (December 18)	Vaccine shipping and storage	Company launch	Vaxess Technologies is founded. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it engages in developing biomedical innovations with a focus on improving access to vaccines.	United States
2011 (December 20)		Fund launch	VanEck Biotech ETF (ticker symbol BBH) is launched in the United States, where it is available as well as in Chile and Mexico. It invests in common stocks and depositary receipts of U.S. exchange-listed companies in the biotechnology industry.	United States
2012 (January)	Healthcare	Accelerator/Incubator launch	JLABS is founded. It is an innovation incubator arm of Johnson & Johnson.	United States
2012 (May 2)		Literature	M. O'Neill and M. M. Hopkins publish A Biotech Manager's Handbook: A Practical Guide, which outlines the state of the biopharmaceutical industry and goes on to explain the importance of planning.
2012	Fitness, genetics, healthcare, wellness	Company launch	uBiome is founded. Based in San Francisco, California, it is a provider of public access to DNA sequencing technology to understand the microbiome.	United States
2012	Nanotechnology	Company launch	Tecrea is founded. Based in London, it aims to provide vastly improved cell delivery technology for research and the clinic. Tecrea's nanotechnology-based cell delivery system is used as a non-toxic method of transfection.	United Kingdom
2012		Accelerator/incubator launch	The California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr) is founded as a non-profit with the goal to accelerate the translation of basic research to new medicines that address unmet medical needs. Calibr is a division of Scripps Research and situated in the middle of San Diego’s Torrey Pines Mesa biomedical research hub.	United States
2012 (July)	Pharmaceutical	Legal	GlaxoSmithKline agrees to plead guilty and pay $3 billion to settle the largest case of healthcare fraud in the United States to date, as the company is charged for unlawful promotion of certain prescription drugs, its failure to report certain safety data, and its civil liability for alleged false price reporting practices.	United States
2012 (September 20)		Accelerator/incubator launch	Massachusetts-based non-profit Lab Central is founded as a launchpad for highly prospective life sciences and biotech start-ups.	United States
2012 (October 23)	Bioinformatics, plant breeding and phenotyping, software	Company launch	Computomics is founded. BAsed in Tübingen,Germany, it specializes in machine learning, plant research and bioinformatics, using data "to unlock the diversity of biological life".	Germany
2012		Accelerator/incubator launch	StartX Med is founded with the purpose to accelerate the development of high-potential entrepreneurs in the life sciences and medicine through experiential education and collaborative intelligence.	United States
2012	Protein for animal and fish feed	Company launch	Calysta is founded. Based in Menlo Park, California, it develops alternative protein ingredients.	United States
2012	Artemisinin derivatives	Company launch	ArtemiFlow is founded. Based in Potsdam, Germany}}, it is a technology-based start-up that uses extracts from a plant called Artemisia Annua to treat malaria, cancer, and other diseases.	Germany
2012	Biotechnology Genetics Health Care Medical	Company launch	10x Genomics is founded. It provides integrated solutions including instruments, consumables and software for analyzing biological systems.
2012		Literature	Martin Austin publishes Licensing, Selling and Finance in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Industries: The Commercialization of Intellectual Property.
2012		Literature	Michael O'Neill and Michael Hopkins publish A biotech managers handbook: A practical guide.
2013	Healthcare, medical therapeutics	Company launch	Stem Cell Theranostics is founded. It is a precision medicine-focused biotechnology company developing genetically-targeted therapies for heart failure.	United States
2013	Biopharmaceuticals	Company launch	AbbVie is founded as a spin off from Abbott Laboratories. It is a research-based biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and sale of pharmaceutical products.	United States
2013	Enzyme based solutions	Company launch	Barentzymes is founded. Based in Tromsø, Norway, it is a biotech company addressing the need for enzyme based solutions in industrial biotechnology and is focused on the development of new original enzymes from genetic resources.	Norway
2013	Biotechnology, Health Diagnostics, Nanotechnology	Company launch	Bikanta is founded. Based in Berkeley, California, it engages in the introduction of nanodiamond-based technology.	United States
2013	Pharmaceuticals	Company launch	CoCo Therapeutics is founded. It is a British biotechnology company focussed on the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.	United Kingdom
2013	CRISPR	Company launch	CRISPR Therapeutics is founded. It is a leading gene editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform.	Switzerland, United States
