Colorado Life Science Deal Flow My Rants

CLSDF 2007: And That’s A Wrap!

2007-12-21T10:00:00.001-08:00

Another amazing year is in the books for me and CLSDF! What resonates most is the incredible people who I am honored to interact with on a daily basis. Sure there is the business of the business to take care of, but it is always important to recall that the intent of this community is to cure disease and save lives. Sometimes that common denominator gets lost in the daily shuffle. What better way to dedicate ones life than to the effort to help the sick. Walking through the lobby of the beautiful new Children’s Hospital yesterday was an emotionally powerful reminder of just how lucky one is to be gifted with a healthy mind and body. It is a very special group of people in Colorado who I have been blessed to work with in addition to the doctors of discovery, that includes a significant layer of folks who go to work every day to enable the shepparding of scientific discovery to commercialization, from financiers, attorneys, legislators, consultants, executives, students, technology transfer experts and everyone in between, it truly takes a village to bring a drug to market. To all of you, too many to name here, I say thank you for what you do and for allowing me to be a small part of this important process.

Looking at 2008 I could not be more excited:

CLSDF will emerge with a new look and feel
Will be viewable in any browser you happen to be browsing in
A variety of new topical series will be initiated that will dig deep into the business of biotech
Will become more interactive with our growing community via CLSDF beat reporters knocking on doors and bringing you intimate interviews with prominent people in the community
A new highly interactive commenting system

...just to name a few.

So thank you, loyal readers, for your support and inspiration to grow and continue to develop CLSDF.

CLSDF WILL BE BACK ON-LINE FRIDAY 4 JANUARY

...bigger and better than ever.

Until then, enjoy the season and wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

And...Cut!

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

BioSoCo Coming on Strong!

2007-12-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

What do HemoGenix and Aspire Biotech have in common (insert Jeopardy theme song here)? Answer…they are working to anchor the Colorado Springs biocluster and are providing contract services for all phases of development of biomaterials, devices and applied clinical hematology. Lean all about these companies and more at the upcoming BioSoCo event sponsored by the Colorado BioScience Association and Snell & Wilmer. Register to attend the 22 January 7:30-9:00am event (here).

On another note don’t forget to sign up for BioBeers updates at BioBeers.com. Recall this is a monthly networking social club. A January date should be set shortly. Read all about our newest member Freddie Peyerl and, if you have attended functions in the past and not yet provided your member profile to the BioBeers staff, well let’s get to it...and let the world know who you are, what you do and how you will change the world!

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

CLSDF: We Want You!

2007-12-18T07:20:00.001-08:00

That’s right, Colorado Life Science Deal Flow is in heavy recruiting mode, searching the Rocky Mountain region high and low, far and wide to assemble a crack team of beat reporters in order to cast a wider net in 2008. In the New Year CLSDF will stop at nothing to look under every eppendorf tube rack, in every cold room, and at every lab meeting to bring you the juicy stories…that’s right…CLSDF is going to dig in early and look upstream by roaming the halls of academia to bring you all of the news, breakthroughs and well yes, the inevitable breakdowns.

So…if you have an interest in bio and in writing, and are looking for your big break in the blogosphere then listen closely because as you can hear opportunity is definitely knocking. Who knows, this could be a springboard for that book you always wanted to write and when accepting your Pulitzer you may talk about how it all started for you at CLSDF. For more information (contact) CLSDF Department of Human Resources immediately for more information or to express interest in joing the CLSDF team for 2008.

Note: Additional changes are in store for 2008 at CLSDF including an entire site overhaul which means this blog will look pretty in every type of browser (including internet explore!) as well as a new logo and branding. New features and series will also be available, and perhaps some new voices too!

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Bard Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program

2007-12-14T07:45:00.001-08:00

Make certain to sign up for the first of four sequential Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program spring mini-courses at the Bard Center. The program, directed by Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, is offering first New Product Development and is instructed by the very talented Bill Dalke who formerly headed business development for COBE Cardiovascular. The focus of the New Product Development course is to teach methods and provide tools to facilitate the rapid and successful development of new products. Some of the syllabus highlights include:

How to develop an economic model to assess product opportunities and leverage such a model to make decisions throughout the development process
How to understand the customer and translate customer needs into necessary product specifications
How to create a manageable and flexible development process which may be tailored to both large and small development programs
How to distinguish between productive and non-productive variability and manage accordingly
How to determine critical factors affecting medical product development and ensure their incorporation in the development process and plan

It sounds like a wonderful learning opportunity. Mini-course I is held 22 January - 12 February. Click (here) for registration and additional information.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Now That Was Fun!

2007-12-10T19:55:00.001-08:00

THIS IS A REPOST FROM BIOBEERS.COM

Wow…BioWest, Christmas Party and BioBeers all rolled into one fun and late evening! Our group grew by leaps and bounds attracting some 40+ folks. It was great to see a wonderful mix of Ph.D. and MBA students, faculty, bio-preneurs, start-up junkies and folks from biotech and pharma rubbing elbows while throwing back a few eggnog’s, why even Santa got into the BioBeers mix! I tried to post some videos from the evening but counsel recommended immediate removal based upon the series of FCC inquiries suggesting obvious infractions of the Telecommunication and Decency Act of 1996.

So we are now pointing the BioBeers ship towards 2008 and looking to nail down our next date and dance with debauchery. At the moment 10 or 11 January, again in Denver, appear to be bubbling to the surface. More on that later…

I’m afraid a few homework items are in order:

Be certain to sign up for the BioBeers email list

If you attended the December dance and plan a return trip to BioBeers in January please send me (arubenstein@rnaventures.com) your profile for posting to this site. Consider it your ticket to paradise, no profile then good luck getting past the bouncers

The last thing we need is another url destination where I wax on, let’s make this site a bit more interactive, so…if you attended BioBeers please click on comments below and tell us a bit about your favorite part of BioBeers, BioWest, your start-up or anything else that may come to mind. For the founders consider your comments to be your ticket to paradise, no comment then good luck getting past the bouncers

Finally, the February meeting will have a keg of brew brewed especially for BioBeers from a very special member, whose identity shall be unveiled at a later date, so…be certain to look to the left and down and vote for your favorite flavor

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Jim Collins and More 2.0 Tools

2007-12-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

I'm still on a high from BioWest 2007 and the presentation by Jim Collins. If interested, I’ve begun a Tumblog, that is tumble-blog, sort of twitter on blog-roids, where I will be jotting stuff down not entirely related to CLSDF. If interested…I just posted a one-hour interview of Jim Collins on Charlie Rose. Take a look see (here) or if the link does not work for you try http://rnaventures.tumblr.com/.

For you JC fans it may be very interesting to take the “Where are you on your journey from Good to Great”® diagnostic (here). If so moved please share your results with the CLSDF community in the comments section below this post.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Golden Ticket to VC Network!

2007-12-07T06:44:00.001-08:00

Many thanks to Brad Feld, Managing Director of the Boulder-based Foundry Group for the golden ticket to the Feedburner Venture Capital Network, now the posts here on CLSDF will be incorporated into an aggregation of venture capital (and related bloggers) content. You may subscribe via email or RSS to all of this daily goodness (here).

Likewise my appreciation to the other 80 VC’s and many more subscribers of the Network who are now tolerating, if no at least skimming past, my musings. To any new potential readers the connection to the network comes via my work with Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners and High Country Venture.

Today I am at Day 2 of the BioWest conference ready for the Venture Showcase, more on that to come. VCN, Here we go…

Welcome: Catherine Kunst, Ph.D., MBA

2007-12-05T23:47:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Catherine Kunst who has been named Executive Director of the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship, University Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. Most recently Catherine had been a Research Assistant Professor at the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, University Denver where she was working to identify the genes that may prevent or delay the onset of ALS by positional cloning techniques, Catherine also functioned as the Interim Director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and is co-founder of Beacon Biotechnology, Dx company.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

(UPDATE) BioWest: An Event With a Vue!

2007-12-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to my friend Seth Levine, Managing Partner at Boulder-based Foundry Group, a venture group specializing in early-stage IT investments, who so graciously wrote a follow-up blog post on BioWest and EventVue. Check out the post and Seth's blog, Seth Levine's VC Adventure (here).

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Gen Eng News: More CO!

2007-12-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

If memory serves me correctly I have waxed on in the past about my affinity for Genetic Engineering News and often highlighted the journal when a Colorado company ended up in print there. Well the love story continues with the 15 November issue where Carol Potera composed a three-page treatise on the Colorado Science + Technology Park @ Fitzsimons and beyond.

A few companies highlighted include 1) MBC Pharma who is focused upon bone disease such as osteoporosis and cancer metastases, patients who die from breast, prostate or lung cancer have bone metastases and, presentation with bone metastases is correlated with shorter survival 2) MycoLogics, a company near and dear to my heart that is among other pursuits focused upon developing prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to Leishmaniasis, a disease where 350 million people in developing countries are at risk. 3) Caveo Therapeutics who is working on the discovery and development of biopharmaceuticals to treat and cure hematalogic conditions by inhibiting certain families of tyrosine kinases 4) ARCA Discovery who is developing genetically targeted therapies for heart failure and other cardiovascular disease, an NDA for bucindolol is expected to be filed shortly, and finally 5) Lohocla Research is a discovery and development company specializing in addiction, neurological disorders and related biomarkers for companion diagnostics.

You can read the article (here).

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

BioWest: An Event With a Vue!

2007-12-02T19:56:00.001-08:00

If you are registered to attend BioWest this week then you should have received a welcome email from my friends Rob and Josh, co-founders at EventVue (EV), along with a link to set up your BioWest-EventVue profile. What this web-based software enables you to do is see in advance who will be attending the BioWest conference and of greatest value-add is the ability to network with fellow attendees before and after the conference. Networking at a conference is a fairly inefficient process, left often up to chance encounters and stacks of business cards. Anything that can help optimize the limited conference time that the expensive ticket bought you is a no-brainer.

