(Published Friday, June 17, 2005)

This week, some 15,000 biotechnology executives are gathering in Philadelphia for their annual convention, dubbed ‘BIO 2005.’ BIO, more properly the Biotechnology Industry Organization, is the largest biotechnology lobbying organization in the world. Its leaders have spent millions of dollars trying to paint their conventioneers as an altruistic and scientifically-minded group, seeking cures to human disease and solutions to feed the world’s hungry. A look behind the scenes, however, tells a rather different story…