2013	Clinical Trials, healthcare, medical therapeutics	Company launch	Juno Therapeutics is founded. Based in Seattle, Washington, it is a clinical-stage company developing immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.	United States
2013		Accelerator/incubator launch	MBC BioLabs is founded. Based in San Francisco, it is an important biotech incubator in the Bay Area.	United States
2013	Developer platform, sensor	Company launch	Kaitek is founded. It is a Chilean biotech company focused on the development of bacterial sensors for environmental monitoring.	Chile
2013	Fitness, healthcare, internet	Company launch	MyGenetics is founded. Based in Novosibirsk, Russia, it is an internet-based service that determines nutrition plans, physical activity levels, and body reactions to various products.	Russia
2013	Alternative medicine, biotechnology, cloud data services, genetics, healthcare, life science	Company launch	NantOmics is founded. Based in Culver City, California, it develops cloud-based molecular profiling tools that help guide cancer patients.	United States
2013	Pharmaceutical	Company launch	Spark Therapeutics is founded. It is a US-based gene therapy company that specializes in rare disease medicines.	United States
2013		Market size	Global sales of biotech products exceed $175 billion in the year, representing about 19 percent of the $950 billion in total prescription product sales worldwide.
2014	Genetics, healthcare, personal health	Company launch	Veritas Genetics is founded. Based in Danvers, Massachusetts, it is a provider of a genetic testing platform intended to empower people to live healthier and longer. It will be later acquired by LetsGetChecked.	United States
2014 (May 10)		Literature	Richard W. Oliver publishes The Coming Biotech Age: The Business of Bio-Materials.
2014		Accelerator/incubator launch	The UCSF Rosenman Institute is founded. It is one of the top biotech incubators and accelerators in the United States.	United States
2014 (July 15)	Analytics, big data	Company launch	MyGene is founded. Based in Beijing, it a human genome big data analytics platform.	China
2014	Pharmaceutical	Literature	Jie Jack Li publishes Blockbuster Drugs: The Rise and Decline of the Pharmaceutical Industry, which attempts to describe stories behind the discovery and development of highly lucrative medicines, while also exploring the tumult the industry faces as the "patent cliff" nears.
2014 (Fall)		Accelerator/incubator launch	Illumina Accelerator is founded.	United States
2014 (October 30)	DNA sequencing, gene editing, CRISPR, therapeutics, agricultural biology, molecular diagnostics	Fund launch	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ticker symbol ARKG) is launched. It invests in United States listed securities of companies focused on genomics.	United States
2014 (November 1)		Accelerator/incubator launch	IndieBio is launched. Based in San Francisco, it is one of the largest biotech startup accelerator.	United States
2014		Literature	Craig Shimasaki publishes Biotechnology Entrepreneurship: Leading, Managing and Commercializing Innovative Technologies, which attempts to provide a guide to biotechnology enterprise and entrepreneurship.
2015	Biotechnology, pharmaceutical	Company launch	Baxalta is founded. It has a portfolio of differentiated therapies that seek to address unmet medical needs across many disease areas like hemophilia, immunology and oncology.
2015	Bioinformatics, biotechnology, genetics, healthcare, therapeutics	Company launch	BioViva is founded. Based in the Greater Seattle Area, it is committed to creating regenerative medicine to alleviate diseases caused by cellular degeneration and genetic disorders.	United States
2015	Genealogical DNA tests	Company launch	Embark Veterinary is founded. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, it sells canine DNA test to help dog owners better understand their pet's breed and ancestry.	United States
2015	Artificial intelligence, genomics	Company launch	iCarbonX is founded. Based in Shenzhen, it is an artificial intelligence platform for health data company.	China
2015	Genomics	Company launch	Phase Genomics is founded. It is a life sciences innovation and biotechnology company specializing in genome assembly and analysis.
2015 (December 7)	Precision health	Company launch	Verily is founded. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. focused on life sciences and healthcare.	United States
2016 (January 1)	Health information technology, big data	Company launch	RxAll is founded. This company would be the recipient of 2018 CIO Review Most Promising PharmaTech Vendor Award and 2018 Katapult FutureFest's Glstart-up award in Oslo, Norway.	United States
2016	Hemophilia-focused pharmaceutical	Company launch	Bioverativ is founded. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, it focuses on the discovery, research, development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of hemophilia and other blood disorders.	United States
