This Friday the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA) will release findings from its 2010 Economic Impact Report at their Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and WBBA Annual Meeting. With the sometimes volatile ups and downs of our industry, these findings have the potential to propel WBBA forward in both current and new initiatives and strategies to build Washington state’s life sciences sector.

We know the life sciences industry has grown to be a significant part of Washington state’s economy. Even through tough economic times, we’ve seen employment numbers pass many of the traditional resource-based industries on which the state’s economy was founded. The life sciences industry is crucial not only because of its size, but also because of its potential for economic growth and improved health for individuals. As the trade association serving this industry in Washington, WBBA has been effective in supporting its members and companies as they work to translate innovation to realization. As I take over the reins as the next WBBA board chair, our goal will be to continue to advance the agenda that we have established thus far—to help all of our member organizations get access to additional financing to further their product development efforts.

Under Tom Clement and Chris Rivera’s leadership, the WBBA has done a good job of laying a solid foundation for establishing Washington state as a leader in the life sciences and in global health. We have one of the largest, most vibrant industry organizations in the country. However, in order for us to maintain our leadership role globally, we have to take a long-term approach by continuing to make investments in projects that have the potential to grow into bigger and more substantial development projects that benefit our healthcare ecosystem. This will require the help and support of all of our stakeholders—from WBBA members to our affiliate members, to local, state and federal elected officials, to patient advocacy groups, to healthcare providers and any other groups willing to join us. There is much to do in educating both the public and our elected officials so that they understand the long-term benefits of what our industry can provide in terms of hope and in terms of the life-saving healthcare solutions for patients and their families. Working together, we can develop sustainable policies that can be implemented now to support and grow our diverse life sciences sector.

Fundamentally we’ve come out of a pretty tough time. Right now, life science companies are facing substantial risks. The public markets haven’t … Next Page »

Comments (1) | Reprints | Share:          

This week, The Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA) will host its Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and Annual Meeting. Nearly 1,000 leaders of Washington’s life sciences community are expected attend. The summit celebrates the importance of the life sciences industry to our state’s economic future, which is critical, as life sciences remains one of Washington’s five largest and fastest-growing sectors, spanning 72 cities statewide, employing tens of thousands with high-wage jobs, and in 2009 stimulating more than $10.5 billion in state economic activity.

Last year’s economic impact data report indicated from 2007-2009 the number of life sciences jobs grew nearly 5 percent, to 26,300. On Friday the WBBA will release this year’s findings and we expect to see continued positive results.

During my tenure as Board Chair, I’ve watched WBBA work with an incredibly diverse membership group to translate innovation to realization: from breakthrough discoveries to better health solutions, keeping Washington state life sciences focused on better health for people around the world. In spite of an economic downturn over the last few years, growth and expansion of the organization into all areas has been significant, with a continuous pattern of maturing and getting more sophisticated in what we do. We’ve been able to achieve more than ever before, even in bad economic times.

Each year WBBA membership has grown in both numbers and diversity with a net increase of 5 percent in 2009 and 7 percent in 2010. We represent a diverse industry, including, biotech, biopharma and medical device companies; public and private research institutions, manufacturing companies, and service organizations.

We’ve continued to expand our Government Affairs Council (GAC), overseeing policy and legislation at the local, state and federal levels, assessing the impact of policy on members, and taking appropriate action via letters, testimony, meetings and position statements. The GAC also develops and makes recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding the WBBA’s annual public affairs agenda and engages in fundraising for BIOPAC. BIOPAC is WBBA’s non-partisan political action committee. Contributions to BIOPAC help increase the life science sector’s voice in Washington state government through education, information and support for candidates who promote the development of medical products and devices that save lives and improve the quality of life for millions of individuals.

Our goal has been to assist life science researchers, entrepreneurs, and companies in bridging the gap between discovery and commercialization. We developed a broad range of activities to do this, including free consulting to member companies, regular educational and company showcase events, and the creation of resources pertinent to the issues faced by technology commercialization in Washington state.

During my tenure as board chair, we established new programs to facilitate access to capital in several ways. Wings is a non-profit angel network that began about three years ago with strong support of the WBBA and others including the University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization. Wings facilitates seed and early stage investments in medical technology companies in Washington state. WBBA has also developed an exciting program called Venture, Investor and Partnering (VIP) Forums. We invite high quality investors and strategic partners to Seattle for a showcase of the most promising life science companies and research opportunities in the region.

We’ve helped recruit, train and retain talent. Recently however we’ve taken it a step further. A key example: When ZymoGenetics was purchased by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2010, WBBA president Chris Rivera coordinated an effort with Governor Chris Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Congressman Jay Inslee to petition Bristol-Myers to keep nearly 300 jobs here in Seattle. As a result, the company kept the facility open here and has become active in our local life sciences community.

Even through challenging economic times, the life sciences sector continues to fuel the vitality of Washington state. With leadership and vision we can continue to drive our innovation economy by continuing to combine our efforts to nurture entrepreneurism and boost creativity. There are many people in this community who really care and participate, and are helping WBBA do just that. One thing I’m really proud of is that because of what we’ve been able to accomplish with WBBA, we have an outstanding incoming board chair, Thong Le.

It is my belief that our economy is going to be fueled by new ideas and new companies. I anticipate that the trend upward in life sciences jobs will keep the life sciences in Washington growing. Key to that growth is having a supportive business climate, an educated workforce and strong support for research. WBBA will continue doing its part to develop initiatives and programs that help grow new life sciences companies and retain those already here. WBBA will continue to be the glue of the life sciences sector.

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share:          

In the spring of 2010 I was minding my own business, doing a bit of consulting, board work, lollygagging around, when I received a call from Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. The WBBA had had a strong focus on capital appreciation and on helping its members grow and prosper, and in that context had created a position of commercialization consultant. The consultant at the time, Dick Haiduck, had done a phenomenal job in this capacity, but had grown tired of commuting up to Seattle from the Bay Area. Hence, an opportunity: a one day a week gig to interact with the area’s entrepreneurs, helping them deal with strategic issues, financing issues, etc. One day a week, at the end of which I could leave THEIR problems at the office.

