[Next-Generation Sequencing Book]
  • [Photo] J.W. Bizzaro • September 16, 2005
    An article by Clifton Leaf:

    ``Twenty-five years ago a law known as Bayh-Dole spawned the biotech industry. It made lots of university scientists fabulously rich. It was also supposed to usher in a new era of innovation. So why are medical miracles in such short supply?

    ``Even in the mute efficiency of international wire transfers, $540 million makes a noise when it lands in your bank account. To Kent Alexander, that sound was a thud--and in this case `not one single thud, but a lot of different thuds.' All afternoon on July 21, 2005, Alexander, who is Emory University's general counsel, president Jim Wagner, and other senior members of the school's administration were receiving e-mailed reports from the finance department: `121 million just hit!' And then, 50 minutes later, `183 million just hit!' Half an hour after that, an even richer stash arrived. Thud. `It was an out-of-body experience,' says Alexander, 46. `By any definition, it's a huge deal. As one of our trustees was saying, it doesn't get any bigger than this on Wall Street.'

    ``The deal in question had closed only days earlier, when a pair of biotech companies, Gilead Sciences of Foster City, Calif., and Royalty Pharma of New York City, outbid several other parties for Emory's roughly 20% stake in the powerful anti-retroviral drug Emtriva, which is used to treat HIV.''

    Full story:
    http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fortune75/articles/0,15114,1101810-1,00.html

    Reference by Slashdot.

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