CRACKING THE CODE: PHIL SHARP AND THE BIOTECH REVOLUTION

IN PRODUCTION

Cracking the Code tells the story of Dr. Phillip A. Sharp, a Kentucky farm boy turned Nobel-prize winning scientist, and his central role in the birth and proliferation of the American biotechnology industry. His 1977 discovery of RNA splicing set the stage for a revolution in molecular biology, enabling research into a new class of medicines predicated on recombinant DNA techniques. Moreover, Dr. Sharp’s participation in the earliest days of biotechnology, consulting for Genentech and helping co-found Biogen, kickstarted an industry which, heretofore nonexistent prior to the 1970s, has exploded into one of the most pivotal and innovative sectors in the American economy. The groundwork that Dr. Sharp helped construct, through his research and entrepreneurship, set the foundation for biotechnology’s greatest triumphs, ranging from the development of synthetic insulin and human growth hormone to the COVID-19 vaccine.