The biotech bubble (also known as the biotech boom, the biotech crash, the Storm crash, the bio bubble, and the GM bubble) was a historic economic bubble and period of excessive speculation that occurred roughly from 2042 to 2045, a period of extreme growth in the usage and adaptation of bio-science by businesses and consumers. During this period, many biotech companies were founded, many of which failed.
Background[]
Main article: Third Agricultural Revolution
Biotech research in the 2000s and 2010s led to numerous groundbreaking discoveries, none more so significant than CRISPR, a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of bacteria that made it possible to quickly, cheaply, and accurately analyze and splice genetic code. Several CRISPR based tools were pushed into service during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, but the technology's applications were limited for most of the decade due to limitations on the technology and government regulations. Yet it does not stop further researches, with the creation of Retron Library Recombineering(RLR) at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) only makes gene editing even more revolutionizing.
The Great Famine led to many governments adopting looser restrictions on genetic engineering and increased funding toward biotech research to increase crop durability and food production; as well as general improvements to the access of health and bio-science education.
Growth in healthcare labor force[]
One of the primary in-demand services of the late 2020s and 30s was in healthcare labor, the bulk of which was being imported through immigration incentives pioneered during the Ocasio-Cortez administration. However, on top of immigration incentives, the US government created education incentives for the domestic and immigrant workforce to expand the size and quality of the healthcare and bioscience workforce, leading to a rapid increase in the population of health and biotech workers. The increase and personalization of healthcare services during this period, made bio-science and healthcare training more attractive and incentivesed companies to innovate to remain competitive in a more democratized market.
Increases in stem-cell usage and genetic engineering[]
Main article: Genetic Engineering
The commercial growth of the biotech industry was sparked by the advent of new bio-science technologies approved for human use throughout the 2030s. In the mid 2040s, increased availability of diagnostic services, increases in the number of healthcare workers, and better education on the use of stem-cell and genetic therapies led to further increases in biotech usage.
Technologies developed to make up for the labor shortage and Great Famine transferred into more common consumer services. Companies rapidly expanded to introduce exotic produce and protein previously unavailable to the public in the New Domestication movement, while cloning companies were able to create previously inaccessible exotic animals for local zoos and pet owners. Stem cell/biotech 3D printing technologies also entered the market for cosmetic applications, after a slow growth period in the public healthcare system. The fast healing times of stem cell therapies made it easier for private clinics to add cosmic surgery services, and by 2045, 75% of all private clinic revenue was being generated through cosmetic surgery, with 1/3rd of all clinics having fully changed over to an entirely cosmetic biotech model, similar to modern Body-Shops.
Space biotech[]
By the mid 2020s low volume manufacturing operations in LEO and GEO were largely dominated by the biotech industry as certain biocompounds could be grown more efficiently in microgravity than on Earth. The overwhelming bulk of this was bio-production capacity was targeted toward medical compounds.
Stock market bubble[]
The explosion in demand for genetically modified pets and consumables, and cosmetic augmentations led to investors taking greater risks in the market, leading to a stock market bubble. During the bubble, the valuations of companies in the quaternary sector of the economy increased rapidly, however while entrepreneurs were able to raise a great deal of capital to fuel these new enterprises, it was not comparable to the hyper-investment of other eras like the dotcom bubble.
Aftermath[]
Biotech companies continued to emerge after the crash of 2045, however, the industry began to see a consolidation of technologies. Genetic engineering, senescence therapies, and stem cell technology became far more intertwined as single solutions rather than three separate business avenues.
During World War III these technologies continued to converge with robotics leading to the second biotech boom in the 2060s.