T his paper considers how and why the positive net effect of science-related activities substantially increases the value beyond what would be anticipated by the financial theory, which seems to work so well for other fields. A qualitative analysis of 25 small biotechnology R&D firms listed on a stock exchange illustrates that these firms do not follow the neo-classical expectation of Gaussian returns. To better understand this deviation from the expected Gaussian returns, the firms are compared to S&P 100 and the Thomson Reuters Global Innovator List. It is found that while these large firms have