From: jeff.downing at mosby.com Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 15:32:50 -0500
I'm sure that the following report from the latest edition of Genetic Engineering News has helped salve the suppurating wounds of those plodding through the halls of Monsanto, who might have begun questioning whether redemption would ever be possible in a company seemingly bent on attracting global wrath.
The article, along with the list, can be accessed at: http://www.genengnews.com/news1.htm
Jeff
"Biotechnology companies are used to the ups and downs of an entrepreneurial business fraught with risk. Depending on the financing environment, life often seems like a roller coaster ride to them.
"But for many biotech stockholders, particularly those with doctoral degrees, 1999 is proving to be a memorable year. The 1999 edition of Genetic Engineering News
100 Molecular Millionaires includes a record number of doctorates: 89! This compares to 69 last year and 72 in 1997. It looks like years of dedication to research and hours upon hours of work in the lab or clinic are finally paying off for those with a Ph.D., M.D., or Sc.D. This is made very clear when you consider that our list included only 63 doctoral millionaires in 1996 and 64 in 1995.
"William K. Bowes, Jr., is our top millionaire with $286,134,875 of Amgen stock. Our number one doctoral millionaire is Endre A. Balazs, Ph.D., with $109,281,795 of Biomatrix stock.
"The value of the biotech/pharmaceutical stock held by all 100 of our 1999 millionaires totals $1.41 billion. This compares to $1.76 billion last year, $1.97 billion in 1997 and $2.05 billion in 1996.
"The equity markets for the biotech industry experienced one of their worst years in 1998. Large public financings were negligible as investors looked elsewhere to invest their money.
"Nevertheless, our list of Molecular Millionaires demonstrates that significant awards await many of those who remain bullish on biotech. The industry posted bioproduct sales of over $13 billion in 1998 and saw 24 biodrugs approved. There are over 1,000 products in clinical trials and about 80 are already being sold on the market.
"With the ongoing evolution of the new drug discovery paradigm, which is characterized by the novel technologies of high-throughput screening, genomics, proteomics and pharmacogenomics, the bioindustry appears poised for rapid growth in the new millennium. Since many of these techniques are based on the advances of laboratory researchers and, increasingly, computer scientists, we can expect to see the number of new molecular millionaires to grow in the near future."