Source: Biotechnology Industry Organization

• The nation’s biotechnology industry is growing at roughly 12 percent a year.
  
  
• The U.S. Federal Reserve and other sources estimate that the industry will make up 15 to 18 percent of our economy during the next 20 years.
  
  
• There are 1,473 biotechnology companies in the United States, of which 314 are publicly held.
  
  
• Market capitalization, the total value of publicly traded biotech companies (U.S.) at market prices, was $311 billion as of mid-March 2004.
  
  
• The biotechnology industry has mushroomed since 1992, with U.S. revenues increasing from $8 billion in 1992 to $39.2 billion in 2003.
  
  
• The U.S. biotechnology industry employed 198,300 people as of Dec. 31, 2003.
  
  
• Biotechnology is one of the most research-intensive industries in the world. The U.S. biotech industry spent $17.9 billion on research and development in 2003.
  
  
• The top eight biotech companies spent an average of $104,000 per employee on R&D in 2003.
  
  
• The biotech industry is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).