{"id":90139,"date":"2020-07-01T15:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T14:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/cortellis\/?p=51818"},"modified":"2024-07-05T16:45:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T16:45:01","slug":"celebrating-30-years-of-bioworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/life-sciences-healthcare\/blog\/celebrating-30-years-of-bioworld\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating 30 years of BioWorld"},"content":{"rendered":"

BioWorld\u2122<\/em> has built an enduring relationship with everyone in the drug development and medical technology sectors. As we celebrate our 30th<\/sup> anniversary, we reflect on how the publication has changed over the years to accommodate shifts in media consumption and industry needs.<\/em><\/p>\n

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BioWorld has built an enduring relationship with everyone in the drug development and medical technology sectors. Like most long-term relationships, trust is the cement that secures this foundation. Trust that the news we deliver will be accurate, timely and informative. Trust that we\u2019ll cut through the clutter to make you aware of the most important stories every day (or every hour if necessary!). Above all, that we\u2019ll get the information straight from the source and add perspective \u2013 minus bias.<\/p>\n

As the news industry continues to endure a tumultuous transition due to the rise of social media, self-proclaimed born-on-the web news outlets, popup newsletters and \u201cfree\u201d content, specialty publishing \u2013 targeted news for specific markets or industries \u2013 is more important than ever.<\/p>\n

This year we\u2019re celebrating three decades of tracking the development of innovative human therapeutics.<\/p>\n

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What a long, strange trip it’s been<\/strong><\/p>\n

I relate this to a famous Grateful Dead song, \u201cTruckin\u2019\u201d:<\/p>\n

Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me
\n<\/em>Other times, I can barely see
\n<\/em>Lately, it occurs to me
\n<\/em>What a long, strange trip it’s been<\/em><\/p>\n

Since the first biotech drug \u2013 Genentech Inc.\u2019s genetically engineered human insulin product Humulin \u2013 gained approval in 1982, the industry\u2019s impact on human health keeps on truckin\u2019. Sometimes the light is shining with phenomenal news of scientific breakthroughs, clinical successes and deep-stakes deals. Other times the road ahead hasn\u2019t been so illuminated, yet we truck through despite the potholes from failed experiments, regulatory challenges and collaborations that end in divorce. But the people and companies developing critical new medicines keep driving forward. Thankfully.<\/p>\n

During the year BioWorld was launched, 1990, scientists set out to map the human genome. A 4-year-old girl with an immune disorder received the first experimental gene therapy treatment. The first transgenic cow was created to produce human milk proteins for infant formula. And the first field test of a genetically modified vertebrate was conducted, on a trout. Strange to some but groundbreaking for the industry.<\/p>\n

And BioWorld has been there, covering it all, first published as a magazine by David Bunnell and Cynthia Robbins-Roth (a former scientist from Genentech). Bunnell was a pioneer of the personal computing industry who founded some of the most successful computer magazines, including PC Magazine<\/em>, PC World<\/em> and Macworld<\/em>. He had the idea that biotechnology would become a big thing \u2015 and he was right!<\/p>\n

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The Bill Gates connection<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bunnell was working at Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems\u00a0(MITS) in Albuquerque, N.M., when the company made the first personal computer, the Altair 8800. One of his coworkers was Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The two became lifelong friends. This photo shows Gates demonstrating software on a PC for Bunnell.<\/p>\n

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Also in 1990, Gates become the single largest investor in fledgling ICOS Corp., of Seattle. \u201cBioWorld visits the software boy wonder,\u201d trumpeted a headline in BioWorld. ICOS, to become best known as Eli Lilly and Co.\u2019s partner for the erectile-dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil), was bought in 2007 by Lilly.<\/p>\n

The Microsoft chairman\u2019s presence in the biopharmaceutical industry has only grown since. In 1994, Gates founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (then known as the William H. Gates Foundation) to give back by enhancing health care in poverty-stricken areas of the world.<\/p>\n

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Remember curly fax paper?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on, BioWorld was converted from a print magazine to a faxed publication, called BioWorld Today\u2122. Shortly after, BioWorld Financial Watch\u2122 (a weekly look at financial trends) was launched along with a nascent data service that tracked the biopharmaceutical industry. BioWorld former owner, Thompson Media Group, acquired BioWorld in 1994. BioWorld dropped the faxed version (goodbye master fax blaster!) and converted to digital delivery. BioWorld was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2013. In 2016 Thomson Reuters spun off the Intellectual Property and Science division, which emerged as an independent company now known as Clarivate.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2019 when we relaunched on a brand-new platform which allowed us to make improvements, such as:<\/p>\n