As I mentioned in Biochips, Brain Imaging and Behavior, further advances in biochips will be needed before effective neuroceuticals can be developed. Most importantly, no technology exists today to analyze proteins in an inexpensive and reliable manner.

FuturePundit's Biotech Advance Rates posts highlight the continually decreasing cost of biochips (take a look). I agree with him that the most exciting thing in biotechnology are advances in instrumentation and assay technologies. As he put it, "with a much better set of tools all discoveries could be made much sooner and with less effort and all treatments could be developed much more rapidly."