And that is very cool. But frankly, is as true in academia - a new assistant prof. has the startup funding to try something big and splashy without bankrupting the lab.
"Biotech is getting cheaper" applies to both groups.
Hell, the same can be true of postdocs. Or grad students. I know I've gotten at least one paper thanks to cheap computational resources for unfunded musings.
As for @danieltillett's comment, "What you need to do for tenure" does indeed promote some conservative and safe thinking, but:
1. Post-tenure you have a great deal more freedom.
2. I'm not convinced it's more conservative research generating than "We need to keep the VCs/Shareholders/etc." happy.
3. A big, splashy, innovative paper that makes it into Science/Nature/Cell/etc. is a high risk but high reward play.
selected based on how many nature/science (Cell/PNAS/PLOSBio) papers you have. You could have 5 papers in lower journals where you've invented a miracle drug and never get a faculty position.
Of the members of my committee, and the chair of my former department, there are all of zero publications in Science/Nature/Cell or PLOS Biology. While often a shorthand for what you need, it's hardly a generalizable statement. These are all very good researchers, tenured, with positions at R1 universities. And all of them in fields appropriate to this particular discussion.
"Biotech is getting cheaper" applies to both groups.