National Facts

• More than 325 million people worldwide have been helped by the more than 155 biotechnology drugs and vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the biotech medicines on the market, 70 percent were approved in the last six years.
• There are more than 370 biotech drug products and vaccines currently in clinical trials targeting more than 200 diseases, including various cancers, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and arthritis.
• Biotechnology is responsible for hundreds of medical diagnostic tests that keep the blood supply safe from the AIDS virus and detect other conditions early enough to be successfully treated. Home pregnancy tests are also biotechnology diagnostic products.
• Consumers already are enjoying biotechnology foods such as papaya, soybeans and corn. Hundreds of biopesticides and other agricultural products also are being used to improve our food supply and to reduce our dependence on conventional chemical pesticides.
• Environmental biotechnology products make it possible to clean up hazardous waste more efficiently by harnessing pollution-eating microbes without the use of caustic chemicals.
• Industrial biotechnology applications have led to cleaner processes that produce less waste and use less energy and water in such industrial sectors as chemicals, pulp and paper, textiles, food, energy, and metals and minerals. For example, most laundry detergents produced in the United States contain biotechnology-based enzymes.
• DNA fingerprinting, a biotech process, has dramatically improved criminal investigation and forensic medicine, as well as afforded significant advances in anthropology and wildlife management.
• There are 1,457 biotechnology companies in the United States, of which 342 are publicly held.
• Market capitalization, the total value of publicly traded biotech companies at market prices, was $206 billion as of mid-April 2003.
• The biotechnology industry has mushroomed since 1992, with revenues increasing from $8 billion in 1992 to $34.8 billion in 2001.
• The U.S. biotechnology industry currently employs 191,000 people; that's more than all the people employed by the toy and sporting goods industries.
• Biotechnology is one of the most research-intensive industries in the world. The U.S. biotech industry spent $15.7 billion on research and development in 2001.
• The top five biotech companies spent an average of $133,600 per employee on R&D in 2001.
• The biotech industry is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Biotechnology tools and techniques open new research avenues for discovering how healthy bodies work and what goes wrong when problems arise.

• Read more about Genomics and Biotechnology Health Care Applications.