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The article provides an analysis on the financial performance of privately held biotechnology industries in the U.S. and Europe for 2004. The 85 percent of the healthcare companies were privately owned, but it only employed 50 percent of employees in the sector, contributed the 25 percent of total revenue and less than 25 percent of funding raised. Several tables and charts that shows the revenue, employment and investment of private companies for 2004 are presented.

The article applies a technique for determining the presence and timing of significant changes in capital mobility and for detecting whether capital mobility has been increasing, decreasing, or remaining constant over time. Two alternative models of international short-term capital mobility are specified and applied to the Brown-Durbin test for stability to both, using data on capital between the U.S. and Canada between 1955-1974. The test suggests that a model with a stock-adjustment specification demonstrates greater stability than a model which uses a flow specification. The Brown-Durbin tests applied to the stock-adjustment model suggest that at the 99% confidence level, capital mobility did not undergo significant change except for a brief episode in 1968 and early 1969. Based on an examination of the paths of coefficients of the interest-rate variables, the flow model suggests that capital mobility may have declined between 1965 and the end of the sample period in early 1974. The stock-adjustment model suggests that capital mobility may have declined slightly between 1969 and the end of the sample period.

This article presents evidence on the short-run characteristics of purchasing-power parity (PPP) theory when account is taken of the fact that the relationship between currency purchasing powers and exchange rates is distributed over time. Distributed-lag variants of PPP theory are tested using price-level data and exchange rates between fourteen foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar during the period of floating exchange rates in the early 1920's. The findings suggest that in most cases the major impact of price-level movements occurred within a few months following the initial disturbance, and that the distributed effects were largely dissipated within a year's time. According to PPP theory, relative currency purchasing powers are the primary determinants of the level of currency exchange rates. Traditionally, PPP has been regarded as a long-run theory. It is generally accepted that in the short run, disturbances in income levels, capital flows and seasonal factors have a significant effect on exchange rates and thus weaken the fit of exchange rates on relative price levels. In eleven of the fourteen cases examined, over ninety per cent of the month-to-month variation in exchange rates was explained by lagged price-level movements. In all fourteen cases the major impact of price-level movement occurred within the first three months, and in most instances the lagged effects were largely exhausted within a year's time.

The article examines the possibility that the U.S. will pass a legislation for biosimilars. Noted is the possibility that biosimilars discussion in the country will be unproductive because of the debate over market exclusivity. Bill Haddad of Biogenerics stresses that it is time for the U.S. introduce a biosimilars legislation. One of the reasons cited why a biogeneric pathway will not have a dramatic impact in the U.S. is the European Union (EU) experience which illustrated that biosimilar-originator competition is not comparable with small-molecule generics. Suzette Kox of the European Generic Medicines Association attests that the impact of biosimilars in the region is not profound.

Discusses the state of biotechnology job markets. Impact of President Bill Clinton's health care plan; Rise of research spending; Approval of biotherapeutics; Expansion of research areas; Rush to market products; Commercial environment; Pattern of job creation. INSET: So you think you want to work in a biotechnology company?.

Presents a compilation of quiz on the subject of nature biotechnology. Mergers and acquisitions in biotechnology industries; Money raised by venture capital, initial public offerings and secondary offers of biotechnology companies in 2001; Highlights of biotechnology research from the past year.

Presents news and issues related to genetically modified organisms. Issues surrounding the handling of potentially sensitive genetic modification issues in Great Britain; Assertions made by a spokesperson for the U.S. Organic Consumers Association the risk of organic farming in the country; Approval of animal fodder that does not contain genetically engineered ingredients in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the formation of Chicago, Illinois-based First Genetic Trust Inc. in October 2000 to provide the operational infrastructure that enables the use of genetic information in a secure way. Plans of the company's chief executive officer Arthur Holden regarding the company's growth; Partnership deal of the company with IBM Corp.; Services provided by First Genetic Trust.

