How to produce ‘marketable and profitable results for the company’: from viral interference to Roferon A

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 41 (3):30 (2019)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper looks at the commodification of interferon, marketed by Hoffmann La Roche as Roferon A in 1986, as a case study that helps us understand the role of pharmaceutical industry in cancer research, the impact of molecular biology on cancer therapy, and the relationships between biotech start-ups and established pharmaceutical firms. Drawing extensively on materials from the Roche company archives, the paper traces interferon’s trajectory from observed phenomenon to product. Roche embraced molecular biology in the late 1960s to prepare for the moment when the patents on some of its bestselling drugs were going to expire. The company funded two basic science institutes to gain direct access to talents and scientific leads. These investments, I argue, were crucial for Roche’s success with recombinant interferon, along with more mundane, technical and regulatory know-how held at Roche’s Nutley base. The paper analyses in some detail the development process following the initial success of cloning the interferon gene in collaboration with Genentech. It looks at the factors necessary to scale up the production sufficiently for clinical trials. Using Alfred Chandler’s concept of ‘organizational capabilities’, I argue that the process is better described as ‘mobilisation’ than as ‘translation’.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,990

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Better prepared than synthesized: Adolf Butenandt, Schering Ag and the transformation of sex steroids into drugs (1930–1946). [REVIEW]Jean-Paul Gaudillière - 2005 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (4):612-644.
Institutionalizing molecular biology in post-war Europe: a comparative study.Bruno J. Strasser - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33 (3):515-546.
Institutionalizing molecular biology in post-war europe: A comparative study.J. B. - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33 (3):515-546.
Hierarchy, determinism, and specificity in theories of development and evolution.Ute Deichmann - 2017 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4):33.
Hierarchy, determinism, and specificity in theories of development and evolution.Ute Diechmann - 2017 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4):33.
The Logic of Life, the Creation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and the Relation between Molecular Biology and Physics.Daniele Cozzoli - 2023 - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 13 (2):463-482.
Some conceptual issues in the transition from chemistry to biology.Alvaro Moreno - 2016 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 38 (4):1-19.
'Molecules and Monkeys': George Gaylord Simpson and the Challenge of Molecular Evolution.Jay Aronson - 2002 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 24 (3/4):441 - 465.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-07-31

Downloads
7 (#1,407,052)

6 months
3 (#1,208,233)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

A History of Molecular Biology.Michel Morange & Matthew Cobb - 1999 - Journal of the History of Biology 32 (3):568-570.
Managing the future: The Special Virus Leukemia Program and the acceleration of biomedical research.Robin Wolfe Scheffler - 2014 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 48 (PB):231-249.

View all 7 references / Add more references