ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the time when biotechnology was born in the science area. Gene splicing, manipulation, and replication were sharply advanced and widely highlighted in the 1970s. At first, gene splicing was made possible by Paul Berg and his laboratory team in 1972. The works of Herbert Boyer, Stanley Cohen, and Berg were main contributions to recombinant DNA, or biotechnology, so to speak, although many other scientists made important contributions to the new technology as well. Boyer-Cohen patents were the first patents in the recombinant DNA area. The Cohen-Boyer rDNA patents operated from 1980 through 1997 and contributed to the creation of over 2,400 products. Cofounding Genentech with Boyer, Robert Swanson began to mold a new type of company, as there was no model for a start-up company based on biology or biotechnology. Genentech approached Eli Lilly, which invested $60 million for Genentech to be a partner of innovative insulin.
