The Life Sciences in New York State

Bio in Australia

Flashy overview of the key biotech clusters in Australia.

Australian Government | Invest Australia - Technology Australia

VC is broken

Excellent post by Peter Rip on what's ailing the venture capital industry, and some suggestions on what works...with my emphasis.

EarlyStageVC: Traditional Venture Capital Sure Seems Broken - It's About Time

I can only see two venture capital strategies that make sense in this environment. One is to be small, focused, and totally aligned with market realities and founder incentives. There is no magic to this strategy. It just takes discipline. If you have a small fund, place small bets, be maniacal about capital efficiency.

Dream inching closer to reality...

BioBusiness: New York City Pursues Biotechnology Dream

The East River Science Park will be constructed on the Bellevue
Hospital campus. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the facility will contain
870,000 ft2 of lab and office space.

The hopes are that the park
will energize the citys bioscience sector and enable a much-needed
expansion within the metropolitan area where commercial and research
space is limited and expensive.

A public-private partnership,
the project is being privately financed and is expected to create over
2,000 permanent jobs and 4,000 construction jobs over the next decade.

IBM sells their West Campus

Ready for all sorts of companies, including life science companies.

IBM Sells West Campus

Possible uses include consumer electronics, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology aerospace and defense. Some space is data-center ready, and more than half of it is suited to office use. Preferred could find a single user or multiple ones, and could add as much as 600,000 square feet of construction on the land.

Biocon at it again...Nobex being the target now...

I posted recently on the deal India-based Biocon signed with Bentley Pharmaceuticals for the development of an intranasal insulin formulation.

Now we learn that not only is Nobex auctioning off their remaining assets, but Biocon is involved in the auction process.

The company has already attracted a stalking-horse bid of $3.5 million from Biocon Ltd., a Bangalore, India, biopharmaceutical firm that partnered with Nobex to make an insulin pill and a pill for cardiovascular disease.

Biocon is making a substantial leap into the insulin market, combining their low-cost insulin manufacturing capabilities with drug delivery systems. This potentially gives them the ability to offer parenteral (developed internally), inhaled (via Bentley), AND oral (via Nobex) forms of insulin. The low-cost supply is especially important for the oral formulation. In my view, the oral form has to be priced at a minimal premium to the parenteral formulation in order for insurance companies to want to pay for it.

Biotech grant program in NY

More money...more companies...more venture capital. It's all good...

Newsday.com: Pataki announces biotechnology grant program

Gov. George Pataki and the Republican-led state Senate are backing a program that aims to generate $800 million in new investment in biotechnology and medical research at institutions across the state.

The program, announced by Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, would create a $200 million grant initiative they hope will generate another $600 million in federal, not-for-profit and private sector matching funds.

The initiative, first announced earlier this month in the governor's State of the State address, will fund research at universities and hospitals around New York.

Biogeneric making progress in Europe

Very interesting development. How will the FDA respond now?

Sandoz Welcomes CHMP Positive Opinion on Omnitrope

"With Omnitrope's positive status in Europe, we now hope the FDA will finally move in granting a marketing authorization for the US, acknowledging the sound science that supports this product," said Rummelt. "We are determined to make high-quality and cost-effective biosimilar products like Omnitrope available for patients and healthcare providers worldwide."

GlycoFi in the news

Some sweet news from NH-based GlycoFi...

BIO.COM

"By controlling the sugar structures on antibodies we have shown that the antibodies ability to kill cancer cells can be significantly improved and that therapeutic proteins can be optimized by controlling their sugar structures," says Dr. Huijuan Li, associate director of Analytical Development at GlycoFi, and the lead author of the study. She noted that while the current report focuses on antibodies, the approach taken by the GlycoFi team can be applied to any therapeutic glycoprotein.

Oakland is too far away...

The January issue of the Venture Capital Journal (subscription required) has a one page profile of Claremont Creek Ventures. This is a new, $130 MM fund focused on Series A deals in technology companies located in the East Bay area of California (Oakland, Berkeley, etc.).

Here's what I find interesting:

Goldhaber [one of the Managing Directors] says that despite the advances of communications and teleconferencing, part of the problem with getting funding to East Bay startups is the logistics of a VC having to drive from Silicon Valley to the East Bay for board meetings or to handle company issues. He notes that the startups he and his partners are targeting often need a iot of hands-on attention from VCs, so most firms have simply avoided coming to the East Bay.

Interesting that some VCs would be so geographically focused as to not look at deals 30-60 miles away. As I said in my "Predictions for 2006", this is a good example of what we'll continue to see with respect to new funds: Sharper industry/market focus, sharper investment stage focus, and a tighter geographic focus.

By geographic focus, I don't necessarily mean "smaller" focus. But, the geographic focus will be increasingly well defined for new funds, I think. Intead of funds investing "anywhere", they will be East Bay, or DC Metro area, etc., etc. Now in some rare cases, the geographic focus is the default. If you're on Sand HIll Road, you don't have to invest all over the planet, especially in technology. But for most funds and most geographies, this is simply not the case.

For the high net worth individual in your life who has everything...

I give you, the Velomobile...

Wired News: Saddle Up Yer Velomobile

In Europe, the vehicle's primary market, the average velomobile costs
between 4,000 and 6,000 euros (about $5,000 to $7,000). Importing one
to the United States can significantly add to the price. Many American
owners of European velomobiles paid nearly $10,000 for their vehicles.