The biotech industry in the New York region emerged in the 1980s and 1990s surrounded by a lot of hype and unrealistic expectations. Even those with a more reasoned perspective remember making assumptions about the speed with which the industry would develop that have turned out to be over-optimistic. Diane Fabel, who has been operations director of the Stony Brook Center for Biotechnology since 1990, recalls “we all thought that the industry cluster in New York was going to take hold a whole lot faster. We were envisioning a decade, not three decades, and we’re still trying to make this gain traction, right?” Building an industry takes decades of sustained, focused effort — and a lot of money.
