Biotech recruitment: a global challenge

Strictly speaking, the modern biotech industry can be dated to the discovery of penicillin, first synthesized by Alexander Fleming in 1928.

However, it’s not until the 1980s that technologies such as DNA editing started to mature, creating a range of sophisticated and transformative therapeutic techniques - and a race to secure funding, technologies and expertise.

This decade saw a boom in the development of therapies such as human growth hormone, interferon and recombinant insulin, all synthesized in the lab and commercialized at scale. Firms like Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB), Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) and Genentech created an industry from scratch on the back of entirely original medical research.