As Colorado energizes and grows the life sciences an equivalent effort is transpiring on the IT side for our Rocky Mountain state. EventVue was the first TechStars company to close an Angel round of financing led by local rock-stars Brad Feld and David Cohen. FYI…TechStars is an amazing summer-long accelerator program established last spring in Boulder that provides seed funding, physical space, infrastructure, and of incalculable value, engulfs its start-ups with mentors, educational seminars and intimate one-on-one ad hoc exposure to a most incredible collection of serial entrepreneurs and institutional investors. The (closest) equivalent to TechStars in Colorado I can think of on the life science side is Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners.

So be certain to establish your BioWest-EventVue profile ASAP! For this, what I am calling a Fugacious Social Network (FSN, hopefully this term will catch on to reference a short-lived network) is only as good as the content, garbage-in garbage-out.

If you have not received your BioWest-EventVue invite and/or are having problems with it please contact me immediately (arubenstein@rnaventures.com).

In the spirit of full disclosure I have no financial interest in the company, my interest simply lay in the desire to see all start-ups in our early-stage Colorado eco-system grow and thrive. As a very learned man once told me, a rising tide lifts all ships.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

GFF: $5M for Pediatric Stem Cell Research

2007-12-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

Exciting times indeed for Colorado and stem cell research! Back in 2005 the Gates Family Foundation of Denver (not Bill and Melinda) committed a $6M donation that enabled CU's School of Medicine (CUSOM) at the Anschutz medical campus to create the Charles C. Gates Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology Program…listen to the story (here). Through the Gates Frontier Fund the Children’s Hospital and the CUSOM have now received an additional gift of $5M to expand the stem cell research program to include pediatric related research and an endowed chair. The search for a new director is ongoing.

Learn more about Charles Gates and the Gates Corporation (here)

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Perspective on Venture Investments

2007-11-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Fred Wilson Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures for the transparent post on his investment track record in early-stage venture deals. Though Fred’s foci is in software and web-based technologies I feel comfortable stating, from what I have seen, heard, read, etc. that life science managing directors and partners approach current and potential limited partners with a similar expectation set. That is typically 1/3 of a funds investments will fail, 1/3 will under-perform expectations, and 1/3 of the investments will meet expectations, that is where meeting expectations means a 5X to 10X return.

To break it out assume:

1/3 Average 7.50X – 2.50X
1/3 Average 2.00X – 0.67X
1/3 Average 0.00X – 0.00X

TOTAL 3.2X

Therefore as an entrepreneur when seeking venture dollars it is of paramount importance to ‘know your audience’ before giving your pitch. That is if your perceived exit opportunity is only 2-3X understand that despite having a potentially very sound business architecture and/or low risk opportunity that such a deal may not be attractive to some venture funds because it is an investment that may not sufficiently/effectively ‘move the needle’ for the fund.

Recall this very important point: VC’s have a fiduciary responsibility to the funds limited partners, that is the individuals or institutions whose dollars are being managed by the director or partner.

Because drug development is riddled with numerous and unique risks it is not uncommon these days for institutional dollars to come in later in the development life of a therapeutic and thus makes for a challenging endeavor for an early-stage life science entity to raise its first round of professional investment. However, if there exists unambiguous established and owned intellectual property, a clearly superior technology and management with substantial industry experience, then such value will be recognized by the investment community and a term sheet will undoubtedly be on its way.

The challenge here is the necessity to amass all of the requisite elements for the convergence of such a perfect storm; that is IP, technology and management. So what to do if one or more of these elements is missing? The answer is simple, contact Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners, an entity that functions as a node where appropriate connections are facilitated and efforts to package investable life science companies are made daily.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

CBSA 2007 Award Winners

2007-11-29T08:52:00.001-08:00

The Colorado BioScience Association has released their winners for the 2007 Awards Program to correlate with next weeks official awards presentation at the BioWest luncheon (7 December) more info and register to attend (here).

And the envelope please…

The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to (insert drum-roll sound effect here) Dr. Larry Gold founder, chair and Chief Science Officer of SomaLogic. Prior to SomaLogic, Dr. Gold founded Synergen (acquired by Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN)) then followed with the founding of NeXagen, Inc., which then merged to become NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, In addition to numerous other appointments and awards Dr. Gold is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Read more about CLSDF highlights of Dr. Gold (here).

The Company of the Year Award goes to AlloSource one of the largest non-profit bone and tissue banks in the country.

The Rising Star Award goes to InViragen who developing novel vaccines to protect against worldwide infectious disease threats, and was covered just two days ago here on CLSDF (see below).

The Volunteers of the Year Award go to Debora Hankinson and Phil Macey, two individuals who have been instrumental in revitalizing the CBSA’s Real Estate and Facilities Committee.

The Partner of the Year Award goes to Forest City Development who signed a 30-year agreement to develop the $2 billion bioscience park on the Fitzsimons Campus.

The Legislator of the Year Award goes to Representative Jim Riesberg (D-Weld). Who has carried the bioscience industry’s legislation the past two years with HB’s 1060 and 1360.

The CBSA Chairman’s Awards -- Ed Wood, Kevin Smith and Bonnie Vivian. Ed Wood, former CEO of Cobe served as the CBSA Board Chairman from 2005 - 2007. Kevin Smith, former President of Gambro and Bonnie Vivian, former CEO of Denver Biomedical are chairing the CBSA Education Committee.

The inaugural Pinnacle of Science Award has been awarded to Dr. John Stewart, University of Colorado for his substantial contributions to peptide chemistry and the growth and development of pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

You’re Cordially Invited to BioBeers(.com)!

2007-11-27T09:26:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends of Colorado Bio,

You are cordially invited to attend the BioBeers gala the evening of 6 December 7:30pm (@ Harry’s Bar 818 17th St Denver). We hope you are able to join us following what is certain to be an enthralling first day of the BioWest Conference and Expo.

For more information about BioBeers and the invitation please take a look at the new website (here) or http://biobeers.com

So what exactly is BioBeers you say? Well, Colorado has a rich history (and growing) in the life science industry...a fundamental component to accelerate the region towards achieving a top-tier bio-cluster ranking is a thriving and nurturing bio-entrepreneurial community. BioBeers is designed to function as an accelerant, where like minded bio-preneurs gather once a month to share ideas, cultivate business relationships and build life long friendships.

Now just a bit of homework for you:

Sign-up for email updates from BioBeers
Submit your one-click anonymous RSVP at BioBeers
Submit your new member profile to BioBeers

Thank you. We look forward to seeing you at BioWest and BioBeers!

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

A Colorado Vivarium Option

2007-11-26T06:59:00.001-08:00

If you are looking for a vivarum and Contract Research Organization to conduct pre-clinical GLP animal studies than looking no further than Ft. Collins’ High Quality Research. In addition to directing studies HQR also provides protocol development, implementation and quality assurance. There is also the option to run studies with HRQ staff or your own in mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs and pigs.

Give Larry Travis, gm of HQR a ring (email here) if you are looking to do PK/PD, tox, vax, absorbtion, efficacy, device, dental or surgery studies. HQR may have the facilities and options you are looking for.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

The Biology of Thanksgiving

2007-11-20T22:42:00.001-08:00

Planning on a post-Turkey tryptophan hangover tomorrow? Does the tryptophan myth even ring true? Well, while turkey does contain high levels of tryptophan, the amount is comparable to that contained in most other meats (chicken, beef and even fish). The Thanksgiving sedation may have more to do with what is consumed along with the turkey, in particular carbohydrates, rather than the turkey itself.

So what is going on…A high carbohydrate meal triggers release of insulin. Insulin then stimulates the uptake of large neutral branched-chain amino acids (LNAA) but not tryptophan into muscle, thereby increasing the ratio of tryptophan to LNAA. This increased ratio reduces competition with other amino acids for the large neutral amino acid transporter protein for uptake of tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system. Once inside the CNS, tryptophan is converted into serotonin in the raphe nuclei. The resultant serotonin is further metabolized into melatonin by the pineal gland. Therefore it is actually the heavy duty carbs that increases the production of the sleep-inducing serotonin and melatonin in the brain.

With that said, thanks to my friends at Wikipedia, a place chock full o’ great stuff. Now poised to reflect for a moment, how truly thankful I am for the richness of my professional and personal life. It is an honor to be immersed in the world that I walk in and the incredible people I am able to interface with. And did I mention how appreciative I am of you, yeah you, sitting at your computer and allocating a portion of your valuable time to read what I post here at CLSDF, now to me that is something super special and not to ever be taken for granted. On that note I am going to take a breather, take some time to connect with friends and family and hang up CLSDF till next week, till then...Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble…

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Three Cheer for the ACS!

2007-11-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Kevin Johansen and the very talented team who executed the Angel Capital Summit yesterday. What an incredible turnout of sophisticated angel investors. I believe in excess of 40 companies presented, naturally I stuck to the bio-track and was not disappointed.

Several Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners related entities presented to packed rooms and were unable to address all of the questions within the allotted time periods. I’ll take that as a sign of if nothing else a keen interest in the featured technologies.

Take a look at who presented:

Tensegrity Prosthetics

a next generation bio-prosthetic foot

ValveXchange

a tissue heart valve and percutaneously-exchangeable leaflet set

Snoasis Medical

soft-tissue substitute for use in mucogingival surgeries

TheraTogs

an exo-muscular system for neuromotor and postural training

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Endo Pharma (RxKinetix) Enter PIII Trials

2007-11-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

You may recall a little over a year ago Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENDP) acquired RxKinetix whose lead product was RK-0202, a topical oral-rinse with the active ingredient formulated in its proprietary ProGelz® drug delivery platform and was in Phase II.

