For Baby Biotechs, "a Dangerous Time"

From Businessweek.com post:

"Veteran VC Bob Higgins explains why he expects failures among the crop of startups 'caught at $200 million and $300 million valuations' "

Surge in biotech investments fuels overall VC gain

"Well-heeled investors poured billions into young biotech companies last year, powering overall start-up investing to its first annual increase in four years. The venture-capital investments underscore the growing interest in the emerging biomedical industry, which is creating treatments for cancer and other diseases.

The rise in overall investing also shows that the VC industry may have finally emerged from a funk that began with the 2000 tech bust, according to research out today by VentureOne and Ernst & Young."

From USATODAY.com.

The Definitive Study of Entrepreneurship

From About.com:

"London Business School and Babson College just released their Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, which is 'the largest annual measure of entrepreneurial activity worldwide, spanning 34 countries and a total labour force of 784 million people.'

Many of the findings are what you might expect, but some of the findings regarding funding were especially interesting, and contain some lessons for entrepreneurs that may surprise you...

Self-funding by entrepreneurs and funding from informal investors (family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and strangers) are the lifeblood of an entrepreneurial society...

By far the rarest source of capital for nascent entrepreneurs is classic venture capital. So rare is it, that even in the US, which has more than two-thirds of the total venture capital in the entire world (74% VC among G7 nations in 2003), far fewer than one in ten thousand new ventures receive their initial financing from VC firms. US companies received $8.1 million VC funding compared to an average of $1.2 million per company in other G7 nations in 2003."

Patents: Planning, Protecting, and Saving Money

Patents are a vital component of any biotechnology company. They serve to protect markets, indicate R&D strength, and require careful planning to balance their benefits and costs. Read this article from About.com for strategies to protect inventions, and save money.

Monsanto's "Seed Police" Sow Controversy

"Monsanto's "seed police" snared soy farmer Homan McFarling in 1999, and the company is demanding he pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged technology piracy. McFarling's sin? He saved seed from one harvest and replanted it the following season, a revered and ancient agricultural practice.

"My daddy saved seed. I saved seed," said McFarling, 62, who still grows soy on the 5,000 acre family farm in Shannon, Mississippi, and is fighting the agribusiness giant in court.

Saving Monsanto's seeds, genetically engineered to kill bugs and resist weed sprays, violates provisions of the company's contracts with farmers.

Since 1997, Monsanto has filed similar lawsuits 90 times in 25 states against 147 farmers and 39 agriculture companies, according to a report issued Thursday by The Center for Food Safety, a biotechnology foe."

From Wired News.

Biotech Virtual Mini MBA

Want to learn more about starting, building, growing and managing a biotechnology company? Get your virtual MBA in biotechnology through this e-seminar from About.com.

Pennsylvania Bio - Mission and Goals

"Pennsylvania Bio will be a catalyst to ensure Pennsylvania is a global leader in the biosciences by developing a cohesive community that unites the region's biotechnology, pharmaceutical, research, and financial strengths.

Pennsylvania Bio will:

Be a catalyst for the development of a cohesive biotechnology community in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region;

Facilitate the development of strategic partnerships among state and regional pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, medical device companies and research institutions;

Be the public policy leader and the principal public advocate for the bioscience community in Pennsylvania;

Advance public understanding of and appreciation for the role that the bioscience industry plays in shaping the future of healthcare; in developing drugs, vaccines, devices and diagnostics that save and improve the lives of patients; in promoting the quality of life worldwide; and in contributing to our local, national, and global communities and economies;

Develop opportunities to increase funding for our members;

Be a leader in statewide efforts to educate, retain, and attract a diverse, high quality biosciences workforce; and

Provide the highest quality programs and most cost effective services to our members."

From Pennsylvania Bio.

Facing Biotech Foods Without the Fear Factor

"While certainly not the article to illustrate many of the misconceptions about genetically modified foods, this one does an effective job of presenting all the arguments in one coherent piece. An excellent explanation of how essentially all the foods we eat are genetically modified, and why molecular biology techniques are actually safer than the previously practiced alternatives."

From about.com.

More States to Push for Stem Cell Research Funds

"It's already started - now that California has passed Prop. 71 to allow for $3B to go toward stem cell research over 10 years, other states are sprinting to offer funding for stem cell research within their borders. For the most part, these states fear a drain to California of companies and scientists. "

Read more atLaw under the Microscope.

New Life Sciences Angels Firm

"A new private investment group, Life Science Angels (LSA; Palo Alto, California), has been formally launched, back- ed by what it termed 15 'exclusive sponsors.' LSA was founded by life science executives and angel investors Allan May, Casey McGlynn and Greg Scott.

The perfect target [for LSA]," he said, "is an early seed or early-stage company where less than a million dollars can achieve identifiable milestones that we think will guarantee an up-round behind us - the kind where, with that kind of money, our experience and contacts can, in 12 to 18 months, make a specific difference to achieve those milestones."

In medical devices, he listed cardiology, orthopedics and "neuro" as "classic areas" that LSA will be interested in backing.

Supporting companies in biotech, he said, will be "more complicated" with LSA being "much more careful" in its model. As a type of milestone, he described a company with a compound "in preclinicals, then in clinicals the next year."

FromBioWorld Today:

The Governance of Biotechnology

dna
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

"The revolution in information technology in Silicon Valley has flourished because of opportunities for public-private partnerships and for private investment. Its success has fueled, in turn, reconsideration of the right formula for technology governance globally.

If full recognition of the political consequences of the revolution in information technology has come only as the resolution succeeded, what of the coming changes in biotechnology? Will they, too, be implemented through a decentralized, privatized, globalized marketplace in which consumer demand is the largest factor determining development? Or is biotechnology fundamentally different?

The short answer is that biotechnology is different in at least one critical way: its full implications touch on our deepest hopes and fears. Biotechnology, after all, involves foods, drugs, and medicine. It offers the possibility of saving a dying child or contaminating the food supply. Most far reaching, however, it raises the spectre of transforming us. Until this time, human evolution has been beyond our control. As we unlock the secrets of the genome, we may become able to curtail aging, select the most perfect of our potential offspring, breed athletic superstars, or alter moods to create continual harmony.

How do we begin to make decisions about these possibilities? And perhaps more critically, who gets to decide?"

From STS Nexus.

Before You License Your Product or Technology Platform

" Licensing products and technology platforms is an integral part of many biotechnology company business plans. There are many important legal, business, and scientific considerations in developing successful licensing agreements. Here's some guidance."

Before you start your biotechnology company

"Taking the right steps to initiate a biotechnology venture can avoid future problems and save time and resources. These articlesprovide an overview of important topics in starting and growing your biotechnology company. "