Chris inquired as to my interest. I said yes. My parents, of the generation that can’t believe anyone would NOT want to work 80 hours a week if they were less than, say, 85 years old, misunderstood the resulting press release and thought I had taken a full time job. “Hallelujah, our derelict daughter has finally found gainful employment,” my mother rejoiced. Her misunderstanding corrected, she still credits the WBBA with saving her daughter from a life of sloth with disastrous consequences. (And maybe she’s right…)

So, thus began an amazing several months of meeting and interacting with a plethora of life sciences entrepreneurs. And here is what I learned:

1. The entrepreneurial spirit is incredibly alive and well in the Seattle area. The fabric is rich, diverse, and exciting. I worked with more than 50 emerging companies over the several months at WBBA. Their areas of focus included medical devices, point-of-care diagnostics, consumer-oriented healthcare products, re-engineered therapeutic products, and basic biological drug development, among others. Some of these “companies” consisted of an entrepreneur and an idea. Others were fairly well-developed, with seed funding. A few were close to product launch and even achieved that in the course of my time there. Some entrepreneurs needed extensive help with their business planning, strategy, human resources, etc.—more than one person can do in a day a week. Others had done yeoman’s work but needed a pat on the back or a sympathetic ear. It’s lonely at the top…

2. There is a really supportive, burgeoning community of consultants and service providers who see the value of supporting early stage projects with services priced at less than market rates. This community is really invaluable to the emerging companies, and the WBBA has been a great “clearinghouse” for such services. Realizing that there is only so much pro bono or less than market rate support these individuals or firms can do, the results indeed are impressive. To me, it speaks of the strategic understanding on the part of the community that individual company success means collective success for the community, and significant benefits can accrue as a result.

3. Similarly, the entrepreneurs I came to know were always willing to share ideas and tips with each other.

4. The angel community has really stepped up in the area and has taken advantage of a number of investment opportunities that in the past might have been made available only to the venture capital community. WINGS and the Innovation Showcase program through the Technology Alliance are enabling angel investors to share diligence and get early insights into promising companies.

5. WBBA’s VIP (Venture Investment and Partnering) Forums are great tools for introducing emerging companies to a variety of investors and business development contacts, as well as opportunities to practice presenting the story in a concise and professional way. It always amazed me that we had to occasionally beat the bushes for candidate companies to present to these audiences, especially since assistance with presentations was offered as a tandem benefit.

And finally, it was impossible not to get infected by the sheer passion and excitement of interacting with these amazing entrepreneurs, and impossible to leave their stories and issues, as it were, at the office after my “one day a week” ended.

So, infected and afflicted with no cure in sight, I chose to move back to a full time position (much to my mother’s happiness!). I still keep in touch with a number of the entrepreneurs I met in the context of my time at WBBA, but the current Commercialization Consultant, Chris Porter, brings an amazing wealth of experience and knowledge, particularly in the device arena, that I’m sure is providing great benefit.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

There was a great buzz yesterday at ZINO Life: Life Sciences Investment Forum where 14 biotech and life sciences companies pitched to a room full of eager investors. Many exciting technologies were on display, including Empowering Engineering Technologies‘ ExoWalk—the 2010 Zino Life fund recipient—as well as Cerevast Therapeutics’ ClotBust-ER. All presenters delivered energetic and compelling presentations that demonstrated the persistent enthusiasm and innovation that continues to propel the vibrant life sciences sector of Seattle.

Chris Rivera of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association reminded the attendees that the No. 1 challenge facing entrepreneurs today is access to capital. The event was a great example of how angel investment groups, such as ZINO Society, are diligently working to bring entrepreneurs and investors together. Following dealflow presentations this afternoon, Cathi Hatch, the CEO of the Zino Society, announced four finalists were selected by investors:

1. David Hatton of Aseptica—Aseptica’s technology prevents catheter related infections.

2. Michael Hite of Impel NeuroPharma—Impel is developing a novel drug delivery device to enable central nervous system drugs to bypass the blood-brain barrier,

3. Steve Baird of S-Ray Incorporated—S-Ray owns a unique way of using ultrasound to detect cracks and cavities in teeth, without radiation.

4. Paul Hagen of VacuPractor—VacuPractor is a revolutionary device for lower back pain.

Following due diligence, one of these companies will be awarded a $25,000 investment from the combined ZINO 2011 Annual Angel Fund.

Paul Hagen (VacuPractor) and Steve Baird (S-Ray) were also selected by the audience for Best Presentation and Best Investment Opportunity.

Optimism filled the conference room at the Pan Pacific Hotel as Rivera reflected on the trends in the Seattle life sciences industry, one of the top five job sectors that have demonstrated continued growth, even in the face of the recent economic climate. Alan Smith of Fenwick & West delved further into the current financial climate for biotech in Seattle by probing the panel of prominent faces in Seattle’s life sciences sector. The group included Rivera; John Bowers, senior vice president of SonoSite; Tom Clement, the chairman & founder of Pathway Medical Technologies; and David Schubert, president and chief business officer, Accelerator Corporation.

The dynamic discussion reflected on the difficulty to get funded and the need to ‘de-risk’ investment opportunities by demonstrating more than proof of concept to investors, in addition to the importance of maintaining realistic expectations for the timeline for return on investment following investment in life sciences companies. This pragmatic advice was, however, secondary to the panels’ confidence in the community. They reiterated that Seattle is a hotbed for innovation, cool technologies, and fantastic ideas. In reference to comparing Seattle’s innovative life sciences sector to the nation and worldwide communities, Schubert emphatically stated that, “Seattle is at the top of ANY pyramid you want to put it on.”

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

This week’s news flow was dominated by a pretty rare event—a lucrative acquisition of a Seattle-based, venture-backed biotech company.

—Calistoga Pharmaceuticals hit the jackpot this week, as it agreed to be acquired by Foster City, CA-based Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) for as much as $600 million if certain milestones are reached. The deal is interesting not just locally, but nationally as well, because it represents Gilead’s first serious foray into the cancer drug business. Calistoga CEO Carol Gallagher says she’s hopeful that most of the company’s 23 employees will be retained at Gilead’s new research center along Lake Union. I also had a follow-up conversation with Gilead’s chief scientist, Norbert Bischofberger, about why Gilead is making the move into cancer and inflammatory diseases now.

