A measured appraisal of the key role played by universities in the
emergence of a US biotechnology industry (which has attracted $3
billion in venture capital in the past decade). Kenney
(agricultural economics/Ohio State) also examines important issues
raised by the increasing involvement of educational institutions in
commercial enterprises. The productive employment of microorganisms
and biological processes dates back to 6000 B.C. when the
Babylonians fermented a kind of beer. But Kenney's focus is on the
techniques with applications potential in agricultural, health care
and the other mass markets that have emerged since the 1970's,
primarily as a result of the 1953 discovery of DNA. He also reviews
the wealth of ways in which the rush to exploit biotech has altered
the character of research departments at universities and allied
institutions. Among others, he probes the $70-million contract that
binds Massachusetts General Hospital to Hoechst A.G., a West German
multinational. Covered as well are instances in which attractive
financial inducements have been used to recruit talented professors
for start-up firms that aggressive Wall Streeters hope to take
public. Kenney maintains that the campus/corporate connection is a
risky business on several counts. For one, power of the purse
allows sponsors to set the R&D agenda to programs promising
near. term payouts; thus, some Faustian bargains have been struck
with basic research the loser. Too, there's the good chance that
chronically needy universities and faculty might be co-opted if not
corrupted by industry. Kenney's dispassionate text will not put a
conclusive end to the curiously muted debate now in progress, but
it represents a valuable contribution to these vital proceedings.
(Kirkus Reviews)
In the first serious history of the biotechnology industry, Martin
Kenney examines its growth and structure, describes the role of
university departments of basic and applied biology, and shows how
the relationship undermines the educational role of the university.
"Kenney's work is the first major effort to provide a detailed
analysis of the birth of the new industrial field of biotechnology
and its impact on universities. . . . Kenney's book abounds in rich
description and valuable conjectures. It also provides important
insights into the structural and institutional aspects of the
biotechnological revolution. It is informed by an extensive
literature including reports form the financial community,
university-industry contracts, trade journals, personal interviews,
and company prospectuses."-Sheldon Krimsky, American Scientist "A
fine description of a vital new field. It deserves wide
readership."-David Silbert and Duncan Newhauser, New England
Journal of Medicine "The author raises important questions about
whether the character of this university-industrial complex
adequately allows for the kind of public discussion and
participation necessary to insure consideration of social,
economic, and moral issues in the development of this important new
technology."-Harvard Educational Review "Bears upon questions of
fundamental importance to science, academia, and society and
provides valuable documentation of the magnitude of the actions
already taken and the multitude of participants involved."-Robert
L. Sinsheimer, Nature
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