The Great Economic Crisis of 2008 has pounded the biotech industry, and it is a matter of time before many smaller firms in the space will be announcing layoffs, cancelling drug trials, getting acquired at bargain basement prices, or filing for bankruptcy.

Early-stage biotech companies are at risk because they tend to have tiny revenues and large cash flow requirements. In fact, the Biotechnology Industry Organization estimates that 38% of small biotech companies have less than one year’s worth of cash on hand.

Large biotech companies like Genentech and Amgen have experienced steep declines in their stock prices, but strong revenues should keep them afloat.

If left unchecked, the carnage in small biotech will eventually catch up with the global pharmaceutical companies since they tend to be short on innovation and have relied increasingly on the acquisition of these firms in order to shore up their pipelines.

But don’t expect big pharma to sit on the sidelines in this buyer’s market. GlaxoSmithKline for example, indicated it might soon ramp up acquisitions now that good values can be had. Novartis indicated it was watching the situation with interest.

No company wants to be acquired with a gun at its head, so the small biotechs are exploring other options—unpalatable though they may be. For example, Oramed Pharmaceuticals wants to raise cash from investors in exchange for a cut of their drug’s future revenues. Other companies are pulling out of certain fields to focus on areas with more promising short term prospects.

No doubt though, times are tough for the little guys.

On July 20, 1969, Camp Equinunk watched man land on the moon through an 11-inch black and white TV that was getting a lousy signal from Scranton.

No one cheered. There wasn’t much talk. It was personal experience, shared collectively. It was absurd, overwhelming. Could this be happening?

But Neil Armstrong had prepared for his moment. He must have practiced his line a hundred times before hopping off the LEM.

And yet there it was, unmistakable! An ever-so-slight hesitation after the first word that completely and totally humanized the moment, “That’s…one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” 

So the event happened. We did it! A moment of great pride!

Last night, the TV picture was large, crystal clear and in color, but that didn’t make it easier for the brain to believe what the eyes and ears said must be true.

It took a once-in-a-century economic crisis and a historically inept predecessor. It took a candidate who never got too high or low during a perfectly executed 2-year push. It took an entire generation of young voters and millions of others who voted for the first time and it took a lot more than all of that for Barack Obama to win a national election by 5 percentage points.

Five.

But win it he did. In years to come we’ll see replays of Obama’s confident stride towards 100,000 greeters in Chicago. We’ll hear the speech. We’ll watch him embrace his family, running mate and close friends. We’ll watch the group drift behind the curtains and flags, and we’ll find plenty of humanizing moments.

But right now what I remember is that the Big O didn’t flinch, not once. The smile, the wave, that angular posture of his, it was all so true. Barack Obama stood there as the President elect, and the moment was not too big for him.

It happened. We did it! We really, really did it.

A wealthy Norwegian dot-com boss turned fish farming entrepreneur thinks he can transform the country’s famous fjords into cod hatcheries just as human consumption of farmed fish is set to exceed that of wild fish for the first time.

Harald Dahl has already convinced Morgan Stanley and J. P. Morgan Chase to back his new company, Codfarmers. His backers apparently believe Dahl can overcome outbreaks of disease and finicky eating habits that have thwarted previous efforts to farm the iconic fish.

Today’s Atlantic cod market is worth about $1 billion, a fraction of its value before frightfully irresponsible overfishing slashed the global annual take from 1.8 million tons to 137,000 tons in just 40 years.

Codfarmers believes Norway’s deep fjords will facilitate waste disposal and lower exposure to fecal pathogens, the main reason why farmed cod hadn’t thrived in the past. Codfarmers has also developed techniques that increase reproductive efficiency and reduce harvesting costs.

At the moment, hearty, omnivorous salmon is by far the most widely farmed fish. But farmed salmon is not as tasty and contains fewer beneficial omega-3 fats than wild salmon, so it sells at a discount.

The economics are reversed for cod. Wild cod spends days in the hull of a boat before reaching shore, so it is not as fresh as the farmed variety. It sells for 20% less than farmed cod.

“Salmon used to be the party fish. Now it’s become an everyday fish. We want to make cod the party fish,” Dahl told the Wall Street Journal.