—Physio-Control, the storied Redmond, WA-based maker of heart defibrillators, could once again become an independent company, through a spinoff being proposed by its parent, Minneapolis, MN-based Medtronic (NYSE: MDT). Physio-Control had about 1,100 employees as of a year ago, with about three-fourths of them in Redmond.

—Bruce Montgomery, the prominent Seattle biotech entrepreneur, has pulled in the first $1 million of financing for a new company he’s working on called Cardeas Pharma. Montgomery has teamed up with Melissa Yaeger, a former colleague at Seattle-based Corus Pharma and Gilead Sciences. No word yet on what Cardeas is doing, but I’m checking.

—Seattle’s best-known biotech company, Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN), is apparently scoping out some downtown office space with potential to wow big East Coast portfolio managers coming through town. Dendreon is reportedly in talks to take office space in the Russell Investments Center with a towering view over downtown, Elliott Bay, and the Olympics. No final decision has been made, a company spokeswoman told The Seattle Times.

—Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has joined forces with Watertown, MA Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) to make their electronic medical record offerings more compatible and easier for healthcare professionals to use.

—We also had two biotech-themed guest editorials this week. Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, offered his take on how the local innovation community can play a key role in sparking a broader economic recovery. And David Miller, president of Seattle-based Biotech Stock Research, talked about how health insurance costs are becoming a much more serious impediment to new company creation than ever before.

Comments (4) | Reprints | Share:          

We had news galore this week on the Seattle biotech beat, with a mondo acquisition, an accusation of insider trading, and a prominent report pronouncing the U.S. medical device industry in a state of decline. Take a gander at the flurry of headlines here.

—Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), which has significant immunology R&D operations in Seattle, announced this week it has made a potential $1 billion bet on Woburn, MA-based BioVex, a company attempting to rev up the immune system to fight cancer in a new way. I caught up with Amgen R&D boss Roger Perlmutter in an exclusive interview the next day to find out why he’s become a believer in what’s known as the oncolytic virus approach.

—Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) has had a lot to be excited about this past year, but now it has a real headache. The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused one of its employees of illegally tipping off a family member that really good news would be coming soon from the company’s cancer drug in development for Hodgkin’s disease. The SEC said the insider trading netted $800,000 in illegal profits. The agency said Seattle Genetics is cooperating with regulators.

—Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) has decided to stay in Seattle, and retain what’s left of the ZymoGenetics workforce, the company said this week. Local officials, including Gov. Chris Gregoire and Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, thanked the company for providing a much-needed vote of confidence in the local biotech community. But Bristol has sound business reasons to hold onto its Zymo assets, beyond keeping local officials happy. Zymo’s lead asset in development for hepatitis C is now far more valuable than it was when Bristol acquired the company, because of a clinical stumble by a competitor last month.

—Seattle-based Calypso Medical Technologies had a couple of blurb-worthy items this week. The Seattle-based medical device company pulled in another $6.4 million through a securities offering, and named Ed Vertatschich as its new CEO, replacing Eric Meier.

—I reminded readers about our next big upcoming event at Xconomy Seattle, titled “Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome.” This is coming up fast, on February 7th, at Swedish Medical Center’s Cherry Hill Campus. It’s a rare opportunity to bring together Lee Hood of the Institute for Systems Biology, along with key leaders at Microsoft and Amazon, as well as leading entrepreneurs from the Bay Area—Complete Genomics and PacBio. If you’d like to register, click here.

—One of Seattle’s well-known medical device inventors, Clif Alferness, showed up in these pages this week when I had a chance to profile his latest startup, Redwood City, CA-based Calibra Medical. CEO Jeff Purvin talked about how Calibra has developed a cheap and easy way to deliver insulin to diabetics with one needlestick every three days, instead of once or more per day.

—Venture capital financing stats flowed in this week, closing the book on 2010, and news flash—it’s still ugly out there for entrepreneurs seeking venture capital. You can see the decade-long trend in this piece, and read comments from OVP’s Carl Weissman on what has to happen to reverse the downward trajectory.

—Is the U.S. losing its mojo as the world leader in medical device innovation? A new report from PwC says yes, although I’m not so sure the folks in India and China are quite ready to start eating our lunch here in the States. I’m curious to hear what more of our readers have to say about this.

—Seattle-based Geospiza, a longtime maker of software for biological research, inked a new multi-year collaboration with one of the very big life sciences toolmakers—Waltham, MA-based PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI).

—Lastly, we had an interesting guest post from Jim Posada, the CEO of Seattle-based Resolve Therapeutics, on “the new normal for biotech startups.” Anybody who’s ever wondered how you can build a business after spending a decade or more and a billion dollars to find out if you maybe have a product ought to read this. Posada is one of many entrepreneurs trying to find a way to develop drugs in a way in which investors can get reasonable returns without waiting 20 years.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb scoped out the neighborhood for a couple months, and has decided to put down roots in Seattle.

The New York-based pharmaceutical giant (NYSE: BMY), which spent $885 million to acquire ZymoGenetics in October, has decided to maintain its presence here, according to Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

“My understanding is that there are 275 people there, and they are all being retained, and they were told this morning in a meeting with senior management,” Rivera says. He said he wasn’t sure what Bristol’s real estate plans were for ZymoGenetics’ historic Steam Plant headquarters, or its other properties.

A voicemail and e-mail message sent to a Bristol-Myers Squibb spokeswoman weren’t immediately returned.

The decision by the pharmaceutical giant is surely a sigh of relief for Rivera and a bunch of local policymakers who were dreading the possibility of yet another big pharma takeover leading to mass layoffs in the local biotech community. That’s what happened before with local biotech stars Immunex, Icos, Corixa, and eventually Rosetta Inpharmatics, and quite a few biotechies expected a similar fate to strike ZymoGenetics, the venerable biotech founded in 1981. Many of ZymoGenetics’ senior managers have already left for new jobs, including former CEO Doug Williams, but those who are still working at Zymo’s offices on Eastlake Avenue now have some more security in knowing Bristol wants to stay in Seattle.

