I bought this book for a biotech project management class aside from the required books for the course and found it more helpful than any of the required books (not on project management, but as far as understanding the biotech industry). It provides a very good overview of the biotechnology industry that would be helpful for almost anyone touching this field - investors, professionals considering working in the field, patients considering a new drug therapy or participating in a clinical trial, doctors... I would recommend this book as an excellent first read to get the "lay of the land" followed up by more in-depth research in areas you need/want to know more about. By the way, my whole team ended up using the book to help them each prepare their part of our final project, which was a product development plan that took a novel cancer drug from phase 1 through commercialization. Thus you can see the scope of the book is quite broad and yet direct, the book is only 200 pages plus several useful Appendices (e.g. one is on careers in biotech and another provides and index of websites for different biotech areas).

This is in response to the review stating that a book was bound upside down. I would like inform everyone that this was an isolated printer error and in no way reflects the Publishers attention to detail or concerns for quality. Occasionally a make-ready (set-up) copy slips though which is the likely scenario in this case. We (the printer) take full responsibility for any inconvenience or skewed review.

Yali's book is really an excellent starting point for many people interested in knowing the basics of the biotech world. This includes an increasingly broad number of people. First, I highly recommend this book for MBA students interested in careers in biotech and healthcare. Second, this book should be bought by every medical school and bioag research university and given to every new faculty member. Why in 2006 do we still find faculty members who have no clue about the technology commercialization process which has allowed their field to expand into a muli-billion dollar industry. Perhaps every bio grad student should be given a copy. The book covers much ground, sometimes quickly. If you are into the field, the book could have been longer and more detailed, but its emphasis is clearly introductory. The case examples are great learning tools and a bit of history for the industry. Learning from the successes and failures of others is not new, but perhaps the next version will include more historical perspective on the boom and bust in the industry. The cycles of mergers and acquisitions, public financing windows, and valuation fluctuations could be of increased value.
Overall this book is highly accessible and an enjoyable read. Go to the Glossary and see how many of the words you can accurately define. Yali keeps the amalgam of topics together through concise writing and useful case examples.

I am not good at using Amazon reviews but I wrote one a few days ago about this book. I can't find the review I wrote on this site, but maybe I am not good at this. I said the book was upside down and backwards (which was true). I'll ad mit I was not enthused with the content. Amazon did not reply to me but the author, Yali Friedman sent the 2nd edition to me with a hand-written apolgy for the poor construction of the book I bought. I think this is admirable and impressive. I will read the second edition and maybe, if I can figure out how, provide a review.

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (7/06)

I was a little nervous about reading "Building Biotechnology" because I haven't had a science class since the 1990's, but I really wanted to learn more about it because I hear so much about it in the media. "Building Biotechnology" was a great way for me to get my feet wet on this subject. Friedman was kind enough to offer a chapter titled "Introduction to Molecular Biology." This helped refresh me on the basics. It was very easy to follow. Throughout the book, he uses charts and some diagrams to help summarize what he is discussing. This technique of presenting material makes it much easier to understand.

Friedman presents information on biotechnology that shows that it has been positive for our environment. Some information that I have received from the media has presented it in a negative manner. Through this book, I learned that because of biotechnology, a diabetic is able to use insulin that is made without having to slaughter 50 pigs each year for that one person. The process of biotechnology has also allowed oil spills to be cleaned up using by bacteria that was created for this purpose. I found this to be very interesting.

Biotechnology applications are divided into three categories: green for agricultural applications, white for industrial applications and red for therapeutic applications. Friedman breaks each of these categories down and goes into depth about how each serves a purpose.

The rest of the book discusses the business end of dealing with biotechnology and businesses. This covers intellectual property, regulation, politics, funding, research development and marketing, business development and investing. I cannot imagine a more comprehensive book on this subject.

I highly recommend this book to readers who would like to be able to hold an intelligent conversation on the subject of biotechnology. It is written in a manner that will enable you to easily understand all of what it is about. Of course, I also recommend this book to be used as a textbook in college or for businesses that are looking to get involved with biotechnology.