It sounds as if great progress is being made on RK-0202 which subsequently has become EN 3285. Endo announced that it will initiate the first of two Phase III clinical studies late in 4Q07 for EN 3285, for the prevention or delay of severe oral mucositis (OM), painful mouth sores that often occur in cancer patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapeutic treatment. Endo has agreed to the trial design with FDA under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process. Under the terms of the SPA, Endo will initiate a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in approximately 240 OM patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy for head and neck cancer. The primary endpoint will be total radiation dose to onset of severe OM. A second Phase III study is expected to begin during the first half of 2008. The FDA will require two Phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials as the basis for an NDA for this indication. As such, the company is currently projecting a 2010 NDA filing date for this product but may provide future updates depending upon the pace of patient enrollment in the clinical trials.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

How Much Ya Got?

2007-11-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

I often hear the commonly quoted metric of 10 years and $1B as the time and cost to bring a drug to market. After seeing, hearing, observing drugs reaching the market for less than $1B I decided to do some poking around in an effort to validate said metric. Well valid it is according to recently published data from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (Tufts CSDD); the average capitalized cost to bring one new biopharmaceutical product to market, including costs of failures, is $1.24B (in 2005 dollars). Current Tufts CSDD data indicate that the average time to bring a biopharmaceutical product to market from the start of clinical testing is 8.0 years, and the likelihood of success is 30%. For traditional pharmaceutical products the average time to bring a product to market from the start of clinical testing is 7.5 years, and the likelihood of success is 21.5%. Now these time frames do not include the discovery period or the time to execute IND enabling studies that allow a potential product to enter the clinic. Considering that point I would venture to guess that the 10 year metric is indeed a conservative one. Do your thoughts or data points differ? Please let me know…

Had To Tell Someone

2007-11-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

Since architecting CLSDF some 2 and-a-half years ago and enjoying the ups and downs of the ride since launching one rule of thumb I’ve been adhering to is to keep my personal life out of the blog, for who cares what movie I saw over the weekend or where I took my dog hiking. Relevant content is king in order to keep readers coming back…stay on course is a CLSDF mantra.

Well today we take a slight diversion from the path. First I would like to extend my infinite thanks and appreciation to a loyal and sophisticated readership who I take great pleasure in interacting with, so please…keep your comments coming!

Now to step off…I’ve questioned many decisions I’ve made throughout my life, big and small, good and bad, but this past weekend I unquestionably made the best decision…that is to ask Robin to marry me. For the past almost nine years this woman has taught me, supported me, loved me, our relationship is a gift, conscious bliss, never to be taken for granted.

I can not contain my excitement and had to tell the world or rather shout it out here at CLSDF. So when she said yes or rather “of course” I presented her with these two carrots…

The Envelope Please...

2007-11-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

The finalists for this years BioWest Venture Showcase have been named. The Venture Showcase will be held on Friday 7 December at Denver’s Grand Hyatt. The winner will receive the $10,000 Faegre & Benson Venture Showcase award at the CBSA’s Annual Awards Luncheon on the same day.

I am working on embedding a poll for what company you believe will take this years Venture Showcase top prize. More to come on that. And now the finalists:

Nanodisc is a developer of nanoscale drug and vaccine delivery technology. Their proprietary system allows the presentation of proteins, small molecules and nucleic acids, stabilized and in their active form. The company is focusing its internal R&D capabilities on the highest value application – using nanodiscs to deliver membrane proteins such as receptors, enzymes and channels – to the body. Nanodisc is validating primary applications including antigen delivery, receptor delivery/ligand trap and gene therapy. Nanodisc is backed by Illinois Ventures and is seeking an institutional round of $6M - $10M. The company will continue to pursue non-dilutive sources of funding from licensing agreements, fee-for-service relationships and proceeds from SBIR and STTR grants. The company has exclusive rights to the nanodisc technology in all markets. For more information, call President and CEO Michael Artinger at 303-544-0406.

Sierra Puente is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of small molecule therapeutic products to treat multiple diseases of the brain for the medically refractory patient. Sierra is reformulating orally administered medications for placement into an implantable pump, for administration into the fluid around the brain for a platform of diseases including epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and major depression. The company is seeking to raise a Series A financing to support development of its two lead candidates through completion of Phase IIa clinical trials. Sierra has raised capital through grants and angel round financing to build a comprehensive IP foundation, proof of concept in animal models and a wide base of scientific and business advisors. For more information, call CEO Dan Abrams, MD, at 303-315-5450.

Solix Biofuels is commercializing the technology for the production of algae-based biofuels. The company built its first generation technology in the summer of 2006 and subsequently raised its second round of capital in September 2006. The company’s $3 million in funding has allowed it to operate its second generation production systems and to engineer its beta-test field reactor for operation in the first half of 2008 at New Belgium Brewery. Solix has filed patent applications and provisionals that include design elements of photo-bioreactor design, panel design, control systems and chemical conversion processes. Solix is in the midst of raising approximately $2MM to $3.5MM as a bridge loan and recently closed with its lead investor on this round. The Company will look to raise a preferred round in the beginning of 2008. For more information, call CEO Doug Henston at 303-885-7143.

ValveXchange holds patented technology on a two-piece bioprosthetic tissue valve that resolves the compromises between conventional mechanical and tissue heart valves. The company’s technology is easily adopted by surgeons with a clear regulatory path and a $1.2 billion market opportunity. ValveXchange has exclusively licensed its core technology, invented by founder Ivan Vesely, PhD, from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Thus far, the company has been financed by seed funding from the founder and three SBIR grants. That funding has allowed for prototypes developed with proof of concept, two-piece exchangeable tissue valve, functional & mechanical tests, in vitro testing of prototypes, validated performance and in vivo testing. Going forward, the company is initiating recruitment of Angel and Series A Financing of $2.5 million to bring it to the Clinical Trial stage. For more information, call Dr. Vesely, Founder and CSO, at 323-481-9643. or go to.

Ventrus Biosciences is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the late-stage development and commercialization of gastroenterology products. Strategically, Ventrus will concentrate on licensing late-stage GI products in select areas of unmet medical need with targeted sales potential of $200 to $500 million. The development strategy for each asset will focus on the most efficient path to approval, with expansion to full potential achieved with additional post-marketing indications. Ventrus has secured the rights to three late-stage GI products. The current company pipeline has a combined annual net sales potential of $1 billion. Ventrus is entering Series A financing with one phase II and two phase III products. The company has been seed funded by Paramount Bioscience. – For more information, call President and CEO Thom Rowland at 720-528-4090.

mBioSystems The technology is a low-cost, high sensitivity, multi-pathogen companion detection system for therapeutics. Detection is based on fluorescence and takes advantage of the parent company’s experience in low cost, high precision micro-optics and laser detection. The company has in-licensed a suite of patents for biosensors. Development has been ongoing for two years and a successful study of 30 clinical patients was recently completed. In addition, the company has two proprietary diagnostic products in development: first, a multi-disease diagnostic focusing on HIV and common co-infections; a second product is a low cost cytometer for counting CD4 positive T-cells for the management of HIV therapy. It is anticipated that the products will be developed under NIH and foundation funding. For more information, call CEO Chris Myatt at 303-444-9948.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Social Networking 101: LinkedIn BIO Group

2007-10-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

If you are on the professional social networking platform, LinkedIn, you can now join the new BIO International Convention group; simply add me to your network and request an invite to join the BIO group. This year the conference will be held at the San Diego Convention Center 17–20 June.

If you are not on LinkedIn simply click on the button below to get started on your professional networking with biotech, pharma and med device industry folks; now connect in advance with people who will be attending BIO.

For those daring enough to be in Facebook well you guessed it there is now a BIO group there as well. So set up an account profile and then join the Facebook BIO group. The link to join is (here).

Finally, once registered for attending BIO don’t forget to use the wonderful myBIO connector and planner software (here).

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Now This Is Cool!

2007-10-30T10:14:00.001-07:00

Giddy in anticipation of the Replidyne (NASDAQ: RDYN) conference call this afternoon (2:45MST 800-435-1261 passcode 57078639) I happened upon this incredible look at the leukocyte from BioVisions @ Harvard. If you have a few minutes to watch you will likely not be disappointed.

White blood cells or leukocytes are cells of the immune system which defend the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. Several different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent cell in the bone marrow known as a hematopoietic stem cell. Leukocytes are found throughout the body, including the blood and lymphatic system.

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Home Sweet Fitz!

2007-10-26T14:55:00.001-07:00

Portions of the Fitzsimons Life Science District are beginning to take shape. With an anticipated 30 to 40,000 folks to be working in the District I reckon some of them will need a place to live, well the Pauls Corporation will have an answer to that question with 21 Fitzsimons, luxury living in the heart of the Fitzsimons Life Science District.

In addition to the buzz and the mounds of dirt mysteriously moving from one end of the pitch to the other, some times over night, there now exists a supply center of mammoth proportions. The amount of building material that is queue-ing up there puts the biggest of the big box supply stores to shame. Why this stack (shown below) must be thirty feet high and occupy a few football fields.

Today’s picture theme is the supply depot. How exciting to have the privilege to continue to watch and document this city within a city emerge. More pics (here).

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

The Future of Biomedicine in Colorado - A Workshop of the Possible

2007-10-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Don’t miss the Third Butcher Symposium, Friday 16 November, part of the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, to be held at the Westin Westminster Hotel. The goals of the Symposium are to bring together faculty in the many areas of research related to genomics and biotechnology, to improve awareness of the relevant resources at CU, to spark new collaborations, and to identify means and opportunities for strategic advancement in this important area. The Symposium will also lay the groundwork for distribution of the third round of seed grants.

The format of the Symposium will include oral presentations by the Butcher Awardees from 2005, poster presentations by attending faculty, invited speakers, good food, and plenty of time for discussion and interaction. The day will be capped off by a keynote talk from Stuart Schreiber, Ph.D., HHMI Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Harvard University, his address it titled “Rethinking Small-Molecule Drug Discovery”.

Ten seed grants of up to $100,000 each will be awarded to support these new collaborations. To be eligible to apply for seed grants you must present a poster at the Symposium, describing research in your own lab (and not proposed projects). The deadline for the grant applications will be in January 2008, more information is (here) and a schedule of events is (here).

