In the race to commercialise the potential offered by biotechnology, the US is several laps ahead of the rest of the world. Some of the US biotech sector's products are already blockbusters. The UK and Germany are among several countries fighting for a place on the podium behind the US. While both countries built their biotech sector from a strong foundation in traditional synthetic drugs and using natural products as a source of new medicines, there are marked differences between their development in the UK and Germany. The key differences, a recent report argues, lie less in the date of entry to the market and more in the national institutions supporting the emerging sector, such as technology transfer, finance and labour legislation.1The models that developed in the 2 nations may offer insights for countries further behind in the biotechnology race.