Bristol agreed to acquire ZymoGenetics back in September, saying then that it wanted to obtain full ownership of a drug for hepatitis C called pegylated interferon lambda. This product, which I wrote about earlier today, surely became more valuable after Bristol closed the Zymo deal, because a competing drug failed to show it could make the Zymo product obsolete in a clinical trial. At the time of acquisition, ZymoGenetics executives  couldn’t promise that Bristol wanted the ZymoGenetics people, as well as the ZymoGenetics assets, but they suggested the deal might not end in mass layoffs. Former chief financial officer Jim Johnson told me in September that Bristol’s pattern with past acquisitions—Princeton, NJ-based Medarex, and Waltham, MA-based Adnexus Therapeutics—suggested that it may want to retain people with expertise in biotech R&D like those at Zymo.

Having Bristol retain a presence is critically important to the region, in that it helps provide stability to the local biotech job market, Rivera says. “”Having a mix of large pharma, large biotech, large device companies is important to keep our job ebb and flow more steady. It helps to recruit executives from outside the regio,” he says.

Comments (5) | Reprints | Share:          

Railroad barons from the 19th century ruined it for Washington State, the common business perception goes, by snookering states into coughing up egregious corporate welfare. It led to a popular uprising and a subsequent state Constitution that forever prohibited direct aid to corporations. That, politicians often say, is the reason the state can’t invest in local startups today.

So it surprised a lot of people in October—me included—when the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund defied the perception by funneling $5 million of state money into a biotech corporation—Seattle-based Omeros (NASDAQ: OMER). This was part of a larger deal in which the state pooled resources with Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital to invest a total of $25 million into a basic research program at Omeros. The vision is that the company could make it possible to develop new therapies against 100 or more protein targets on cells that have been inaccessible to drugmakers.

This deal was remarkable because it represents the first time the state Life Sciences Discovery Fund has plowed its resources directly into a for-profit entity. The transaction was done through a project financing structure which has never been used by the state life sciences agency before, and which is within the legal boundaries set by the state’s Constitution, says executive director Lee Huntsman. If the bet fails, the state and Vulcan will have lost their money. If it pays off, the state could get back five times its original investment, and Omeros could end up throwing off much more cash flow into a new nonprofit entity that hasn’t yet been named, Huntsman says. That nonprofit agency could provide grants to Washington State researchers and companies long after the sun sets on the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund, originally envisioned by Gov. Chris Gregoire as a 10-year, $350 million plan to boost biotech in the state.

“I’m very excited about what this could mean medically, and I’m optimistic about what it could mean economically for the state,” Huntsman says. “You can do wild-eyed calculations about home run scenarios, and I don’t want to get too wrapped up in that. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. But we were convinced, and the board was convinced, they didn’t need to get any home run to justify this award. It was well within our mission, our mechanisms, and within our risk profile.”

Lee Huntsman

This deal involves some complicated scientific and financial considerations which I’ve been meaning to follow up on ever since the original story broke. Huntsman talked about all of that in a detailed interview at his Seattle office a few weeks ago.

The story began back in the summer of 2009, when Omeros CEO Greg Demopulos and chairman Tom Cable approached Huntsman. They told him about the company’s opportunity to discover new drug targets known as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). These are complex spaghetti-like 3-D protein structures that weave in and out of the surface of cells. Many of today’s best-selling therapies for allergies, pain, and mental illness hit these GPCR targets, including billion dollar blockbusters of the past and present like Merck’s loratadine (Claritin), Bristol-Myers Squibb’s aripiprazole (Abilify), and Purdue Pharma’s oxycodone (Oxycontin).

Omeros, through its acquisition of Seattle-based Nura five years ago, and a subsequent license it obtained to technology from Toronto-based Patobios, thought it had hit upon … Next Page »

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share:          

There was that minor election thing this week, but the biotech community didn’t have the good sense to stand down and let the politicians hog all the spotlight. Get caught up on your headlines here.

—Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) reported its third quarter financial results, and since this is just the second quarter of operations since the FDA approval of sipuleucel-T (Provenge), it was a biggie. I did a pre-game story about manufacturing and reimbursement issues the company is dealing with, and a recap mostly on what was said about how Dendreon hopes to start meeting full demand from patients in the fourth quarter of 2011.

—One of the big biotech IPOs on the calendar next week is for Clinton, NJ-based Ikaria. Seattle venture capitalist Bob Nelsen at Arch Venture Partners is holding his breath on this one, since his early investment in the hibernation-on-demand technology from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center could be worth more than $55 million if Ikaria can price its IPO at $16, the midpoint of the forecasted range. The Hutch stands to gain too, although regulatory filings I dug through aren’t as clear on how many shares it has left after a reverse stock split.

—Xconomy broke the news about a new $20 million startup investment fund at the University of Washington, which will have an impact on UW’s ability to spin out tech and biotech companies. The Husky Bridge Investment Fund, based on a model at the University of Utah, seeks to put business students to work on a lot of business fundamentals, and help entrepreneurial faculty with the first $250,000 or $500,000 they need to get the kind of evidence they need to entice angels and VCs, according to UW vice provost Linden Rhoads.

—I took some time to profile RF Surgical Systems, a Bellevue, WA-based company that makes radio-frequency tags that get embedded in surgical sponges. This is supposed to make it so surgeons and nurses never have to worry about losing a surgical sponge (and potentially sewing up a patient with one left in the body). This adds extra cost to the usual commodity sponge, and co-founder Jeffrey Port talked about how RF hopes to persuade hospitals to shell out.

—This was a San Francisco feature story that has some strong Seattle angles. Hyperion Therapeutics, a company developing a new drug for rare urea cycle disorders, said this week that it reached its goal in a pivotal clinical trial and plans to seek FDA approval by the end of September. Hyperion raised $60 million a year ago from a syndicate that included Seattle-based WRF Capital. The company also used to be led by WBBA president Chris Rivera, a veteran of the rare-disease business from his days at Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ).

—Biotech companies got a lot of stuff they wanted out of healthcare reform, and some of the big prizes arrived in the mail this week. The IRS notified companies that won grants under a $1 billion program doled out in small chunks to a lot of startups with 250 employees or less. In Washington, I did a roundup of 83 companies that pulled in a combined $34 million. That’s why I couldn’t resist digging up a picture of Uncle Sam handing out some cash to illustrate this one. Stewart Lyman offered more insight into this program in a guest column.