Reports on emergence of a competitive firm Corning, New York-based Corning Corp. against Palo Alto, California-based DNA chipmaker Affymetrix Inc. Corporate profile of Corning Corp.; Possible plans of Corning for manufacturing optical fibers.

Presents several news items related to development in biotechnology in the United States and Canada. Development of a genetically modified linseed by Alan McHughen at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon in Canada; Conflicts arising in the U.S. Presidency regarding genetically modified food.

Focuses on relationship between pharmaceutical companies Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen Inc. and Sunnyvale, California-based HySeq Inc. Selection of George Rathman, founder and former chairman of Amgen as chief executive officer of HySeq; Lawsuits between the two companies.

Reports on possible sale of multimillion shares owned by Madison, New Jersey-based American Home Products Corp. to Seattle, Washington-based Immunex Corp. Decline in ownership of American Home Products; Possible utilization of sale of the shares.

Reports that at the beginning of April 2000, Great Britain-based Gemini Genomics entered single nucleotide polymorphism-centered collaborations with New Haven, Connecticut-based CuraGen Corp. and San Diego, California and Hamburg, Germany-based Sequenom Inc. Provision of population genetics-based validation for single-base variations in human genes; Reference to 2000 issue for the journal 'Biotechnology,' vol. 18 366.

Focuses on the recommendation of the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) committee members to the Secretary of State Madeleine to improve scientific literacy and build awareness of scientific issues among personnel at all levels. Citation of several cases explaining lack of awareness of science, technology and health issues among NRC committee members.

Presents various developments related to plantation of genetically modified crops for test purposes in the U.S. and Great Britain. Threats caused by a fox in a test site in Great Britain; Highlights of a protest raised by two action groups in California; Comparison of genetically modified crops with anthrax bacilli by the director of an organic farming organization in Great Britain.

Background: The rising use of injections to treat low back pain (LBP) has led to efforts to improve selection. Nonorganic (Waddell) signs have been shown to portend treatment failure for surgery and other therapies but have not been studied for minimally invasive interventions., Methods: We prospectively evaluated the association between Waddell signs and treatment outcome in 3 cohorts: epidural steroid injections (ESI) for leg pain and sacroiliac joint (SIJ) injections and facet interventions for LBP. Categories of Waddell signs included nonanatomic tenderness, pain during sham stimulation, discrepancy in physical examination, overreaction, and regional disturbances divulging from neuroanatomy. The primary outcome was change in patient-reported "average" numerical rating scale for pain intensity (average NRS-PI), modeled as a function of the number of Waddell signs using simple linear regression. Secondary outcomes included a binary indicator of treatment response. We conducted secondary and sensitivity analyses to account for potential confounders., Results: We enrolled 318 patients: 152 in the ESI cohort, 102 in the facet cohort, and 64 in the SIJ cohort, having sufficient data for primary analysis on 308 patients. Among these, 62% (n = 192) had no Waddell signs, 18% (n = 54) had 1 sign, 11% (n = 33) had 2, 5% (n = 16) had 3, 2% (n = 7) had 4, and about 2% (n = 6) had all 5 signs. The mean change in average NRS-PI in each of these 6 groups was -1.6 ± 2.6, -1.1 ± 2.7, -1.5 ± 2.5, -1.6 ± 2.6, -1 ± 1.5, and 0.7 ± 2.1, respectively, and their corresponding treatment failure rates were 54% (102 of 192), 67% (36 of 54), 70% (23 of 33), 75% (12 of 16), 71% (5 of 7), and 83% (5 of 6). In the primary analysis, an increasing number of Waddell signs were not associated with a significant decrease in average NRS-PI (coefficient [Coef] = 0.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.43 to 0.05; P = .12). A higher number of Waddell signs were associated with treatment failure, with a 1.35 increased odds of treatment failure per cumulative number of signs (P = .008)., Conclusions: Whereas this study found no consistent relationship between Waddell signs and decreased mean pain scores, a significant relationship between the number of Waddell signs and treatment failure was observed., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: See Disclosures at the end of the article.