The world is entering a biotechnology boom-but only informed investors will prosper in the incredibly complex biotech business. Separating the bioengineered wheat from the chaff, San Francisco Chronicle science and technology columnist Tom Abate, one of the top objective authorities on biotech, gives investors the analytical foundation to understand the science, finances, time horizon, and technological and commercial potential of this burgeoning industry. In The Biotech Investor, Abate provides sophisticated business analysis, guidelines for assessing company leadership, easy-to-digest reports from the labs, and indispensable investor tools and metrics. He explains how breaking news, medical conferences, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals, and the patent process affect investing strategies. Finally, he looks beyond medicine to review the financial opportunities presented by biotechnology advances in everything from agriculture to jean manufacturing, and shows investors how to identify 'coattail' industries such as instrumentation and software development that will benefit from biotech successes. The Biotech Investor is the comprehensive, expert source for successful and intelligent investing in one of the twenty-first century's most promising industries. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

With the population aging and eager for medical innovations, the market for biotechnology is vast. But for investors looking at biotech firms, it can be a minefield: before a company's brilliant ideas pan out as profitable products, they must go through years of costly research and development, clear government regulatory hurdles and sometimes, as with genetically modified foods, weather political controversy. This informative and well-written primer will help individual investors navigate the treacherous terrain of biotech stocks. Abate, a biotechnology and health care reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, provides an overview of each sector of the biotechnology industry and the leading companies in it, tells where to find up-to-date information on the scientific and medical developments that drive the market, and explains how to evaluate the financial prospects of the often shaky start-ups that crowd the field. His advice is appropriately cautious; he suggests putting no more than 20% of a portfolio in biotechnology, and waiting until a company is in hailing distance of profitability before investing. While the book is pitched at the non-professional, Abate makes it clear that these speculative, volatile and often over-sold stocks demand more effort-he recommends reading scientific journals, attending conferences and perusing the patent literature -than a complacent mutual-fund investor is used to. But for those willing to brave the new world of biotechnology, this is a good place to start. 20 charts and graphs. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Tom Abate is an award-winning technology and health care reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He lives in San Leandro, California Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Preface: The Biotech Wave	p. vii
1 The Foundations of Biotech Investing	p. 1
2 The Age Wave and the Market for New Medicines	p. 23
3 The Genomics Wave: The Drug Discovery Marathon	p. 47
4 The Proteomics Wave: Proteins and The Next Medicines	p. 73
5 Picks and Shovels: The Biotech Toolmakers	p. 97
6 Green Genes: Agricultural Biotechnology	p. 121
7 The New Factories: Industrial Biotechnology	p. 147
8 Brave New Worlds: Stem Cells, Clones, and Other Frontiers	p. 169
9 The Biotech Clusters: Follow the Leaders	p. 197
10 The Investment Frontier	p. 219
Appendix I Public Biotechnology Firms	p. 243
Appendix II Biotechnology Firms by Niche	p. 261
Appendix III Research Resources	p. 271
Acknowledgments	p. 275

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