Biotechnology

Biotech Innovation at the Heart of Curing Cancer

The mapping of the human genome earlier this century paved the way for more targeted medical treatments and increased survival rates for many living with disease. It also contributed to a positive bill-of-health for the biotech industry overall, which experienced a 7% year-over-year increase in innovation activity and an 11% jump specific to cancer.

Oncology-related innovation is responding to the knowledge that, while every cancer patient faces similar challenges, every patient’s cancer is his/her own unique version, driven by individual biological factors, thanks to genomics.

DuPont (U.S.) leads the world in overall biotech innovation for the past year, despite China taking 3/5 of the top five innovation slots: the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Jiangnan, and the University of Zhejiang register second, third and fifth, respectively. Monsanto (U.S.) rounds out the top five for the last year.

Conversely, the top oncology-related innovators hail from Europe and the U.S., beginning with Hoffman LaRoche (Switzerland), followed by the University of California (U.S.), Genentech (U.S.), Inserm (France) and the U.S. Department of Health. (Genentech reports itself as a member of the Roche group, however prior year innovation activity was recorded separately, hence the reason for listing the companies individually).

In terms of scientific research, the Broad Institute, MIT and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, all from the U.S., are the world's three most impactful research institutions in this sector.