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Victoria, BC and Back

2007-10-18T15:26:00.001-07:00

King of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, Midas he was and everything he touched turned to gold. What then do you call the individual who accounts for nearly $4B in shareholder value creation in less than one-year? …King Freytag is he!

So how does one follow-up with directing Myogen’s November 2006 $2.5B exit to Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD)? Simple…with Aspreva’s (NASDAQ: ASPV) $915MM exit to the Galencia Group (SWX: GALN) in October 2007.

Not to sound like a broken record but…Congratulations Dr. Freytag! The deal is slated to close on 3 January 2008. What a coup it would be for Colorado to attract Dr. Freytag back to the region! A boy could dream…

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Wild Wild BioWest!

2007-10-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

The BioWest Conference will be here before you know it 6 and 7 December, the schedule has been finalized and looks as action packed as ever, take a look at the program (here). The event is growing by leaps and bounds and nearly 1,000 attendees are expected this year. I must admit I am really excited for the opportunity to listen to Jim Collins, author of Good to Great (and others (here)) deliver one of the keynote talks. I devour Jim’s works and he is an incredible resource to our community as his Management Laboratory is housed here in beautiful Boulder, Colorado.

Register to attend (here).

Perhaps I’ll find out if I am a Fox or a Hedgehog?

If you enjoyed this post get free email updates (here).

Sprint Down to the Boulder Esprit07!

2007-10-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

The CU Innovation Alliance Breakfast will be held Tuesday 16 October 8:00am – 10:30am at the Millennium Harvest House Hotel. Emerging CU Boulder technologies of all stages will be highlighted. Register (here)! Presenters include:

Medical Informatics - An early-stage innovation from CU’s whose technology can be used to pull relevant data out of text-based medical records. This allows hospitals and other health care facilities to direct more staff resources to direct patient care.
Regeneration of Muscle Tissue - Based on UCB stem cell technology CU researchers have developed a new method for transplanting skeletal muscle stem cells and enabling them to survive long-term.

ColdQuanta, Inc. - Based on Nobel-prize winning work at UCB, the company is commercializing technology for the achievement of Bose-Einstein Condensation in atomic vapor; potential applications are atomic clocks, inertial sensing instruments, improving frequency standards, magnetic field sensing, and quantum computing.

AgriHouse, Inc. - An agro-biotech developing CU’s innovative leaf sensor, which enables reliable feedback for plant irrigation control by direct detection of impending water deficit stress in plants.

If you enjoyed this post, get free email updates (here).

Narcissism: Big Pharma 411!?

2007-10-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

Nar-cis-sism [nahr-suh-siz-em], noun.

Inordinate fascination with oneself, excessive self-love, vanity
Psychoanalysis. Gratification derived from admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes

Those regular viewer-readers of CLSDF, not those who subscribe via email or RSS (many thanks to all of the subscribers!) may have observed a new and prominently placed banner titled Big Pharma 411 at the top of the page. Big Pharma 411 is my latest foray into the blog-o-sphere and I struggled and squirmed while deciding whether or not to add the banner link to BP411 here. The catalyst of the new blog creation is simply to architect a placeholder for me to aggregate my research and address my deficiency knowing (or not knowing well enough in my case) of just exactly who is doing what in big pharma. Here then now is a place to build and house such an information repository.

So then if this tool is for my personal development why place it for the world to see? That is an easy question to address, for the blog software chosen allows for 1) me to access the info just about wherever I am and 2) the blog software chosen allows for a fantastic approach to organizing all of the content. It beats building a spread sheet any day of the week and thus was a no-brainer to select.

The struggle was with who to tell or not tell about this new endeavor. Since at some point the search engine bots will eventually pick-up Big Pharma 411 I decided to throw caution to the wind and bring it to the CLSDF’s audience’s attention. Who knows…perhaps this may actually be useful to someone other than myself?

So would it be awful of me to ask that you subscribe to Big Pharma 411 (here)?

I ask myself is it then narcissistic to cross-promote and/or self-promote these blogs? Without delving to deep into the dark crevasses of self I put forth that it is in fact without a doubt, at some level, a narcissistic approach but is blogging in general narcissistic? The answer to that question is, context dependent, and often unambiguously no. For in the world today speed to information is powerful, the internet, be it words, pictures, audio or video delivers so many flavors of information and so quickly that it may be a disadvantage to opt out of participating. The blog-o-sphere has created a doorway for absolutely anyone to merge onto this information superhighway. Without a doubt sensitivities abound with information, especially if there is proprietary information and/or regulatory bodies are involved be it the SEC or the FDA with the entity or individual. In this authors humble opinion, a mere static website is not enough to add to competitive advantage. Dynamic, fresh content of a protected or non-proprietary nature serves customers of all types, from up-stream investors, to down-stream licensees/licensors, suppliers, the media and even those who will eventually purchase your product.

So do not hesitate to deploy that new online strategy, if properly managed it may lend untold economic value, jump on in, the water is warm!

CBSA BioBreakfast: Trends in VC Investing

2007-10-08T07:47:00.001-07:00

A must-attend CBSA BioBreakfast coming up on 24 October 7:30am to be held at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The distinguished panel of Dan Mitchell of Sequel Ventures, Karen Cassidy of Partisan Management Group and Andrew Schwab of 5AM Ventures will be reflecting back upon investment trends of 2007 and will provide insight and predictions of what to expect for the coming year.

Sign up (here) to attend.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email (here).

Wilderness MedVentures: CO to Patagonia

2007-10-02T09:46:00.001-07:00

A bit of a departure from regular CLSDF posts here however, I think this is to cool not to highlight. My friend Kevin McGarvey, MD, MBA who is not only an ER physician as well as facilitating business development for ValveXchange, Inc. (a FBBp portfolio company), has also co-founded Wilderness MedVentures (WMV). How does he find the time!? Kevin is exactly what the doctor ordered in terms of the life science entrepreneurs that Colorado is attracting.

So a bit more about WMV and what is being offered in Patagonia (Chile that is) 23 February to 1 March. Without a doubt this must attract interest from the rugged yet sophisticated outdoorsy types that liter Colorado’s beautiful high country. If you are looking to improve your wilderness medical skills then pack your bags, grab your passport and look no farther than WMV who is serving up a course that empowers its participants with the skills necessary to provide state-of-the-art medical care and leadership in the remote, wilderness adventure setting. Completion of this week long course also provides 34 hours of Category I AMA CME credits and is team taught by four of the radest physicians you will ever meet.

Take a look at the course itinerary (here).

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS (here).

Children’s Hospital Now Open @ Fitz!

2007-10-01T16:53:00.001-07:00

After five years of careful planning, generous donations and hard work, the new Children’s Hospital has officially opened its doors! The old hospital on East 19th Avenue is now closed, and all inpatients have been safely moved to the new location at the Fitzsimons Life Science District where adjacent to Children’s is the future home to the new VA hospital, adjacent on the west side on Anschutz Medical Campus you will find the University of Colorado Hospital, the Anschutz Caner Pavilion, the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Nighthorse Campbell Native Health, and the Lazzara Center for Oral-Facial Health to name a few.

All ambulatory clinics at Children’s are now open. Welcome to our newest neighbors at Fitzsimons! And…get well soon!

Celgene Makes Ya Go Hmmm…

2007-09-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Just what I think to be an interesting observation…that is how deep New Jersey-based Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) has penetrated into the Colorado bio-scape. The connection appears to have initiated back in 2001 on a licensing deal with Pharmion (NASDAQ: PHRM) for Thalomid® (BTW…take a listen to Pharmion’s UBS Global Life Sciences Conference presentation from today here). Celgene then most recently struck an alliance deal with Array Biopharma (NASDAQ: ARRY) and yesterday confirmed participation in GlobeImmune’s Series C financing. More big pharma recognizing the value being created here in Colorado!

Venture Showcase Deadline 5 October!

2007-09-23T20:17:00.001-07:00

The BioWest Venture Showcase provides an incredible opportunity for regional and national exposure…so don’t miss the application deadline of 5 October!

Six companies will be chosen to present at this year's Showcase (December 6 & 7 at the Grand Hyatt, Denver, CO) to be judged by a distinguished panel of national venture capitalists. The winning business plan will be awarded the $10,000 Faegre & Benson Venture Showcase Award during the Colorado BioScience Association Annual Awards Luncheon on December 7. This is the third year Faegre & Benson has sponsored the cash award for the contest. "We are thrilled to sponsor the Venture Showcase Award at BioWest," said Rex O'Neal, co-chair of the emerging companies practice at Faegre & Benson. "Colorado is experiencing an unprecedented level of new company formation in the life sciences market. The Venture Showcase program draws attention to young Colorado companies that experience has shown will have profound impacts on our health, communities, and economy.

Download the application (here). For more information please contact Christine Shapard, Deputy Director, Colorado BioScience Association, 303-592-4089 or cshapard@cobioscience.com

Podcast: CO Med Device Symposium Part II

2007-09-17T10:22:00.001-07:00

If you were unable to make it to the wonderful Colorado Medical Device Symposium on 22 August, not to worry, it can come to you now via podcast. Here is the second session moderated by the very talented Mr. Jeff Bojar, JD, MS, associate with Snell and Wilmer.

Here in Part II we will listen to panel #2 Investment in Early Stage Development for Medical Device Technologies. Panelists include:

Bill Dalke, Consultant, formerly of Cobe
Mark Lupa, High Country Venture
Jonathan Thorne, Silverglide Surgical
Harry Ross, Aweida Venture Partners
John Dunning, ClariMedix

Now That is Giving Back!

2007-09-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

(Amgen logo circa 1983)
Thanks to my biobeer buddies who beat me to the punch on this not so small tidbit. Dr. Marvin H. Caruthers professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado donated a whopping $20MM to be allocated towards the construction of the $115MM Systems Biotechnology Building which will be home to the new Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology that is gaining traction under the leadership of Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D. (former chair of MCDB and co-founder of Myogen now Gilead-Colorado (NASDAQ: GILD)).

