Gene Dreams

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Biotechnology in its early days held out the promise of instant medical breakthroughs, big profits for Wall Street investors, and a way to circumvent the bureaucracies of the major drug companies and the government regulatory system. But this ``mouse-intensive industry'' has gone through a severe retrenchment. In a hard-nosed, witty appraisal of the oversold biotech revolution, Financial World editor Teitelman investigates the technical obstacles, delays, litigation, inflated expenses and marketing misjudgments that beset the field, confirming his maxim, ``There are no miracles, only developments.'' Although he focuses on the rise and fall of Genetic Systems, a Seattle company acquired by Bristol-Myers in 1985, Teitelman's probe extends to firms like Genentech and to the politics of cancer and AIDS research. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Chronicling the brief, tumultuous history of commercial biotechnology, this book depicts the so-called ``biomania'' of the early-to-mid 1980s as an entrepreneurial gold rush. Teitelman, editor of Financial Times magazine, relies on personal accounts to present an insider's view of the boom-to-bust financing of these firms. Investors, who often had little scientific background, were anxious to invest large sums of money in biotechnology. These high-overhead enterprises siphoned talent from academia, and, with products still on the drawing board, had little more to sell than hope. Though the author seems to have intended to write an expose, this story of high technology and high rolling is sobering, but not genuinely shocking. For public and undergraduate libraries.-- Gregg Sapp, Idaho State Univ. Lib., Boise

Booknews

An examination of the uneasy relationship between business and medical science, this book throws a generous bucket of cold water on the original expectations of genetic engineering. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)