—Vancouver, BC-based Allon Therapeutics raised $10 million this week to advance its lead drug candidate for neurological disorders.

—Veteran drug developer Bruce Montgomery, who stepped down from Gilead Sciences in August, said he was joining the board of Bothell, WA-based Alder Biopharmaceuticals this week.

—One last guest column I wanted to bring to your attention. Michael Gilman, the CEO of a Boston-area biotech startup called Stromedix, wrote a fun and interesting op-ed about how he’s discovered Twitter can be a valuable resource for him, not a waste of time like so many of his peers think. I’d personally like to see a few more biotechies take the Twitter plunge to see what’s there, but I’d also welcome any post from someone out there who thinks differently, that maybe this is all bunk.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

The Xconomy Meetup was an experiment last month. Now I reckon it’s time to replicate the experiment.

Tomorrow afternoon, Xconomy readers are welcome to break away from the lab or the desk to come join me and special guest Chris Rivera of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association for an informal meetup-style event. Regular Xconomy readers will recall that Accelerator CEO Carl Weissman was the special guest last time around. Just like the last time, this is a free and open event in which we just invite readers to come shoot the breeze and talk about the innovation scene in a relaxed environment. Just come and go as you please.

This was a lot of fun last time around, and more than a couple readers urged me to do it again. So mark your calendars for 4 pm to 6 pm tomorrow, Oct. 26, for this event at the Streamline Tavern in Lower Queen Anne. Please shoot me a note at ltimmerman@xconomy.com if you plan on stopping by.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold has said for years that he wants to make his company the anchor tenant for Seattle biotech. Now that his company has had a breakout success, he’s clearly got the full attention of 700 members of the biotech community who met this morning, wanting to know what can be done to create more companies like Dendreon.

For those just tuning in to this story, Dendreon made global news earlier this year when it won the first FDA approval for a therapy that actively stimulates the immune system to fight cancer. Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) has been hiring hundreds of people to keep up with demand for this drug, and investors have given the company a market value of more than $5 billion. The company was worth about $38 million when Gold started as CEO on Jan. 1, 2003.

So Gold is no longer just another struggling biotech entrepreneur, but a guy hiring lots of smart people, and offering a therapy to men with prostate cancer that helps them live longer, with only mild side effects. Now that he has the floor, he took advantage of it at this morning’s event to make some unequivocal statements about what Washington can do to become a more vibrant biotech center.

First, Gold said the state shouldn’t pass a new state income tax that will make it harder to recruit talented executives. It could be a lot more aggressive about workforce training, like Georgia is. And the state could certainly do more to inspire and educate kids about careers in science.

I shared most of the pithy comments this morning in real-time while thumb-typing on my BlackBerry to my followers on Twitter. But I know most of the 700 people in this audience of biotech pros haven’t yet adopted the whole Twitter thing, so I thought I’d pass along the highlights here in these pages, which I know you’re reading (thanks for that, by the way!).

If you actually do want to start following me on Twitter, you can sign up for an account. You can click on my handle @ldtimmerman to start following the daily feed of stories that I write for Xconomy, some stories from others that I share, and the occasional musing about my love for running, mountaineering, and the Wisconsin Badgers. I’d also highly recommend you follow @adamfeuerstein, @matthewherper, @maverickny, @genomicslawyer, @fiercebiotech, @rleuty_biotech, @johncfierce, @michael_gilman, @popsalks to get started.

Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold

Anyway, to skeptical biotechies: I’ve learned that you can say a fair bit of stuff in 140 characters or less, and share interesting thoughts with people in real-time. Here’s a sampling of the material I knocked out on the BlackBerry this morning, in no particular order.

Mitch Gold: State of Georgia is really aggressive. Gave us $10m grant to train employees. Nothing like that in Wash St

Mitch Gold: Provenge took 15 years, $1.2B of capital. Not straightfwd path. Look to us as an example of perseverance in biotech.

Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold at WBBA mtg: Dendreon mkt cap was $38m when I started, $5B now. We are just getting started

Tom Clement: I raised $100m for a med device co, not possible today. Mirador raised $1m and got FDA approval, that’s the new way.

Jay Inslee: We are in a knife fight with other states to develop biotech industry. Need to set aside party differences to focus on this.

Mitch Gold: I hired COO Hans Bishop partly b/c Seattle has Gates Foundation, and his wife got a job there. Cluster effect very impt

Mitch Gold: Got to inspire youth. Every kid knows Bill Gates. Few know abt careers in science

Bob Nelsen: three of state’s top 4 life science investors will scale back if state income tax I-1098 passes

Mitch Gold: FDA lacks resources. Has rt intentions. We do ourselves a disservice if we lower the bar for approval.

Gov Gregoire: I have a $4.5b budget shortfall. Cuts are coming. Still need to invest in biotech, aerospace, greentech, IT

Gov Gregoire not mentioning the 40 percent budget cut to LS Discovery Fund. I’m skeptical of the job creation stats being tossed around

Gov Gregoire: many states mis-spent tobacco settlement $ on short term emergencies. WA st invested for future w/ life science discovery fund

Gov Gregoire: my 1st life science summit didn’t have nearly this many people. (About 700 people here today).

Mitch Gold: 1st met Jay Inslee in DC. He gets this industry. It’s not really abt creating jobs, but about changing lives of constituents

Mitch Gold: WA state shouldn’t pass income tax. Will make it tougher to recruit top East Coast talent

Mitch Gold: toughest challenge for us was getting top talent after Immunex got bought. That’s changing now that DNDN is a commercial org

Carl Feldbaum: FAA had to raise salaries to slow industry poaching of top employees. Not bad idea to help FDA staff

Carl Feldbaum: In 1906 at founding of FDA, food was more impt than drugs. Different story now.

Mitch Gold: FDA lacks resources. Has rt intentions. We do ourselves a disservice if we lower bar for approval.

Chris Rivera: WBBA bd unanimously opposed to WA st income tax I-1098.

