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Defining biotechnology in essence is quite simple. It is obtaining useful products
(other than just food) from plants or animals (including organisms not generally
included in the two classical kingdoms). This type of biotechnology has been practiced
for thousands of years and is a major source of a number of chemical products—commodities,
specialties and fine chemicals. If one assumes that any control or simple, productive
use of biology (other than hunting and gathering) constitutes biotechnology, then
it originated when the first hunter-gatherers became farmers and herdsmen or the
first person used fermentation to produce a beverage.
The first selective growth of crops and breeding of animals that sought to optimize
yields or qualities desired in the organisms is largely lost to history. However,
the birth of modern genetics is usually attributed to Gregor Mendel during the
1860s when the Austrian monk developed his laws of heredity.
During the last several decades, however, science has added some twists. In very
simplistic terms, biology at the molecular level consists of several steps. DNA,
which is inherited, contains the blueprint for manufacturing polyaminoacids, or
polypeptides, which are proteins, enzymes, hormones—building blocks of life.
These in turn orchestrate the functioning and metabolism of living forms, ultimately
determining the form and makeup of organisms including what products are stored
in their tissues or are by-products of life processes. The simplicity disappears
when one considers the large number of genes, the even larger number of polypeptides
they create and the huge possibilities for interactions among these biomolecules
and simpler molecules found in living organisms. This difficulty is further compounded
by the fact that these molecules are exquisitely more complex than almost any
made by traditional chemical processes.
Nonetheless, with the development of genetics, chemistry, instrumentation and
computing (which is necessary to make sense of the complexity), increased understanding
of these processes is leading to some level of control over what living organisms
can do and produce at the molecular level. An overwhelming portion of research
and investment dollars is focused on human therapies, but this review is more
interested in biotechnology’s impact on chemicals and fuels. A detailed compilation
is not intended; this review only hints at how biotechnology might affect the
chemical industry, including specialty chemicals.
Currently, the estimated value of products reliant on biotechnology ranges anywhere
from under $5 billion to tens of billions of dollars. Defining biotechnology value
is complicated by how it is defined and at what level (manufacturer, retail) the
product is valued. Furthermore, is the value of a genetically engineered seed
the wholesale value of the seed, or the wholesale value of the products produced
from it?
In terms of dollars, the pharmaceutical market—including all related forms
of human therapies—presents the largest current and future market for biotechnology.
The impact in this arena is that a secular shift in the business will likely occur
sometime in the future. The main uncertainties are the extent and the timing.
Biotechnology presents both opportunities and threats to producers of specialty
chemicals. Similarly, producers of commodity chemicals and fuels may also experience
threats or discover opportunities as biotechnology develops and continues to impact
their businesses.
Opportunities for producers of specialty chemicals include the following:
- A developing, growing market for functional, process chemicals
- A source of new or cheaper products to expand their product lines
- Entirely new chemicals not economically produced by other means
Various changing conditions and trends underlie these opportunities and threats.
In summary, important trends in biotechnology include the following:
- Many major global chemical companies have embraced the inevitability of
biological processes and materials becoming an increasingly important platform
for their businesses.
- The political and cultural acceptance of biotechnology as a source of products,
especially those that impact food products and other similar consumer products
that may be intimately related to human health, will likely remain different
in various regions of the world.
- Most governments are committing significant resources to encourage the development
of biotechnology, even as concerns prompt conservative legislation in some
regions.
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With a boom and subsequent decline in biotechnology about twenty years
ago, there is a certain amount of reticence by financial sources to invest
too heavily. This has perhaps been exacerbated by the recent Internet/telecommunications
bust. Also, there has been competition for financial resources from the
recent growth in financing of nanotechnology and biotech.
- Alliances and relationships between companies focusing on basic biotechnology
research and traditional pharmaceutical and chemicals/materials companies
are being formed. These relationships provide the most economical avenue of
biotech development for many companies.
Although genetic engineering underpins the new biotech era, the nature and
extent of this impact on chemicals is varied and broad. Such products as turpentine,
fats and oils, and carrageenan can be considered biotech products even if heretofore
genetic engineering has been unimportant. But the focus of biotech has generally
evolved, in a broad market focus, in several steps, or waves, to include a widening
array of applications.
These steps are often seen as threefold: (1) pharmaceutical or “red”
biotechnology, (2) agbiotech or “green” biotechnology and (3) industrial
or “white” biotechnology. White is often further categorized by observers
as (a) fuels and (b) substitution of biotech for any other heretofore nonbiological
process/
material (e.g., enzymes for catalysts, bioremediation). Separating these three
waves from the traditional isolation of chemical products from biomass (old
biotech) is problematical since the tools and technologies have already affected
those endeavors.
If biotechnology fulfills the most ambitious expectations, fine, specialty and
commodity chemicals as well as fuels will all likely be affected significantly.
In fuels, alternate scenarios are many and include the development of natural
gas and coal liquefaction and hydrogen fuel development (but work is being done
to induce plants to produce hydrogen as a photosynthesis product).
The “new,” “high-tech” biotechnology age that many associate
with such procedures as cloning, genetic engineering and gene therapy originated
in the early 1970s when Cohen and Boyer put a gene from an African toad into
a bacterium’s DNA. By the mid-1970s, Boyer had teamed up with venture capitalist
Swanson to found the prototype modern biotechnology company Genentech.
The focus—certainly the fruits—of the pioneering biotech companies
has to date largely been to create organisms with new functionalities through
genetic engineering (transgenic and recombinant DNA technology are very similar
terms). The organisms so created then perform in ways better than the unmodified
version, such as with increased yield.
More recently, research has focused on obtaining a much more detailed, fundamental
understanding of the working of genetic materials and basic biomolecular processes.
The aim of most of these “new” biotechnology companies has been to
develop new human therapies or, moreover, to market information to pharmaceutical
companies allowing them to do this. A benchmark of this work was the recent
completion of the mapping of the human genome, a compilation of the base pairs
that make up the entire genetic code of the human being.
Several technologies are developing to mine useful information from this huge
amount of data. One of the ultimate goals is to speed the development of drugs
with precise, safe, predictable action in the human body. Ultimately, a fundamental
understanding of virtually all biochemical or molecular biological processes
is the goal. To achieve this, there is a heavy reliance on computing, physics
and other disciplines that only decades ago were not typically so closely associated
with the biological sciences.
The effect of biotechnology will manifest itself in many forms and the transformations
in the chemical industry will be many. Biotechnology developments have already
had a significant effect on the agricultural chemicals industry. Will more commodity
chemicals be made from biological sources? Will biotechnology make the use of
biomass a viable energy source? Will biotechnology increase the use of specialty
chemicals? Will biotechnology decrease the use of specialty chemicals? The answers
are all the same. Yes…probably—in due time.
SRIC’s new Biotechnology report includes a detailed discussion of the world
biotechnology industry, including trends and opportunities as well as critical
factors for success; profiles of companies that are already active in the biotech
industry; and detailed information in the areas of biomonomers and biopolymers,
enzymes and biocatalysts, chiral compounds, food additives, biosolvents, fuels,
human therapies and personal care, and agbiotech, as well as other areas.
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