Advancements in biological research and development continue to flourish, especially in technology hotbeds throughout Virginia and Israel. Because of the many research and development parallels they share, many Virginia biotech firms and Israeli biotech firms can find opportunities for strategic partnerships.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute to invest $500 Million in Virginia World Class Research Facility
In tandem with Virginia’s emerging success in bio-technology, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has confirmed plans to erect a $500 million research facility on the Janelia Farm Technology Park in Loudoun County, Virginia. The 750,000 sq. ft. campus featuring state-of-the art laboratories will provide a center for creating and disseminating the research tools needed for biomedicine in the 21st century, with an emphasis on collaborative research among biologists and scientists from other fields.
Following is an article from the Israel High-Tech and Investment Report that describes the biotechnology market in Israel today.
Israel High-Tech and Investment Report
April 2002
How Big? How Strong? How Good?
"How big is the biotech field today, how many biotech firms are out there at the moment? The question was posed to John McCamant, editor of The Medical Technology Stock Newsletter, The MTS newsletter is rated as one of the top five in the United States in its field by an interviewer from Forbes magazine.
"We believe that there are roughly 300 public biotech companies today. That's our universe. We also track close to a hundred privates, some of which will develop products in competition with those whose stock we track. The US continues to lead the global biotech universe. It boasts some 1,300 biotech-focused companies. Europe, the sector's perennial bridesmaid, has some 1,600 private biotech concerns but only about 100 public companies," explains Mr. McCamant.
He acknowledges that aging baby boomers, now hitting their 50s, will provide unprecedented market demand in this field. He foresees a significant increase in pharmaceutical demand, particularly in the near term, for everything from lifestyle (baldness, male erectile dysfunction) to more chronic conditions (high blood cholesterol, diabetes) to the bigger diseases (cancer, cardiovascular). "Up until now, the big pharmaceuticals have owned the supply side. We believe that in the next two to three years, more than half of the new products will come out of biotech," added John McCamant. Official figures point to nearly 200 private companies, but IHTIR believes that there are at least 50 more companies, in various stages of early development.
The two-day International BioTech 2002 Conference recently held in Tel-Aviv ended on a high note with attendees, guests, presenters and exhibitors expressing satisfaction at the high level of attendance, as well as the quality of the presentations.
IHTIR heard from Dr. David Haselkorn, chairman of the steering committee, that he estimated that 850-900 visitors attended each of the two days of the conference. Many more individuals came to view the tens of companies exhibiting their projects.
"The industry moved very significantly in the last two years, not only overseas but also here in Israel. Obviously, the political situation doesn't help with raising money. The progress is, however, amazing under the difficult circumstances. If the political situation will not clear up, next year will be critical as funds are running out," IHTIR was told by from Prof. Haim Aviv, credited as being one of the founders of Israel's biotech industry.
Confirming Prof. Aviv's concern as to the financial viability of this country's biotech industry, a number of managers of young companies participating in the Conference, with whom we spoke stated that cash balances will enable them to continue activities well into 2003. The prospects for the industry, it should be noted, are considerably brighter then a decade ago, when Prof. Aviv spent most of his available time on raising money for Pharmos. (Nasdaq:PARS)
Identifying special skills requires an overview of the industry. One of the most qualified to do that is Prof. Max Hertzberg who gave up an academic career, when he founded Orgenics, in the early 1980s. From there, he moved on to establish a biotechnology incubator which has served as a spawning ground for fledgling biotech companies. He also heads an investment fund and is now part of a group negotiating with the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to establish an incubator located adjacent to Ben Gurion University of the Negev. "Strong biological skills and strong computational abilities, are in great evidence. This combination between Biology and Information Technology, is being used to predict three-dimensional structures. We will see a lot more activity using computational approaches to drug design," he predicts. InterPharm situated in the science based industries park in Rehovot and adjacent to the Weizmann Institute, is a subsidiary of Serono, whose executive headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. InterPharm's leading product, recombinant bulk human interfon-beta-la, is formulated and marketed by Serono as Rebif(R) for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis patients in many countries.
Prof. Timothy NC Wells of the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Switzerland delivered a major address in which he stated: "Israel's international reputation in this field, and indeed her first major financially successful biotechnology product, began in 1978, with the formation of Interpharm Laboratories. Interpharm developed and marketed the world's first commercial, recombinantly-derived human beta-interferon. Interpharm's R&D efforts have resulted in a variety of other cytokines, such as recombinant human interleukin-6. The company uses large-scale, commercial cultures of mammalian cells, often genetically-engineered Chinese hamster cells, rather than bacteria".
