Biotech

Proposition 37, the ballot measure mandating the labeling of genetically modified food that is also known as the "right to know" initiative, is narrowly running ahead of the opposition, according to the latest opinion polls. But even if the measure goes down - and it's the target of a $35-million publicity attack by agricultural and food industry interests - the campaign behind it will mark an important milestone in politics: the deployment of weapons-grade junk science. Of course, ignorance and anti-intellectualism are not new phenomena in our elections, nor in the political processes of other lands, dictatorships and democracies alike.

One of the most popular benefits of Medicare is the Part D prescription drug program, which enables seniors and the disabled to buy taxpayer-subsidized coverage for many of the most widely prescribed medicines. When it created the costly benefit in 2003, though, Congress provided no way to pay for the subsidies, which have cost more than $300 billion so far. Worse, it barred the government from negotiating with drug makers for better prices - an extra gift to the pharmaceutical industry, which already stood to gain from the increased demand for its newly subsidized products.

One of the strongest corners of the tech stock universe in recent weeks has been biotech--a trend that continued Tuesday. Leading biotech shares soared, lifting the Amex index of 17 major industry stocks 5.1% to its highest level since December. Brokerage J.P. Morgan helped stoke the sector by upgrading Human Genome Sciences (ticker symbol: HGSI) and Celgene (CELG) to "buy" from "long-term buy." Human Genome Sciences said Tuesday that the U.S.

The world's biggest annual biotechnology conference opens this week in Toronto, providing a forum for boosters as well as detractors of an industry where stock prices have been hammered by regulatory setbacks. The sector has had a tough year in terms of financial performance. The American Stock Exchange biotech index closed Friday at 361.90, a 44% drop from where it stood 12 months earlier.

Apparently, biotechnology stocks might be just the cure for what ails some investors: fear of exposure to foreign markets. MedImmune Inc. shares paced a rare sector rally Wednesday, surging 20% on optimism for biotech stocks, which analysts say are not affected by ongoing global economic turmoil. Stock of MedImmune rose $8.88 to close at $52.25 in Nasdaq trading of 1.05 million shares, more than three times the three-month daily average.

American farmers are embracing biotech crops as the wave of the future, confident they can woo skeptics at home and abroad, a government official said Sunday. "Biotechnology is revolutionizing agriculture," U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman told thousands of producers who met here for three days at a joint convention of the National Corn Growers Assn. and the American Soybean Assn.

Drug maker Merck & Co. said Tuesday that it was taking steps to become a leader in generic biotechnology drugs and sales in emerging markets. During its annual business briefing, Merck tried to reassure investors it had the right strategy to resume growing -- after recently announcing another major restructuring and forecasting lower profit and flat revenue in 2009 because of generic competition, the recession and other problems.

Consider 1997 the year of the new best friend in biotechnology. Last year, tiny biotech outfits struck multiple partnerships with pharmaceutical-industry titans to speed development and marketing of new drugs. Investments in such arrangements more than doubled nationally in 1997 to $5.9 billion, compared with $2 billion the year before, reports Burrill & Co., a San Francisco-based merchant bank.

Biotech drug maker Amgen Inc. said Wednesday that its profit leaped in the third quarter, thanks to a comparison with a prior-year quarter weighed down by acquisition and restructuring charges. Because of higher sales and favorable exchange rates, the company raised its full-year earnings outlook even as it reported declining U.S. sales for its bestselling medication. Amgen earned $1.16 billion, or $1.09 a share, compared with $201 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier. Excluding one-time acquisition and restructuring costs, Amgen said it would have earned $1.23 a share, up 14% from the prior year.

Boston this week is the site of two major conferences on biotechnology. Bio2000, a gathering of some 7,000 scientists, biotechnology executives and investors, began Sunday at Boston's convention center. Less than a mile away, on the campus of Northeastern University, is BioDevastation2000, a gathering of about 1,000 activists, scientists and executives from the organic food industry. Biotechnology "is very important to our regional economy," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said.