The most visible company in the field is Senomyx, which has raised about $33 million in start-up money, hired 70 employees, filed for an initial public offering of shares and secured control of an extensive set of patents. Most notably, Senomyx has licensed patents believed to cover virtually all the human genes that permit detection of bitter tastes and it has filed for patents on many of the hundreds of genes involved in smell.

[Paul Grayson], the Senomyx chief executive, said the company's research method will resemble that of a pharmaceutical company, but product development should be far easier. Pharmaceutical companies must not only test their products to ensure safety, they also must put them through lengthy trials to determine whether they are effective. For Senomyx, once a compound passes safety tests, proving that it works should be a simple matter of tasting or smelling it.

One of the leading scientists in the field, and a founder of Senomyx, is Charles Zuker, a biologist at the University of California at San Diego. Many of the proteins that detect bitter tastes were discovered in his laboratory, which licensed patents on them to Senomyx.