Exploitation of biotechnology in a smaller company.

The establishment of a research-orientated biotechnology company was one of the recommendations of the Spinks Committee. How the National Enterprise Board, the Medical Research Council and private sector financial institutions responded to this recommendation, leading to the formation of Celltech in November 1980, is described. The paper then outlines Celltech's current position (it is no longer a small company) and future plans and describes the two areas of technology in which the company has achieved a leading position: mammalian cell culture and the engineering of the genes coding for monoclonal antibodies. Celltech's methods of working with academia and the benefits to both are then described, and finally the paper tries to reach some conclusions about the part smaller companies play in technological innovation.