Biotech Industries
BIO: (Biotechnology Industry Organization, the premiere trade organization for biotech information distribution and advocacy, which is pretty much perfect. Plus their office is only about 2 blocks from the White House / 5 blocks from the Mall.
The big leader in the field, bar none, is Genetech. The unfortunate part of that is that they've got a corporate alliance with Celera, so whether or not we can trust them is a bit questionable. (Not surprising, though - this whole industry is incestuous to one degree or another.)
After that, it runs something along the lines of:
- Amgen: Fortune 500 Company, considered to be one of the most future-oriented of
the biotechs. They focus mostly on debilitating diseases, like cancer, kidney disease and blood problems. Amgen is based out of California.
- Serono: They focus mainly on reproductive health and neurology (which might be a very, very good thing). Their main facility is in Switzerland (it's a Swiss company), which could be either good or bad for us (both in terms of travel and in terms of perception from the government and the public). Serano's main facility is in Geneva,
- Biogen: They're big into immunology, which means they're one of the companies that could probably do the most /with/ tissue taken from us (i.e. they'll likely have the best facilities for making products for people to use) but they're not the most likely to be able to tell us anything about ourselves. Biogen is based out of California.
- Chiron: Not much special with them aside from a cool name; like Biogen, they're into immunology (and cancer research), which means they could do a good deal /with/ our cells if they had them. Chiron is based out of California.
- Genzyme: Though lower on the biggest company list than the others I've mentioned (which still puts them in the top 10 firms and above a few /hundred/ others, so...), these guys are one of my favorites. They focus on rare (but serious) disorders, which means they've got experience dealing with the seriously weird, and they've got a great history of charity - they've been providing about 200 patients in about 15 countries free enzyme treatment for Gaucher's disease for the last few years, with plans to expand that program as they're able. Genzyme, their main facility is outside of Boston.