For those who pay close attention to CLSDF you may have observed my mention of Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) in yesterday’s post re: public company’s related to Colorado. Amgen has two major manufacturing facilities in Boulder and Longmont, these facilities did not emerge here by happenstance…rather Dr. Caruthers just happens to be a co-founder of Applied Molecular Genetics or for most who know it simply as…Amgen. Back in 1980 he and his colleagues pioneered the mechanisms for the synthesis of nucleic acid which formed the foundation of recombinant technologies. In addition, Dr. Caruthers is also co-founder of another little company known as Applied BioSystems (NYSE: ABI). In July Dr. Caruthers was also awarded the 2005-2006 NSF National Medal of Science.

This gift is the largest ever by a faculty member of the University. Without a doubt the community is showering Dr. Caruthers with the appropriate praise and appreciation. At this time however, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Caruthers for his monetary generosity yes, but in my humble opinion, equally as important is that as a wildly successful serial entrepreneur I also appreciate Dr. Caruthers for giving back to the Colorado life science community by making himself incredibly accessible to the next generation of Colorado life science entrepreneurs with his keen insight, wisdom and guidance. The gift of getting ones hands dirty is not only priceless but is of paramount importance for the continued build-out of Colorado as an epicenter of bioscience innovation.

Thank you Dr. Caruthers!!!

How Do You Spell Telomere? T-T-A-G-G-G

2007-09-10T21:32:00.001-07:00

Finishing off Michael West’s (founder of Geron NASDAQ: GERN and Advanced Cell Technology OTCBB: ACTC.OB) The Immortal Cell (TIC) left me with a lingering thought…my geophysical and other biases aside…Colorado truly is an amazing place, and without a doubt has been (since Keith Porter's arrival) and continues to remain at the forefront of innovation from regenerative medicine discovery (I’ll get to the TIC example in a moment) to personalized healthcare (take a peek at what ARCA Discovery is doing).

This post in no way intends to function as a book review, for I can barely link two clauses by a conjunction together, so I’ll steer clear from any evaluation efforts and will simply state that if you are interested in any aspect of regenerative medicine you should read Dr. West’s book.

Now onto the TIC example and the discovery of Telomerase. The founding of Geron and ACT owe a tremendous amount to the work carried out at the University of Colorado and the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Cech (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989); these efforts and discoveries are highlighted in Dr. West’s book. Of great significance...it was members of the Cech laboratory who discovered the catalytic protein subunit of telomerase and cloned and sequenced genes encoding it in Euplotes, S. pombe, human, Tetrahymena and Oxytricha. The active site protein subunits comprise a new class of reverse transcriptases. The group has also identified the Protection of Telomeres protein that caps the very ends of chromosomes in S. pombe, human, and other eukaryotes, and is investigating its sequence specificity of ssDNA binding using both biochemistry and X-ray crystallography. Long-term goals are to understand the regulation of telomerase by DNA-binding telomere proteins and to understand the nuclear localization and trafficking of telomerase.

3 Commercialized Products & Counting!

2007-09-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

QUESTION: What do ZostaVax®, Kineret® and Macugen® have in common…

ANSWER: They are all FDA approved first-in-class commercialized products originating from University of Colorado intellectual property.

Want to learn more about these products and the rich product pipeline portfolio at the University of Colorado? Then take a listen to this podcast featuring David Allen, Ph.D., Associate Vice President, CU Technology Transfer Office speaking at the Holland & Hart Bioentrepreneur Club and observe the year-end performance metrics through July 2007 (here).

ZostaVax® is a vaccine developed by Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) which has been shown to reduce the incidence of Shingles (herpes zoster) by over 51% in a pivotal phase III study of 38,000 adults aged 60 and older who received the vaccine.

Macugen® is for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration. It was developed by EyeTech Pharmaceuticals who was recently acquired by OSI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSIP) and licensed to Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) for late stage development and marketing.

Kineret® developed by Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) for the reduction in signs and symptoms and slowing the progression of structural damage in moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis, in patients 18 years of age or older who have failed 1 or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Podcast: CO Med Device Symposium Part I

2007-09-05T07:38:00.001-07:00

If you were unable to make it to the wonderful Colorado Medical Device Symposium on 22 August, not to worry, it can come to you now via podcast. Here is the first session moderated by the very talented Mr. Andrew Gano, MBA, licensing associate with the University Colorado Technology Transfer Office. Andrew not only orchestrated the half-day event but was also kind enough to allocate some time to me to record an intro.

Here in Part I we will listen to panel #1 Working with Academia in Developing Early Stage Medical Device Technologies. Panelists include:

David Allen, University Colorado TTO
John Poate, Colorado School of Mines R&TT
Todd Headley, Colorado State Universtiy CSURF
Carley Pavelka, University Denver IP&TT
Brad Brockbank, National Jewish IP&TCP

Stay tuned to CLSDF for Panel #2 in Part II covering Investment in Early Stage Development for Medical Device Technologies.

Hey Colorado Researchers!

2007-08-29T22:46:00.001-07:00

New NCI Funding Opportunities Are Available!

The National Cancer Institute Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program has announced 16 new funding opportunities in a range of novel technology areas.

These funding opportunities are available to small businesses to support research and development of:

anti-cancer agents
biomarkers
nanotechnology
proteomics
pharmacodynamics

and many other areas of interest to the NCI. Click (here) for the comprehensive list.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is 5 November 2007.

If you are interested in learning more about the NCI SBIR Program, please contact Michael Weingarten or Andrew Kurtz at ncisbir@mail.nih.gov.

Colorado Café Scientifique: Sept. Mtg.

2007-08-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

Based on the French Café Philosophique...at the Colorado Café Scientifique, people (often science buffs) come together in a friendly pub after work and hear an informal introduction to an interesting current scientific topic led by an expert. We take a short break for refreshments, to meet new people, and chat, and then we return for questions and answers and general discussion.

The next Café will be on Tuesday 25 September 6:30PM @ the Wynkoop brewery in LoDo and will be featuring Michael Browning, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience in the department of Pharmacology at UCDHSC as well as founder and President of PhosphoSolutions. Dr. Browning will be leading a discussion on – Aging, Alcohol, Memory and Molecules -. Should be particularly interesting given the setting! Hope to see you there.

Also if you happen to be an online social networking kinda person be certain to join the Colorado Café Scientifique group on Facebook, friend me and I’ll friend you back!

Bioentrepreneur Club: Tech Transfer @ CU

2007-08-27T07:43:00.001-07:00

Don’t miss the next Holland and Hart Bioentrepreneur Club on Thursday 6 September (7:15am – 9:00am) networking event and discussion featuring Dave Allen, Associate VP for Technology Transfer at the University of Colorado who will be addressing:

FY ’06 – ’07 CU TTO performance
Bioscience goals for FY ‘08
Evolving early-stage biobusiness infrastructure
The CU Biomedical Initiative

For more information and to register to attend email Susan Doyle or call 303.295.8273

Want To Start A Biotech Company?

2007-08-26T20:45:00.001-07:00

Then start with this class! Introduction to Life Science Technology Transfer. This course examines the process of technology transfer in the academic, government laboratory and corporate setting. The focus of the course, from the discovery stage to building the business case, will be on the process of creating innovation from inventions, protecting the innovation and intellectual property and deciding whether to proceed with commercialization. The emphasis of the course will be on how technology transfer occurs, different technology transfer models, early stage technology finance, basics of intellectual property, and the regulatory and reimbursement environment for commercializing drugs, devices, diagnostic tests and health information software.

Class meets Tuesday’s, August 21 through December 15, 2007 from 2:30-5:00 p.m. at the Molecular Biology Conference Room-9105 RC-1; the Shore Family Forum-Nighthorse Campbell Bldg; and the Amgen Conference Room-Bioscience Park Building.

It is not to late to register! Contact (email) Arlen D. Meyers, MD, MBA or call (303.620.4050) for more information.

Infinite Loop...Infinite Appreciation!

2007-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Wow…Denise Brown, Executive Director of the Colorado BioScience Association just informed me that a link to CLSDF has been placed on the CBSA home page; without a doubt the most prominent link-back this blog has received. Perhaps too some validation of the content being produced here. The team at CBSA is doing incredible work of aggregating the growing Colorado life science community and delivering to it highly relevant quality content that is being voraciously gobbled up, as evidenced by the recent standing room only attendance at the med device symposium BioBreakfast.

I would also like to take this opportunity for a quick reminder that you can easily sign-up for email delivery of CLSDF updates via email, simply drop your email in the box in the side-rail and click subscribe. And finally keep your news scoops, company info, comments and criticism coming, email me here.

Again, infinite thanks to CBSA and infinite thanks to the CLSDF readers!

Right Place at the Right Time

2007-08-21T10:01:00.001-07:00

Last week was the right time at the right place for a meeting at the beautiful new BaroFold offices where I was afforded an opportunity to watch a doe enjoy an afternoon snack of some apples right off the tree.

In The Beginning...

2007-08-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Fitzsimons Life Science District had dirt but now has roads. Here I plan to document the growth of the FLSD and will aggregate photos of the emergence and growth on my Flickr account. Check in periodically to observe the progress as a 160-acre bioscience park comes to life…WARNING! Hard Hat Required!

My Name is Adam and I’m a Twitter-holic…

2007-08-21T08:19:00.001-07:00

…That is because I am addicted to Twitter, a micro-blogging tool, more specifically it is Tiny Twitter that has stolen my heart, a mobile application that allows me to use Twitter on my Blackberry 8700c. I plan to be micro-blogging throughout the day at tomorrow’s CBSA's Medical Device Symposium (more info on there here, sign up to attend today!).

Keep up with me throughout the day at symposium (here) or if you have a windows or java based mobile device grab the Tiny Twitter install (here) and take it with you all in on the go.

