It is impossible to dispute the extraordinary impact biotechnology is having on our everyday lives. From Alchemy to IPO presents the dramatic story of the revolutionary and controversial business of inventing new cures and blockbuster drugs and a look at how biotech progress is generating powerful profit opportunities on all tiers of business and investment.Written by a well-known industry insider, From Alchemy to IPO addresses the coming-of-age of biotech products and companies and traces the history of biotechnology from its early inception in the '70s to today's heyday of new solutions and breakthrough treatments. It describes the amazing entrepreneurial trail of product development, novel business models, and critical trials that eventually pave the way to market, and describes advances, such as deciphering the genetic code and gene therapy, that just may lead biotech to a higher realm altogether. This is the first book to accurately record the inner workings of an industry-biotechnology-that's on the verge of living up to its monumental promise to change the world as we know it. Despite unnerving swings in individual stock valuations--or perhaps because of them--many knowledgeable observers still believe the 21st century will ultimately earn its stripes as the Age of Biotech. Cynthia Robbins-Roth, named by Forbes magazine as one of the industry's top insiders, certainly is among them. And in From Alchemy to IPO , she persuasively argues investors better take heed because they ain't seen nothin' yet. "Most of us think of biotech as medicine or genetically engineered crops," writes Robbins-Roth. But in the very near future, she continues, it also "may make it possible for humans to reach the stars and to change the environment on other planets." Think that's far-fetched? She says developments like this are already in early stages and, in a deliberately proselytizing manner, traces their roots to the current business nitty-gritty, finally focusing on the long-term moneymaking potential. "The biotech world will never be an easy place for investors," she cautions, but with hundreds of ongoing projects "poised to power into the marketplace," there will be plenty of "opportunities for investors and employees alike." Recommended for readers seeking an informed tutorial on this field of the future. -- Howard Rothman In the early 1980s, the biggest concern facing the biotech industry was collecting enough urine and placenta to conduct crucial genetic research. At one point Genentech researchers even joked about increasing their urine yield by laying sawdust on the floor at their weekly beer bashes. The technical challenges of the Internet industry pale in comparison - and so do the challenges to Internet investors. So says Cynthia Robbins-Roth in From Alchemy to IPO, a fascinating, if somewhat dry, look at how the biotech industry grew from nothing to one of the most important business sectors in today's economy. Her retelling has important lessons both for biotech investors and Net investors, who can learn much from biotech's technology-driven boom-bust cycle. The biotech sector first grabbed the attention of individual investors in 1980. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that genetically altered life could be patented, Genentech went public and closed at double its offering price of $35, and suddenly the marriage of technology and biology stepped out of science fiction novels and into doctors' offices and grocery stores. Just a few years later, though, impatient investors, who weren't able - or willing - to understand the often long and expensive process required to turn a test tube reaction into a viable drug, began dropping out of biotech stocks in droves. Today, Net investors will be comforted to know that biotech is again booming, as years of research finally yield concrete results. As a biochemistry Ph.D, former researcher for Genentech and the founder of BioVenture Consulting, Robbins-Roth knows from whence she speaks. Steeped in technological details, her book can be a fascinating read for those enamored of hard science. However, as an investment guide, complete with stock tickers, dates of public offerings, partnering history and other minutiae, the book too often reads like a series of annual reports and would have benefited from the inclusion of far more case histories and stories. Robbins-Roth also errs somewhat on the side of industry cheerleading at the expense of giving a complete portrait of the biotech investing environment. Early in the book, for example, she talks about the knockout process, in which researchers turn off certain genes to determine their function. Much of this research is done on organisms other than humans, often with disastrous results for the subject. We know from the reaction of consumers in today's marketplace that many people object to scientific testing on animals, yet Robbins-Roth skates by with nary a comment. Likewise, she barely touches on controversial subj