One Week in

Philadelphia:

Bio 2005

PennsylvaniansandPhiladelphians are excited about BIO. I am too. Unlike W.C. Fields, I feel fortunate to have experienced “The City That Loves You Back” firsthand. Of course, I wish BIO would come back to New York. But for now, it’s Pennsylvania’s time.

“The fact that BIO 2005 has come to Pennsylvania solidifies the growing notion that we are the world’s next biosciences hub,” says Dennis Yablonsky, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. “ Pennsylvania’ s strongbiosciences industry base, world-renowned universities, and deep talent pool provide for a unique and unrivaled combination of strengths. The biosciences industry has emerged as one of Pennsylvania’s key economic drivers, with the state’s innovative programs helping to drive that success.”

One big difference between Pennsylvania and New York: Pennsylvania appears to have developed a much more integrated infrastructure around the life sciences and convergent sciences communities. They are

very well organized, start­ing at the state level and filtering down. In New York,

many people, organizations, and agencies empower the state and individual regions – and they are integrating their efforts with others. In a 2003 column I wrote that New York is doing things on a case­by-case basis and is quietly building its forces. This work is still progressing. In contrast, Pennsylvania, as a relatively unifiedentity, has prepared to both take their show on the road and to bring those on the road directly back to them. This may give them a leg up on New York (whethertemporary or permanent remains to be seen), as will their hosting BIO this year.

Coincidentally, James Greenwood, the new President of BIO, hails from Pennsylvania. “I am excited to showcase Philadelphia to the international biotech community at BIO 2005. It is fitting that the first annual conference I oversee as BIO’s President is in my home state where I spent 24 years in office.

“My decision to leave Congress to head BIO was based on my belief that biotechnology will bethe most transformational endeavor humans will undertake in my lifetime,“ says Greenwood.

“The first challenge at BIO,” he continues, “isto build a world-class advocacy organization to educate the public and policymakers on the promise of biotechnology. I want to position BIOon the cutting edge of public policy debates, toprovide real leadership after thorough examinationof the issues critical to the industry such as drug safety, capital formation and tax policy, Medicare reimbursement, and reducing trade barriers for American farmers.”

Education and information are indeed crucial if the country and the world are to acceptbiotechnology and its promise. For example, thedemonstrations at BIO in San Francisco last year made clear that most Americans probably don’t

know that almost 80 % of our food has been genetically modified in some way. That’s 80 % of the food on the grocery shelves right now.

One Day in Long Island: The 2005 Life Sciences Industry Summit

The May 5 summit, sponsored by the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI) in partnership with the Center for Biotechnology, was tightly run. It was also diverse, and with multi-session tracks, it was difficult to decide which session to attend.

“The 2005 Life Sciences Industry Summit wasa critical component of a comprehensive strategy to attract, retain and develop life sciences companies while capitalizing on the academic research strengths of the region,” comments Joseph Scaduto, Executive Director of LILSI. “The life sciences community has again demon­strated its enthusiastic commitment to future expansion, both on Long Island and throughout New York State, by participating in this event that attracted almost 300 representatives from industry, academia, and government.”

The luncheon keynote was delivered by Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and other books on bioterrorism. He presented an interesting and entertaining perspective and provided a nice think-break from the sessions. One excellent session focused on putting togethermanagement teams. The session zeroed in on the “cultural” issues such as the importance of the culture of the company, and comparing the culture from which a new management person comes with the one he or she is going to.Too often, start-ups don’t consider these issuesupfront, and just as often, start-ups fail for this reason.

According to Scaduto, the two organizers of the summit “will now look to build upon this momentum to address issues of strategic importance to the long-term growth and sustainability of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, nutriceutical and personal care sectors in the region.” With energy and planning like this, how can they not be successful?