4!!! Don’t Miss the BioScramble

2007-08-14T14:15:00.001-07:00

The Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority invites you to participate in the BioScramble golf tournament and reception on

27 September at the Fitzsimons Golf Course. Free green fees! First foursome tee off @ 2:00pm and reception at the clubhouse begins at 6:00pm. Contact Vicki Jenings (vjenings@colobio.com or 720.859.4108) to sign up or for more information.

An Illuminating Review

2007-08-07T23:11:00.001-07:00

Continuing the literary theme for a bit…

When Jeff Bojar attorney extraordinaire at Snell & Wilmer passed along his recent review of Marc Zimmer’s Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology I was quickly transported to a time when I was helping to create a series of Plakoglobin deletion mutants to be used for experiments in deriving the adhesive and signaling functions of the molecule. Each construct in this series had the good old GFP cloned in. When I saw those puppies light up a wonderful fluorescent green glow for the first time I was simply floored, and I continue to be blown away by each new biotechnological innovation. It is a blessing to be positioned to observe all that I am able to observe from the halls of academia to the shelves of commercialization.

It is not my intention to ‘review the review’ here but if the sign of a good review is that it motivates one to read the book, well let’s just say as soon as I complete this post I plan to click over to Amazon and place my order.

To read Jeff’s full review please click (here) for the .pdf

Here is a taste…

"As evidenced by biomedical equipment manufacturer Beckman Coulter’s recent acquisition of Lumigen, a Michigan chemiluminescence company, for $185 million in cash, bioluminescence has come of age. Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology describes the incremental phases of the evolution of bioluminescence technology from the days when investigators paid children to collect fireflies for the McElroy lab and jellyfish for the Shimomura lab to today when green fluorescent protein (GFP) is used in virtually every molecular biology lab. In recounting the story, Zimmer implicitly reminds us of, and makes the case for, the importance of the Federal government’s continued funding of basic science research."

To read Jeff’s full review please click (here) for the .pdf

Science Biz: What Happened to Biotech?

2007-08-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I recently completed Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech. Time spent reading was a rewarding allocation sans for Part I where author Gary Pisano, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, focuses upon a survey of the technologies, tools and theories that the biotechnology industry is built upon. Don’t get me wrong...I am way way far from all knowing however, to a person such as myself who has had some hands on the pipette experience Part I speaks to some basic concepts. If you are without such a foundation then I highly recommend digging in.

Key concepts hit upon include:

The biotech industry has underperformed expectations, caught in the conflicting objectives and requirements between science and business.

The industry needs to realign business models, organizational structures, and financing arrangements so they will place greater emphasis on long-term learning over short-term monetization of intellectual property.

A lesson to managers: Break away from a strategy of doing many narrow deals and focus on fewer but deeper relationships.

Mark Your Calendars!

2007-08-01T10:35:00.001-07:00

Some great events are coming up August, be certain to mark you calendars, and please stop me to say hi.

14 August 2007 BioBoulder @ Rembrant Yard
(Sponsors: CBSA, Amgen, Hogan & Hartson)

16 August 2007 Biotech Accounting Hot Topics @ E&Y Denver
(Sponsors: CBSA, Ernst & Young)

22 August 2007 Medical Device Symposium @ Timbers Hotel
(Sponsors: CBSA, CU TTO, Snell & Wilmer)

28 August 2007 Building on the Foundation @ Denver Athletic Club
(Sponsors: CBSA, CoBizBio)

Following Along With Dr. Bill Freytag…

2007-08-01T09:19:00.001-07:00

The following is a message from Dr. J. William Freytag, President and CEO of Aspreva Pharma (NASDAQ: ASPV) and former helmsman of Myogen who lead the $2.5 billion exit to Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD). If one subscribes to the notion of “betting on the jockey” such an investor may be unquestionably moved to pick up some shares of ASPV*. *Please note: this is in no way shape or form investment advice.

And now a word from Dr. Freytag:

When I was approached to consider the position of CEO and Chairman at Aspreva, it didn't take long for me to realize the unique opportunity that this company represents. As a profitable company with significant cash reserves, a talented pool of management and employees, a global infrastructure and a solid corporate foundation, this company has the ability to chart its destiny and fulfill its tremendous potential.

Aspreva has already done groundbreaking work through its innovative partnership with Roche. By conducting valuable research in the use of CellCept for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, Aspreva has already had a significant impact on the treatment options available to patients suffering from life-threatening diseases such as lupus nephritis, a manifestation of lupus erythematosus affecting renal function, for which there had not been an approved drug in forty years.

Our work in this field continues as we analyze the data from the induction phase of our lupus nephritis clinical trial and conduct the maintenance phase in this trial to further the evidence available to support the treatment of this disease. We are also conducting a phase III trial evaluating the effectiveness of CellCept for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris, a severe and chronic autoimmune disease that causes blisters of the skin and mucous membranes. Aspreva's work in these areas over the past few years has given the company significant clinical and regulatory expertise and we plan on leveraging these resources as we look to expand our clinical pipeline.

Aspreva is ready for the next transformational steps in its young and exciting history as an innovative pharmaceutical company. My goal as Aspreva's new CEO is to help guide our company through these steps and unlock the potential that Aspreva has. As a recent addition to the family, I've had the privilege of looking at the company both as an outsider and an insider. And now, as the CEO and a shareholder, I'm enthusiastic about Aspreva on both counts.

AlphaSniffer: Detecting It All…

2007-07-16T07:45:00.001-07:00

AlphaSnifer, developer of highly sensitive biosensors for the detection of trace amounts (~pg/mm^2) of bacteria, viruses, proteins, nucleic acids, antibodies and other biological and chemical agents, in real time, announced they received U.S. Patent #7,233,396, “Polarization based interferometric detector”.

In addition, as Dr. Misha Plam, President and CEO of AlphaSniffer, gears up to raise a Series A financing two key additions to the companies advisory board were made, they include Dr. Bill Freytag (Chair and CEO of Aspreva Pharma) and William Marshall (EVP of Dharmacon). The company has raised approximately $2.7M in angel and SBIR grants to date.

J. William Freytag: CEO of Aspreva Pharma

2007-07-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

It appears as though Bill Freytag, Ph.D. former chief executive of Myogen will be assuming the CEO and chair positions with Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASPV) effective immediately. Aspreva, based in Victoria, British Columbia has two Phase III trials underway for the autoimmune diseases lupus nephritis and pemphigus vulgaris.

More news to come…

New Bioentrepreneur Director at Bard

2007-07-11T09:19:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA who has been appointed as the Academic Director of the Bard Center Bioentrepreneurship Program.

Program details may be found (here). The inaugural Class I Bard Bio Fellows are off to the races. The Fellows among others will be taking Dr. Meyers Fundamentals of Bioscience Technology Transfer course beginning in August at the Anschutz Medical Campus across the street from the Colorado Bioscience Park (both campuses residing within the Fitzsimons Life Science District).

Take a look at the course sample syllabus (here) and note the star-studded academic and industry faculty who will be team teaching the course for sixteen weeks beginning 21 August and meeting once per week from 2:30 – 5:00, day TBD.

Also keep your eyes peeled (or tuned into CLSDF) for more information on a variety of new short course offerings from the Bard Center beginning in ’08 to include:

Bioscience New Product Development
Regulatory Affairs and Reimbursement
Financing Startup Bioscience Ventures
Marketing Bioscience Ventures

These non-degree, non-credit courses are designed for the Bio Fellows, students, bioentrepreneurs, and service providers.

Contact Dr. Meyers directly via (email) for additional info.

Denver BizJournal Article: Biotech Hub

2007-07-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to a great piece on the Colorado bio-scape in today’s Denver Business Journal titled Building a Biotech Hub Means Bridging Some Gaps.

Thanks to Greg Avery for the informative work.

Now...Something Completely Different…

2007-07-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Since the launch of CLSDF I’ve worked diligently to keep my personal life off of this blog, primarily because who out there really cares what I am up to outside of my bio-life. Well, I can no longer contain myself and must now spill the beans about what I have been up to since Friday at 6:00pm.

Thanks to a global invitation, from my friend Andrew Hyde, to join in on StartupWeekend I will have had virtually no sleep for 55 hours straight. The same applies to 69 of my other newest and closest friends. Not surprisingly I am not the only biologist sitting in this sweltering room above University Bikes in Boulder, CO, three other compatriots whose work ranges from medicinal chemistry, bio-engineering and aiding the EPA draft their early work on GMO crops are sitting and sweating side-by-side, working feverishly and tirelessly to translate this dream into reality.

The plan here is to create a startup in weekend. How simple... The first step was to collectively decide what the business to be will be…then it was an organic and orderly divide and conquer approach. The business units deployed include(ed), marketing, PR, legal, business development, creative, user experience, front-end development and back-end development.

In approximately 24 hours we garnered national and international press and this press has led to over 100,000 hits on the StartupWeekend blog thru noon on Sunday afternoon!!! Truly Amazing!!!

So you may be wondering what are we launching by 11:59pm Sunday night? Well, I would like to introduce you to VoSnap…a social voting tool that reduces time wasted on decision-making, and gives instant feedback on fun or serious decisions. Users can create a poll, send it, and receive the results via cell phone SMS text or e-mail. Use VoSnap to decide where you and your friends should go for dinner or where your annual shareholder meeting should be held.

11 hours till product launch…Gotta get VoSnap done as it is back to bio first thing Monday morning. Whatever happens it has been a delightful experience to meet so many intelligent, friendly and approachable folks. Stranger one moment, perhaps new friend(s) for life? Whatever the outcome is for VoSnap the experience has been once-in-a-lifetime...

Read about VoSnap in the news:

Class I Bard Bio-Fellows Named!

2007-07-05T15:09:00.001-07:00

The new Bard Center Bioscience Program (BCBP) is an intensive, year-long program that equips emerging Colorado life scientists with the knowledge, skills, experience and contacts to integrate as a value-add contributor into the region’s biocluster. BCBP provides a pathway for life science graduate, postdoctoral and business students to gain employment in the Colorado bioscience ecosystem by delivering academic and real-world bioscience company experience.