Feldbaum: Chagas disease is little known killer in dev world. Genome of pathogen sequenced, still no good therapy. Needs industry champions

Carl Feldbaum: BIO was best job of my life, but I don’t miss working in DC. Political system too ‘bent out of shape, if not broken.’

WBBA’s Chris Rivera polling audience, on what group’s top priority should be. Attracting capital to WA is the winner. Recruit talent is No 2

Arch’s Bob Nelsen has a bumper sticker hanging on his name tag, against the proposed state income tax. Not afraid to stir the pot.

Heading to Gov Life Sciences conf/WBBA annl meeting in Bellevue. Fmr BIO pres Carl Feldbaum speaking, haven’t seen him in years. Will tweet

Comments (3) | Reprints | Share:          

Summertime may be officially here, but we are a long way from the dog days. This week, the Seattle biotech desk had reports on cancer drugs, drug discovery tools, and antibiotics, as well as a few sharp guest editorials.

—Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) has generated a lot of buzz about its drug candidate, an “empowered antibody” for Hodgkin’s disease. But a lesser-known drug candidate, a more traditional “naked” antibody that hits tumor cells without packing an extra toxic payload, is also nearing a key turning point in which the company will learn whether it can help leukemia patients live longer.

—Quite a bit has happened in the last few months at Presage Biosciences, a Seattle-based spinoff from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The company topped off a $4 million angel investment round, hired a new CEO, and has found a couple paying customers from Big Pharma that are using its technology to help sift out the winners from the losers in cancer drug development.

—Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), the Foster City, CA-based company with significant operations in Seattle, said that its inhalable antibiotic for cystic fibrosis beat a competing drug from Novartis in a head-to-head study. This trial compared patients who mostly had three prior cycles of the Novartis drug and who were getting a fourth round, or a new round of the Gilead drug. The Gilead drug, originally developed by Corus Pharma in Seattle, won FDA approval in February.

—Seattle-based Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: ONTY) was able to breathe a sigh of relief late last week. The company said its partner, Germany-based Merck KGaA, was cleared to re-start two of three pivotal trials of an immune-boosting treatment for cancer called Stimuvax that was first developed at Oncothyreon.

—A familiar face to many local biotechies, Tom Ranken, is taking on a new challenge as the first full-time CEO of the Washington Clean Technology Alliance. This may seem like déjà vu for Ranken, who in the mid-90s, took the helm of a loosely affiliated trade association at the time, the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, and made it into a much bigger organization with more impact for the local life sciences industry.

—The Vancouver, BC, biotech cluster had a big financing to report last week. Aquinox Pharmaceuticals pocketed $25 million in a Series B venture round to advance its drug candidates against cancer and inflammatory diseases.

—We had a flurry of guest editorials built around life sciences themes. The first was from Thong Le of WRF Capital, who contends that Silicon Valley needs to invest in truly innovative people and companies if it wants to be a more stable hub. Next was a piece from Dan Vorhaus, well known as @genomicslawyer on Twitter, with a piece on how consumer genetics needs more transparency instead of heavy-handed regulation. And, we had a post from WBBA chief Chris Rivera on how biotech must have more capital, more talent, and predictable regulations to thrive. Thanks to all for your contributions, and anyone else who wants to chime in, shoot me a note at ltimmerman@xconomy.com.

—Last, but not least, we had some good news around the Xconomy Seattle office this week. I’m happy to introduce our newest team member, Thea Chard, who is covering all kinds of technology here in the Northwest. She is replacing the co-founder of this bureau, Greg Huang, who is moving to run Xconomy’s editorial shop in Boston. Greg will continue to cover national themes in IT, so his byline will still appear from time to time on these pages.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

Last week, a group of executives and leaders from state life sciences trade associations across the country, including myself, gathered here in Seattle to discuss the policy landscape at both the federal and state levels. Part of our agenda for the meeting, which took place at Amgen’s Helix campus along Elliott Bay, was to discuss the implications of a new study conducted by Battelle and commissioned by the Council on American Medical Innovation (CAMI) outlining the policy changes necessary to maintain a thriving life sciences and biotech industry in the United States.

And as a state with a thriving life sciences industry, the study also had very specific implications for Washington.

The study, for which I was interviewed, identifies four key challenges that we must address in order to maintain our leadership: 1) lack of consistency and predictability in the review and approval of new medical products and uncertainties in reimbursement; 2) shortfalls in private investment for company formation, R&D and related manufacturing job growth; 3) gaps between research and translation of medical innovation into new treatments; and 4) limitations in the U.S. bioscience talent pool.

The most important conclusion from the study and our resulting meetings in Seattle is that we cannot take for granted the strength and growth we have witnessed in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors so far. Our leadership in these industries as a state and as a country is ours to lose. We are beginning to experience some regulatory and financial limitations that are not good signs for sectors that have been among the few bright shining areas in an otherwise dim economic picture.

A warning shot went up this week: If we don’t take steps now to relieve policy pressure on life sciences, we face the serious risk of losing our global leadership in these areas.

Many within Washington state have a stake in this leadership, and as evidenced by the nearly 60 interested community members who joined us for the event: Lee Huntsman from Life Sciences Discovery Fund, John Gardner from Washington State University, Bob Drewel from the Puget Sound Regional Council and Carolyn Busch from state Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown’s staff, to name a few.

U.S. Rep Jay Inslee, whose House district covers parts of Kitsap, Snohomish, and northern King County, continues to be a champion for innovation and the need to support the life sciences and therapeutic development, as well as education. Congressman Inslee—named Legislator of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)—added … Next Page »

Comments (1) | Reprints | Share:          

Kirby Cramer probably has the most diversified track record of success in life sciences entrepreneurship of anybody in the Northwest. Now he’s putting some of his time and money into strengthening Wings, the budding angel investing network for medical device startups.

“We are blessed in the Northwest to have hundreds of medical device entrepreneurs,” Cramer says. “All they need is some mentorship. A shot in the arm and a shot in the wallet.”

Cramer is now taking on responsibility, along with former Confirma CEO Wayne Wager, as co-chairs of Wings, the Seattle-based angel network we first profiled in February, and which gained further momentum at its kickoff event in April. The two veteran entrepreneurs are stepping into a leadership void after Stefan Kraemer, the co-founder of EndoGastric Solutions and one of the driving forces at Wings, decided to leave the area to take a new job as vice president of medical affairs for C.R. Bard (NYSE: BCR) on the East Coast.