2016	Diagnostic kits	Company launch	Mylab Discovery Solutions is founded. Based in Lonavla, Maharashtra, it is a molecular biology company focused on developing tests for human diagnostics, food safety, agriculture, and veterinary.	India
2016	Mental healthcare	Company launch	Neurovation Labs is founded. It is a biotechnology company that specializes in the diagnostics and treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
2016	T cell immunotherapy	Company launch	Vaccitech is founded. A spin-out company from the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute, it is a clinical stage T cell immunotherapy company developing products to treat and prevent cancer and infectious diseases.	United Kingdom
2016 (September)	Genealogical DNA test	Company launch	Living DNA is founded. A DNA testing company, it offers an ancestry that provides a biogeographical ancestry analysis with Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroup reports combined with autosomal DNA relative matching. The company also offers a wellbeing test which reports on nutrition and fitness.
2016 (November)	Consumer electronics, healthcare	Company launch	Galvani Bioelectronics is founded as a joint venture by GlaxoSmithKline and Verily, with the purpose to create implants that can precisely target nerves to specific organs and can stay inside a patient for the rest of their life. Based in Stevenage, England, it develops ways to treat chronic illnesses by controlling electrical impulses in the body.	United Kingdom
2017		Literature	Gary Gereffi publishes The pharmaceutical industry and dependency in the Third World.
2017	Biotechnology, healthcare, information technology, software	Company launch	OmniVis is founded. Based in San Francisco, it focuses on rapid disease detection technology with the ability to reach communities anywhere in the world.	United States
2017 (September)		Literature	Françoise Simon and Glen Giovannetti publish Managing Biotechnology: From Science to Market in the Digital Age, which provides a comprehensive overview of the new business context and marketing models for biotech companies.
2017 (November 24)		Literature	Leah Cannon publishes How to Start a Life Science Company: A Comprehensive Guide for First-Time Entrepreneurs.
2018 (March)	Blood test	Legal	Theranos' CEO Elizabeth Holmes, former company president Sunny Balwani, and the company are charged with fraud by the SEC, after fraud and conspiracy are revealed, as well as technology that repeatedly failed quality assurance and results sent to real patients that were incorrect. Theranos would be defunct by September 2018.	United States
2018	Gene therapy	Company launch	Reborna Biosciences, Inc. is founded. Based in Fujisawa, Japan, it is a research and development start-up focusing on the field of rare genetic diseases.	Japan
2019		Literature	Florentina Matei and Daniela Zirra publish Introduction to Biotech Entrepreneurship: From Idea to Business: A European Perspective.
2019	Genetic testing	Company launch	54gene is founded. Based in Washington, D.C., it is a healthcare startup that offers a genetics testing platform.	United States
2019	Metabolic engineering, synthetic biology	Company launch	Cysbio is established as a spinout from The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, DTU (Technical University of Denmark). Based in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, it uses advanced metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches to construct bacterial cell factories for transforming the production of biochemicals from renewable feedstocks.	Denmark
2020 (December)	RNA therapeutics	Notable case	Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna obtain authorization for their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.
2021 (October)		Statistics	As of date, the top U.S.-based biotechnology firms in terms of market capitalization are Johnson & Johnson ($425 billion), Roche ($334 billion), Pfizer ($240 billion), and Novo Nordisk ($225 billion).	United States

Numerical and visual data

Google trends

The chart shows Google Trends data for Biotechnology, from January 2004 to May 2022, when the screenshot was taken. Data is also ranked by country and displayed on world map.

Google Ngram viewer

The chart shows Google Ngram Viewer data for biotechnology from 1900 to 2019.

Google Scholar

The table and graph below show the evolution of mentions of Biotechnology on Google Scholar as of May 29, 2022

Year	N° of mentions
1970	30,900
1975	7,120
1980	27,800
1985	16,300
1990	70,500
1995	99,700
2000	319,000
2005	707,000
2010	1,070,000
2015	915,000
2020	248,000

Wikipedia views

The chart below shows pageviews of the English Wikipedia article Biotechnology, from July 2015 to April 2022.

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by Sebastian.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

• FIXME

What the timeline is still missing

• [1]
• [2]

See also

• Timeline of contract research organizations
• Timeline of CRISPR