The program will provide: A rigorous 6-month academic component & 6-month internship and Capstone project - An understanding of the legal, business and regulatory environment of bioscience commercialization - Hands-on experience in facilitating and analyzing technology transfer and business development opportunities – Develop a repertoire of connections to a network of industry, service provider, research and public sector contacts in the Colorado biocluster - Discover where personal interest and aptitude fit bioscience employment market needs – And build marketable skills that develop and meet the highly-skilled and specialized needs of our growing bioscience ecosystem

The 2007-2008 Class I Bio-Fellows to participate in the BCBP have been named via a competitive selection process. CLSDF will feature the five members of BCPB Class I in subsequent posts and will track their experiences...so stay tuned in.

To learn more about this program visit BCBP (here) or contact:

Dave O'Brien, MBA or Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA

How Not To Use .ppt!

2007-06-24T19:25:00.001-07:00

OK...so a bit of a lazy post...yes however, i found this clip to be both funny and relevant. You be the judge...

FDA Approval for Letairis (Ambrisentan)!!!

2007-06-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

You can hear the champagne corks popping from Westminster, CO to Foster City, CA as the FDA late Friday approved Gilead's (Myogen) Letairis® (ambrisentan) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). There are up to an estimated 90,000 people in the US suffering from PAH, a disease where blood pressure is raised due to constricting lung vessels which may lead to heart failure. Letairis® is an endothelin receptor antagonist, and works by relaxing the blood vessels. Plans are to launch US sales this week and via a co-marketing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline filing for approval for ROW sales and marketing are underway.

Letairis® approval is certainly a feather in the cap for the Colorado bio-ecosystem. The people, the science and the supporters worked long (an understatement) and hard (another understatement) to bring this drug to market. It will be exciting to see if this talented group of individuals will roll up their sleeves and do it again. That is where the true magic happens towards building a vibrant biocluster filled with serial entrepreneurs mentoring to first timers.

CLSDF to Support CWHR: You Can Help!

2007-06-15T20:37:00.001-07:00

I would like to bring to your attention the Center for Women’s Health Research at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. CWHR is committed to improving women's health by performing vital original research, attracting and training new scientists to the study of women's health, and providing education to women, healthcare providers, and the public to benefit women everywhere, their families and communities. The Center's first research pod is in cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Other research areas critical to women's health will be added as the Center expands.

As a tribute to the special women in my life and those who are no longer here it became unambiguously obvious to me that the CWHR is an incredible organization to support.

So from today forward, any proceeds derived from CLSDF will be donated to CWHR, and will match any such revenue sources. The CLSDF sidebar will have a meter posted throughout the year with an estimated amount.

For more information contact Gay Cook, CWHR Managing Director 303.724.0305 or email.

ARCA Discovery: $18M Series B

2007-06-13T16:19:00.001-07:00

ARCA Discovery Inc., closed an $18M Series B led by Skyline Ventures and additional new investor InterWest Partners, previous investors Atlas Ventures, Boulder Ventures and the Peierls Foundation also participated in the round.

ARCA is aiming for an NDA submission in 2007 for Bucindolol, a next-generation beta-blocker and vasodilator for heart failure, and plans to seek approval of the drug concurrent with a genetic test to assist physicians in determining whether bucindolol is an appropriate therapy for their patients.

A targeted approach based upon genetic markers (beta-1 and alpha-2-c adrenergic receptors).

Colorado…at the forefront of personalized medicine!

I’m Always Excited When…

2007-06-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

I’m always excited when my new edition of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News shows up. This is the periodical that keeps me at least efforting to maintain an awareness of the leading edge of discovery, translational medicine, bioprocessing and biobusiness. If you do not receive it yet sign up for your free subscription (here).

How excited was I when I found not one, not two but three references to Colorado companies in the June edition! They are:

ARCA Discovery in Ben Conway’s commentary on Biopharma Sector Leadership in Transition

Dharmacon (Thermo Fischer Scientific) in Catherine Shaffer’s piece on miRNA Becoming a Research Priority

BlueSun in Gail Dutton’s article on Celluosic Biofuels Abound with Promise

I know…I have to get out more…

ValveXchange.: Bard Bioscience Winner!

2007-06-13T16:10:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to ValveXchange for taking top honors in the bioscience category and third place overall in the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship at the University Colorado, Denver and Health Sciences Center 6th Annual Business Plan Competition. Way to go Dr. Vesely!

ValveXchange is a medical device company developing a bioprosthetic heart valve with a percutaneously-exchangeable leaflet set that provides lifetime service without anti-coagulation therapy. ValveXchange is a Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners portfolio company

It was also wonderful to hear from Jerry Rifkin, founder and President of Tensegrity Prosthetics, another Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners portfolio company who won the overall competition in 2006. Great progress Jerry!

Selecting a SELEX® Pathway

2007-06-12T08:55:00.001-07:00

You may have seen the news yesterday on the Archemix and Merck KGaA deal for the use of the SELEX® technology in the oncology field. Well Cambridge and Germany are a long way from Colorado, or are they…

The origins of the Archemix/Merck deal may be traced back to the first floor of Porter Bioscience, home to the University Colorado, Boulder department of molecular, cell and developmental biology and laboratory of Dr. Larry Gold approaching some twenty years ago. Aptamers (a single-stranded oligonucleotide that assumes a specific sequence-dependent shape and binds to a target protein based on a lock-and-key fit between the two molecules) and the SELEX® process (an evolutionary, in vitro combinatorial chemistry process used to identify aptamers to a target from large pools of diverse oligonucleotides) were both discovered there and formed the basis of NeXagen which later merged with Vestar to become NeXstar Pharmaceuticals and in 1991 NeXstar was acquired in an all stock deal by Gilead.

Along the way the SELEX® technology created the aptamer pegaptanib, an anti-VEGF drug approved as Macugen in 2004 for wet age-related macular degeneration. Macugen was created by Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and where rights and ventures lead it through the halls of Gilead, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.

Around 2001 Archemix successfully licensed rights to the intellectual property portfolio of Gilead covering aptamers and the SELEX® process for a wide variety of applications, including therapeutic uses. This portfolio included over 400 issued and pending patents resulting from work carried out at both Gilead and NeXstar in the 1990’s. This comprehensive patent estate has established Archemix as the leading aptamer therapeutics company.

Though Archemix is driving aptamers down the therapeutic field with pipeline products in cardiovascular, oncology and autoimmune disease Boulder-based Somalogic has licensed back from Gilead the diagnostic field of use of aptamers and SELEX® and are planning to transform medical practice through next generation disease screening, diagnosis, therapy selection and patient monitoring tools.

CO Commercial & Pipeline Products

2007-06-07T07:07:00.001-07:00

As a part of sprucing up the side-rail I created a new page that contains information on the commercialized and pipeline products in CO. The list is probably about 1% complete as I have started with the public companies first. Please contact me (email) to have your company and product or candidate listed. You can link to the page (here) or notice that it is listed under the skype button (call me for free any time using skype) in the side-rail.

Finally, do not forget that you can easily subscribe to the CLSDF content simply by adding your email and click to subscribe. Before you know it the CLSDF posts will be arriving in your inbox hot off the press.

Web Makeover Wednesday…

2007-05-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

Two beautiful new Colorado websites can be found…

Taligen Therapeutics, Inc., new website (here), is a development stage biotechnology company with a novel technology to modulate and regulate activation of the complement system. An IND for their lead product, TA106 for persistent asthma, should hopefully be filed by 4Q07.

And at 578 acres, the Fitzsimons Life Science District, new website (here), is currently the nation's largest scientific and medical development project. By mid-2008, the District will offer more than 6 million square feet of clinical and lab space, and be home to more than 16,000 life science professionals.

Colorado Bio Relative to US Biotech Market

2007-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Slicing and dicing some of the data contained in the Ernst and Young 2006 Beyond Borders Biotech report reveals how Colorado is faring as a snapshot relative to the total U.S. Biotech Market:

U.S. Total Public CO's	336
Colorado Public CO's	6
U.S. Total Market Cap	$ 392,400,000,000
Colorado Market Cap	$ 1,850,000,000
U.S. Total Revenue	$ 55,500,000,000
Colorado Revenue	$ 195,000,000
U.S. Total R&D	$ 22,900,000,000
Colorado R&D	$ 195,000,000
U.S Total Net Loss	$ 3,500,000,000
Colorado Net Loss	$ 121,000,000

So Colorado comprises approximately 1.79% of all publicly traded biotechs though only accounts for 0.47% of total market cap and 0.35% of total revenue. In a similar vein (is that the proper use of vein?) total R&D costs are 0.85% of the industry total where net loss is 3.46%.

I will utilize this data set as a baseline for CLSDF regional analysis. Without a doubt these are exciting times for the life sciences in Colorado but do not take my word for it...the 2007 May edition of Site Selection magazine has named Denver as the number 5 city for US Life Science R&D Locations, and where R&D exist innovation and market cap are to follow.

BIO2008 San Diego or Bust!

2007-05-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

Reflecting back upon my first BIO conference the experience bordered on overwhelming yet yielded a new understanding that this event is now to be filed under mandatory attendance for the coming years.

Overwhelming in the sense that there were simply not enough hours in the day to attend all of the seminars of interest, connect with all of the incredible people and spend time interacting with the thousands of exhibitors.

BIO2008 is queued up for San Diego; time management at the conference is a necessity and incorporating the myBIO planning software is a must, especially thanks to its user friendly interface. Be certain to block out 17-20 June 2008 in your calendar now.

I loved that BIO incorporated some web 2.0 tools like blogger and flickr and hope to see this trend continue next year. In particular it would be wonderful if each attendee had a public profile page posted ahead of the conference that would enable introduction & meeting requests. In short I envision an online social networking ecosystem along the lines of a MySpace environment yet with an architected interface that appropriately reflects specific aspects of the BIO industry. With a easily searchable social network relationships may be cultivated and developed throughout the year. myBIO could accomplish all of this with some slight modifications and additions.