Essentially, Wings is replacing one Kraemer with a Cramer and a Wager. Cramer, 73, has deep roots in the Northwest and a track record that is nationally known. He served as a director of the Northwest’s most successful biotech company (Immunex, sold to Amgen for $10 billion), and the most successful medical device maker (ATL Ultrasound, sold to Philips for $800 million). Earlier in his career, Cramer co-founded and led what became one of the nation’s most successful contract research firms (Hazleton Laboratories, now part of Covance). Cramer is the chairman of Bothell, WA-based SonoSite (NASDAQ: SONO), a position he has held since the company was founded in 1998.

Cramer is also known around the Northwest as a generous donor, having given $1 million in one notable gift to the Seattle School District in 2001, and for his consistent support for the University of Washington Foundation, and the Foster School of Business. “I’m a Husky,” he says.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a bleeding heart who gets involved in just any well-meaning endeavor. He first got exposed to Wings in October 2009 when he was one of the local power brokers invited by the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association to a meeting on boosting medical device entrepreneurship at the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland. WBBA president Chris Rivera asked him to get involved, but Cramer initially resisted, saying he spends the winter months living at a second home in Palm Desert, CA, and probably wouldn’t have enough time.

Still, he was intrigued by the idea. When he saw over the intervening months that the idea had started to take shape into an organization, business plans started to roll in, and Wings had gotten its inaugural meeting going by April, the timing was right. Cramer liked the progress the organization had made, and he personally saw three business plans through the Wings network that he was interested in learning more about, and possibly investing his personal money into. When he heard … Next Page »

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share:          

There was quiet before the storm this week, as Dendreon is eagerly awaiting the FDA’s decision by May 1 on whether it will clear the company’s prostate cancer drug for sale. Buckle your seat belts for that one.

—Accelerator’s microRNA startup, Mirina, has made enough progress in its early days that it has secured an undisclosed “expansion” round of financing led by Versant Ventures. The company says its microRNA drugs are not just more potent than ones being developed by rivals, but they also have “unexpected properties” that should offer another advantage, once it pins down the necessary intellectual property.

—If having a famous investor syndicate were the only key to success, then Qliance Medical Management would be well on its way. The Seattle-based company, which deals directly with patients and doesn’t accept health insurance for primary care medical services, nailed down a $6 million financing from Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, Drew Carey and others. These guys, no dummies, wrote their checks AFTER President Obama signed the health care reform bill that allows direct primary care services to compete in every state with regular insurance by 2014.

—Spiration, the Redmond, WA-based maker of devices for lung diseases, has collected another $6.5 million in debt financing from a single investor, according to a regulatory filing. Spiration raised $7 million in debt back in September from its partner, Olympus Medical Systems.

—Anybody who works in the local life sciences industry will tell you it can be hard to hold down a steady paycheck. Most drugs and devices fail in development, after all. But Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, says the latest stats show 22,349 people statewide employed in life sciences work, making it the state’s fifth-biggest employer among industries.

—Speaking of WBBA, the local trade association just added a very well-known name to its team—H. Stewart Parker. The founder and longtime CEO of Targeted Genetics is taking on a new role for the WBBA as a commercialization advisor to life sciences entrepreneurs on a part-time basis.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

H. Stewart Parker, the founder and longtime CEO of Seattle-based Targeted Genetics, has agreed to join the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association as a part-time commercialization adviser to local life sciences researchers and entrepreneurs. Parker, who has inspired and mentored a generation of biotech professionals in Seattle, resigned from Targeted Genetics in November 2008 after the company suffered a number of setbacks. In a December interview, she said she was itching to return to biotech. “We are thrilled to have Stewart join us,” said WBBA president Chris Rivera, in a statement.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

The world knows all too well that we don’t have much snow here in the Pacific Northwest (sorry, Vancouver), but we certainly felt the impact of the East Coast snowstorm here on the biotech beat over the last week.

—Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CTIC) is waiting a little longer than expected for its judgment day. The company had prepared to make its case for approval of pixantrone as a treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in front of an FDA advisory panel near Washington DC on February 10, but it was postponed because of the snowstorm. No word yet on when it will be rescheduled. But a couple days before the delay, FDA staff raised some concerns about how the drug has “substantial” toxicity.

—Calypso Medical Technologies, the Seattle-based company with technology for precisely targeting radiation therapy, announced this week that it has the first data from a clinical trial that shows its system can help reduce the urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction that’s common for men who undergo this form of treatment for prostate cancer. The Calypso system, because it helps technicians better track how the prostate moves in the body, enables technicians to use a narrower radiation beam that avoids hitting healthy tissue.

—The Seattle innovation community has never had a formal group of angel investors that specialize in medical devices, at least until recently. I wrote the story about this fledgling (sorry, bad pun) group that calls itself Wings. Wings is led by some strong entrepreneurs in the field, including Endogastric Solutions founder Stefan Kraemer, University of Washington entrepreneur-in-residence Bob Wilcox, and Pathway Medical founder Tom Clement.

—One of the veterans from the early days at Bothell, WA-based Halosource, Simon Johnston, has formed a startup to tackle a new application for some emerging antimicrobial chemistry. The company, called Antimicrobial Technologies Group, has made compression socks with a tiny dose of an antimicrobial finish, which it hopes to sell to the many patients with diabetes who develop infections in their feet, because of poor circulation.

—Chris Rivera, the president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, offered up a guest editorial, co-authored with life sciences guru Steve Burrill, about why they are bullish about biotech in the Northwest. They are hoping to draw “significantly more” than the 700 people who attended the WBBA’s annual life sciences showcase event last year; Life Science Innovation Northwest 2010 is scheduled for March 16 and 17.

—Cell Therapeutics isn’t the only organization that’s been stalled by the East Coast snowstorm. Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD]), the Foster City, CA-based company with a significant research center in Seattle, is still waiting for word from the FDA on whether it will approve aztreonam lysine (Cayston) as a new inhalable antibiotic for patients with cystic fibrosis. The FDA’s deadline was February 13.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

People who make a living creating medical devices, like ultrasound machines or stents to prop open clogged arteries, have lived through a crummy 18 months. But that’s not discouraging a group of prominent medical device entrepreneurs from Seattle who are building the region’s first dedicated network of angel investors who have the money and expertise to bankroll new med-tech startups.

