A meeting of scientists, investors, marketers, trade missions/representatives, consultants, intellectual property lawyers, and public servants
BioFinance is a forum where investors, inventors, academics, consultants, and decision makers mingle. The conference provides ample networking opportunities; panel discussions; and lunches, which combine the two. Executives from companies seeking capital deliver 15-minute presentations to institutional and small-scale investors, as well as to representatives of larger biotech firms. The forums and panels are primarily aimed at the pharmaceutical and diagnostics sectors, but medical devices firms form a growing proportion of attendees.
Originating from a 1997 symposium, the conference has grown significantly, and now attracts more than 100 companies and about 750 delegates. Among this number were an impressive 30 representatives from the University of Toronto, including many graduate and some undergraduate students: a healthy sign that today’s youth are aware of, and interested in, the commercial potential of their studies.
The 2008 conference focused largely on clean-tech or green-biotech innovations, as companies find themselves under pressure to deliver sustainable products, and as there is increasing overlap between biotech and ecological products, for example, in enzyme research. Ecological power may also become a trend in medical devices; the 12 May Toronto Star featured three clean-tech technologies, including a knee brace to harnesses biological energy, developed by researchers at Simon Fraser University.
Other recurrent themes included dealing with tighter FDA and international regulations; an increasing emphasis on transparency; reviewing governance; corporate renewal, including periodic review of the business plan; strategic partnerships, particularly when facing global markets; investor relations; lower liquidity and generally bearish markets; and adhering to best practices.
Increasing emphasis on risk management and on preventing and detecting corporate fraud and corruption is expected. Those in biotech, argued several panellists, would do well to anticipate both academic and corporate fraud in the industry. A case in point: Hwang Woo-Suk, the Korean scientist who falsified results of his stem cell experiments.
Another issue will be to market devices as cost-saving. As provinces reel under the weight of their massive health care budgets, and authorities try to cope with wait lists for access to diagnosis and care, companies that can prove their devices will cut down on hospitalization times, patient transfers to and from remote locations, and follow-up treatments will have the upper hand.
