Jim Mellon & Al Chalabi 
Cracking the Code 
Understand and Profit from the Biotech Revolution That Will Transform Our Lives and Generate Fortunes

Everything you need to know about the most important trend in
the history of the world



Within most people’s lifetimes, the developments in the
biotechnology sector will allow us to live increasingly long and
healthy lives, as well as provide us with technological innovations
that will transform the way we live. But these innovations offer
more than just hope for a better life, but hope for better returns
too. Financial returns of incredible magnitude await savvy
investors and businesspeople who can see the massive changes on the
horizon. This book details these fast-moving trends and innovations
and offers extensive advice on how to profit from them in business
and investing.

Table of Content

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

Chapter One Transformational Technologies 1

Futurists and Scientists Look into the Future 1

The Convergence of Technology and Biology 13

Chapter Two The Evolution of Medicine and the Emergence of Biopharma 23

From Atoms to Cells to Living Organisms 24

The History of the Pharmaceutical Industry 36

Chapter Three The Drug Industry – Reinventing the Model 55

Big Pharma, Biopharma 59

Drug Patents 73

The Path to Riches: FDA Approval 79

In Summary 84

Chapter Four Curing Disease – Promising Prospects in the Main Therapeutic Areas 87

Cancer – Step by Step, Being Beaten 89

Infectious Diseases: New Antibiotics, Hepatitis and HIV Drugs Make for a Fast-growing Sector 107

Obesity and its Evil Sisters: Type 2 Diabetes and Kidney Disease 118

The Heart of the Matter – Biggest Killer on the Prowl 128

Fading into the Night – Neurodegeneration, Rheumatology and Multiple Sclerosis 132

Respiratory Disease – New Drugs: A Breath of Fresh Air 143

Rare Diseases and Rare Profits 146

Drugs for Pain and for the Central Nervous System 150

The Best of the Rest – Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Gastrointestinal and Bone Disease 153

Chapter Five Turning Back the Clock – Stem Cells, Genomics, Gene Therapy and Regeneration 157

Stem Cells 166

Gene Therapy and Nano Medicine 170

Organ Growth in and out of the Body 178

Chapter Six Demographic Changes 181

The Working Age Labour Pool in the World is Shrinking 191

Can Immigration Solve the Labour Shortage in the Developed World? 193

The Social Impact of an Ageing Population 195

The United States is the Best Positioned Developed Country 196

Support Ratios Have Been Plummeting 197

China’s Grey Future 198

What Can Governments Do To Avoid Their Country Becoming a Nursing Home? 200

Chapter Seven Bioscience’s Disruptive Influences 205

Insurance and Healthcare 206

Real Estate 210

Politics 211

Geopolitics 211

Retail Goods and Services 212

The Food Industry 213

The Investment Industry 214

The Law 215

Shortage of Young People in Developed Nations 217

Chapter Eight Robotics and Nanotechnology 219

Robotics 219

Surgical Procedures/Surgical Assistance 220

Medical Monitor/Nurse 223

Housemaid/Domestic Assistance 228

Companion/Pet 229

Nanotechnology 232

Chapter Nine Lifestyle Maintenance 235

It’s a Fact: Obesity Shortens Your Life 235

Extending Life Expectancy 237

Common Traits of People who Live the Longest 239

A ‘Cure’ to Ageing 240

Telomeres – Our Biological Clock 244

Chapter Ten Investment in Biopharma – Chasing Those Money Fountains 247

Conservative Portfolio 279

Balanced Portfolio 280

Speculative Portfolio 281

Company Overviews 282

Summary 305

Glossary 315

Appendix – Key Financial Charts of Big Pharma 325

References 327

Bibliography 329

Index 331

About the author

JIM MELLON is an investor with interests in several industries. He is founder of a listed fund management company, Charlemagne Capital, and an Asian mining group, Regent Pacific. In addition, Jim is a director of Manx Financial Group – an Isle of Man based bank, and a controlling shareholder of Speymill – a property business, and Webis Holdings. He is a co-founder of Uramin and West African Minerals Resources, both mining groups. The Burnbrae Group, his private company, is a substantial landlord in Germany and in the Isle of Man, and he also owns the hotel chain Sleepwell Hotels. Jim spends most of his time working on start-up ideas and on investing. Jim lives in the Isle of Man, Brussels and Ibiza. He is an honorary fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

AL CHALABI is an entrepreneur with a diverse professional background who started his career as a systems engineer in Canada. Following this, he worked as a management consultant advising corporations across a number of industries, and more recently as the CFO for a real estate investment company. He currently runs CASP-R, a firm he co-founded in 2008 to provide independent real estate research and advisory services to investors and corporate occupiers across the Asia-Pacific region. He lives in Hong Kong with his partner Fiona and two young children.