This nascent nonprofit, called Wings, is transforming from an idea into an operating entity inside the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. I heard what this is about while meeting last Friday with several key players—WBBA president Chris Rivera, Endogastric Solutions founder Stefan Kraemer, Pathway Medical founder Tom Clement, and Bob Wilcox, an entrepreneur in residence at the University of Washington. They were joined by Stephanie Barnes, a commercialization associate at WBBA who is devoting half of her work time to organizing this network.

It might not seem at first glance like the most auspicious time to invest in medical devices. The industry has been caught in a downward spiral over the past 18 months, as unemployment has risen, people have lost health insurance, and hospitals have been applying greater scrutiny than ever before to purchases of new equipment and tools. Many entrepreneurs have screamed bloody murder over a proposal to raise billions of dollars through new federal taxes on medical devices.

The Wings volunteers know that all too well. Still, they say there is money to be made in the industry, and they are filling a void by helping better connect entrepreneurs to the right people who can help them financially and operationally. Many of the people in this budding angel network are thinking hard about how devices can thrive in a more rigorous era of cost-effectiveness studies (beyond the existing requirements that devices are proven safe and effective). That’s why getting the right people engaged is so important.

“If this is going to be successful, it has to be the medical device community that drives it,” Rivera says. “If it were just the WBBA doing it, it probably wouldn’t work.”

Stefan Kraemer

The main activities of the Wings organization are to help screen business plans for medical device companies, help connect entrepreneurs with investors, and provide mentorship. Unlike more established networks like Alliance of Angels, it doesn’t have its own pot of capital to invest. Instead, it will host invitation-only investment forums for about 80 wealthy individuals who also happen to have expertise in medical devices, software, or some form of medical technology. It will be up to those individuals as to whether to put their own money to work in the startups.

The group plans to hold investing events four times a year, invite three or four entrepreneurs to give their best pitch, and hopefully spark investments in four to six new companies annually, Rivera says. Investors will vet companies in four main subsectors … Next Page »

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share:          

Steve Burrill, the San Francisco-based merchant banker with one of the best Rolodexes in the life sciences industry, is getting serious about Seattle. And his name and connections might be just the thing to help lift the Northwest’s annual biotech investing conference out of obscurity.

Burrill & Co. made it official yesterday that it has agreed to sign on as a sponsor and partner on Life Sciences Innovation Northwest, the regional biotech showcase that the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association organizes every year in March.

This means Burrill, an in-demand public speaker, will deliver one of his trademark keynote talks on the state of the biotech industry. More importantly, his organization will provide money and organizational horsepower to help draw a crowd of national biotech players—something that’s never easy in this soggy corner of the country in March.

“There’s a lot of strength in the Pacific Northwest,” Burrill said yesterday, phoning from Paris. “This is a way for us to be connected into an enormous band of technology that stretches from north of the San Francisco Bay to Vancouver, BC.”

Burrill added that while his organization is “geographically agnostic,” he’s drawn to the Northwest partly because of its computing expertise, as IT becomes more vital to life sciences in the genomics age. While Burrill has organized events in other parts of the Northwest in the past—including Portland, OR, last year—this is the first time he’s thrown his energy into a conference in the Seattle biotech cluster.

Steve Burrill

For those who are unfamiliar, Burrill has been analyzing, prognosticating, investing, dealmaking, speaking, and writing about biotech for more than two decades. His organization has more than $950 million under management to invest in drugs, devices, diagnostics, agricultural biotech, and biomaterials. Every year, Burrill & Co. hosts an event for top industry CEOs in Laguna Beach, CA. Just two weeks ago at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco—the biggest public biotech investing event of the year—Burrill hosted a reception that drew more than 1,000 people.

That sort of high-powered networking has been only a dream for the folks at the WBBA, who have been trying for years to raise the profile of the local biotech scene, and have struggled to put the local investing event on the national map.

“This helps validate life sciences here,” says Chris Rivera, head of the WBBA.

Last year, Rivera’s first as WBBA president, the conference drew a little more than 700 attendees to the Seattle waterfront. Even though the economy looked grim, the conference had … Next Page »

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share:          

Twitter and Facebook have taken social networking to a higher level on the web, but I just got a reminder about the power of actually meeting people in person. I’m talking about the kind of interactions that happen when attending a jam-packed professional conference and bumping into a lot of smart people with similar interests. This was one thought that struck me this week on my way home to Seattle from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

Like most everybody else there, my calendar was a relentless series of 30 to 45-minute meetings from dawn to dusk, followed by more networking at receptions late into the night. My official plan was to come away with a bunch of exclusive interviews, and help plan coverage priorities through the year.

But when I had a little quiet time on my way to the airport yesterday, I started thinking about what else happened during the trip, besides the planned stuff. And I started tallying up the names of all the people from Seattle biotech who I saw even though I didn’t schedule anything with them. I came up with 24 people I bumped into accidentally and chatted with briefly—and I didn’t have to tweet them or list my status. They are all working on newsworthy things, and a few of these chance meetings gave me a few new story ideas and insights.

So I decided to list the names of the people I met serendipitously, although my sample was admittedly concentrated over four days at San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis. If you have any similar experiences from this meeting, or any other like it, and found some surprisingly valuable connection happened this way, please don’t hesitate to post a comment at the bottom of the story.

Stacie Byars. Director of membership, Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association. Met in hallway at St. Francis after SonoSite talk.

Meenu Chhabra. CEO of Allozyne. Met at the elevators in the Clift.

Tom Clement. Chairman of Pathway Medical. Met at the BioCentury reception.

David Fanning. CEO of Theraclone Sciences. Met at Canaan Partners reception.

Ken Galbraith. Managing director with Ventures West in Vancouver. Met on Powell St in front of St. Francis.

Carol Gallagher. CEO of Calistoga Pharmaceuticals. … Next Page »

Comments (11) | Reprints | Share: