Gene Dreams: Wall Street, Academia, and the Rise of Biotechnology

On October 14, 1980, a fledgling biotechnology company with the alluring name of Genentech was taken public. The lead underwriters, gambling on market fascination, made the audacious decision to try to place 1 million shares at $35 each. They could hardly have been more naive. The offering sold out instantly and 20 minutes later the stock had climbed to $89 per share, a record. There were loads of new millionaires. The biomedical research community would never be the same. Over the next few years, there was a dramatic shift in the career patterns of young scientists as hundreds of molecular biologists chose to work at companies like Cetus, Genetic Systems, Amgen, Applied Bio-systems, Biogen, Integrated Genetics, Genex, and Hybritech rather than accept instructorships at universities. Their mentors, senior scientists who had grown up in academia, were besieged by calls from investment bankers, lawyers, and more entrepreneurial colleagues. A new vocabulary