Be certain to sign up for the BIO SmartBrief (here) for a daily briefing on top stories of the biotech industry.

Once again I would like to thank the organizers of BIO for the opportunity to participate in the inaugural BIOVoice blog and I hope the participation grows in the coming years. In addition, many many thanks to those entities that made my attendance possible:

Fitzsimons BioBusiness Incubator
Colorado Science + Technology Park @ Fitzsimons
Colorado Bioscience Association
University Colorado Technology Transfer Office

Finally, please follow my blogging throughout the year. You can locate me in the blogosphere at:

Colorado Life Science Deal Flow

and

OnBioVC

(Subscribe to my content here and here)

See you in San Diego for BIO2008!

Happy Birthday CLSDF!

2007-05-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it has been two years since I stumbled into this blogging thing. Needless to say how rewarding it has been, just wish there was more time to allocate to posting. In year 3 I hope to derive a more consistent content output protocol.

A present to myself is to spruce up the side-bar which I have already begun doing and have also added the Lijit widget to aggregate my web content. Also, time permitting, this year I hope to create a new site that provides a one-stop destination for all of my content such as CLSDF, OnBioVC, FBBi, home-page, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

I have made it easier than ever to have the CLSDF content delivered hot off the press to your email inbox by simply adding your email address to the box and click to subscribe. It could not be easier to keep up with CLSDF.

Thank you to all of the folks who are currently subscribing to my feed either by email or via RSS!

Many more twists and turns to come in year-3, stay tuned...And please let me know your thoughts on anything and everything under the Colorado life science sun. Get a hold of me at arubenstein@rnaventures.com

Off To The Races...

2007-05-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Boston, well actually I am couch surfing in Cambridge. Could not be more excited to get going. Unfortunately the Cambridge BioBus and Human Genome Trail tour has been canceled. Disappointed about that but what can you do. Instead I will get registered and already have my first meeting slated for Sunday afternoon. If the timing works out I will try and do the Human Genome Trail myself, from Harvard Square to Central Square to Kendall Square. Ping me with an SMS @ 303.902.4413 if you are interested in joining me on this self guided tour Sunday afternoon.

While in town I plan to follow an IP trail from Colorado to Archemix. If you work there or have any contacts there may I trouble you for an intro? Thank you much! More on that later. Pushing 2:00am, need some shut-eye…

Already Impressed With BIO2007

2007-05-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

NOTE: This Post Comes From BIO Voice, Blog of the BIO2007 Convention

With still a few days to go before BIO2007 officially kicks off I am already impressed with the convention. Naturally I am ecstatic that BIO2007 has embraced the blog and I have been asked to participate! I love all of the functionality that the MyBIO online interactive event planner offers, particularly the fact that I am able to port my schedule from the MyBIO site to Outlook and ultimately sync with my Blackberry 8700c. It will come in handy since all I will need to carry around at the conference is the device.

In particular I am looking forward to attending the finance and business development sessions, as many as possible. The plan is to work out of my home-base at the Colorado Pavilion (Booth 1483) where my friends and colleagues from such fantastic organizations such as the Fitzsimons BioBusiness Incubator (yours truly), the Colorado BioScience Association, the Colorado Science + Technology Park @ Fitzsimons, the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office, Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., National Jewish Medical & Research Center, Holmes Roberts & Owen, and Snell & Wilmer (who will also be represented at the Arizona Pavilion) will be stationed. If you would like to connect with me please stop by the Colorado Pavilion, shoot me an SMS @ 303.902.4413 or leave a comment here on the BIO Voice blog.

I am also going to experiment with incorporating Twitter while at BIO2007. It is a microblogging tool good for quick short updates. My good friend and mobile development genius Kevin Cawley has built Tiny Twitter, a java based tool that will allow me to “tweet” from the conference floor from my handheld device. Embedded on the siderail is the green box that will contain my most recent tweet-dates.

Finally, I plan to co-post at my home blog Colorado Life Science Deal Flow. So if you have something to say to the blogosphere track me down and let’s shout it out on BIO Voice.

AlphaSniffer Launches New Look

2007-05-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

AlphaSniffer, LLC (Boulder) was founded in 2003 by Dr. Misha Plam. AlphaSniffer has developed a highly-sensitive biosensor for the detection of trace amounts (picograms) of bacteria, viruses, proteins, nucleic acids, antibodies and other biological and chemical agents in real-time and with minimal human intervention. Dr. Plam is the former founder, CEO, President and Chairman of the Board of Sievers Instruments. Sievers successfully exited to Ionics (now GE) for $21M. AlphaSniffer through SBIR grants and angels has raised approximately $2.7M and intends to focus efforts upon a series A financing.

More information on the development of their novel and proprietary Surface Plasmon Resonance-enhanced Common Path Interferometer (SPR-CPI) system instrument platform for the detection of molecular interactions may be found (here) on their beautiful new website.

Meet You @ Bio2007

2007-04-17T21:56:00.001-07:00

Are you planning on attending BIO2007? If so I would love to meet you. Shoot me an email and let’s get together. That is arubenstein@rnaventures.com

In addition, I plan on doing some live video broadcasting from the conference. Therefore if you have a product to tell the world about, a pitch you would like to make, an interview you would like to see and hear let me know and let’s get coordinated.

Hot Off the Press! OnBioVC 1Q07 Summary

2007-04-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

There are a variety of reasons why I am tracking how venture dollars are allocated to the life sciences. I initiated this exercise in December of '06 in the form of OnBioVC and have elected to now aggregate the data in an easily digestible format. One caveat is that the end-of-December data has been included in this first summary report.

You can download the OnBioVC 1Q07 Summary report (here).

If the link is not working please grab the .pdf here: http://ab.rubenstein.googlepages.com/home

Please let me know if you find this presentation helpful and/or what you would change. Thank you! arubenstein@rnaventures.com

Fed Says…Boulder #1 in Deal Activity!

2007-03-20T08:52:00.001-07:00

This is a great quarterly publication (.pdf here) from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston examining the next tier cities/regions (sans the Valley, Boston, NYC, SoCal & Texas) and the venture capital activity therein. The piece identifies factors that may explain how smaller cities attract venture capital.

If you do not have the bandwidth to read the article I’ll get straight to the good stuff here but would encourage you to read and observe how the next tier city rankings are derived…

The Ten Highest-Performing Cities:

Boulder, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
Westborough, MA
Ann Arbor, MI
Norwalk, CT
Providence, RI
Southborough, MA
Stamford, CT
Melbourne, FL
New Haven, CT

Source: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. Ranked by number of private equity deals per city

OnBioVC.com Update - 1Q07 Report Soon

2007-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

I spent some time updating my other blog OnBioVC. For those unfamiliar with it...I am creating a free dBase, tracking life science related venture financings that may be searched and sorted by funding round, geographic locale and lead indication. At the end of each quarter I will post a quantitative/qualitative summary. 1Q07 is nearing an end so I am beginning to think about layout and content of this first report. If you have anything in particular you would like to see included please contact me (email) with your thoughts. Much appreciated!

Dr. Mike Bristow LIVE: A Success!

2007-03-11T23:50:00.001-07:00

Mike Bristow, M.D., Ph.D. and founder of Myogen recently spoke at the Holland & Hart Bioentrepreneur club. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see what would happen if the talk was broadcast LIVE. Admittedly, there may have been a secondary desire to see if I may increase traffic to this blog by hosting the LIVE event.

The broadcast was a resounding success. True there may have been a little excessive buffering and the quality of audio varied a bit throughout the hour long broadcast, though both of these issues is a function of the bandwidth available.

There were approximately 20 people in attendance for the early morning talk. With two emails, zero marketing dollars spent, and about a days notice in the blogosphere and community members the number of persons who tuned in to watch LIVE eclipsed those in physical attendance.

The Data:

Specifically the broadcast had 27 people tune in and at the video feeds’ zenith there were 12 views served up simultaneously. This blog serves up about 40 RSS feed subscriptions, on top of that I average about 10 folks a day who stumble upon CLSDF who spend an average of about 1:30 perusing one or two pages. On broadcast day I had nearly 50 people visit who spent 20, 30 even 40 minutes per visit and who thumbed through 7, 8 even 9 pages.

Hmmm…this appears to be a powerful tool. Granted my working thesis is based upon a n of 1. So does anyone have any ideas for another LIVE broadcast on CLSDF? If you do please email me at arubenstein@rnaventures.com

Me…A Guest Blogger?

2007-02-26T08:38:00.001-08:00

Dave Cohen, a Boulder-based serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, co-founder and Executive Director of TechStars, technologist, author of Colorado Startups, and friend, invited me to guest post on his blog. What an honor and privilege to cover in a bit more detail for Dave's readership the bio side of the Venture Capital in the Rockies conference. From one geek to another, thanks Dave!

Post can be found (here)

H&H Bioentrepreneurs Club

2007-02-26T07:52:00.001-08:00

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to listen to Michael Bristow, M.D., Ph.D., on 8 March 8:00 – 9:00am, speak about the history of Myogen. The Myogen tale is a fascinating story and an incredible regional (and national) success.

Where: Holland & Hart 555 17th St. Suite 3200 Denver

Marshmallow Pit? Oh My!

2007-02-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I simply forget how beautiful Colorado is. It is especially easy to do when Boulder’s Flatirons frame the daily experience. Getting up to the high country for the VC in the Rockies meeting did enable some moments of pause to recalibrate…stop, look and listen. It was easy to do at the Ritz Carlton – Bachelor Gulch (near Vail, CO). Step outside of the conference and one is immediately greeted by the most awe inspiring happy snow soaked slopes, big blue sky, warm sun and it did not hurt to listen to the live music playing at the crossroads of the heated pool, bar-patio, and fire pit at 8,100 ft. Add to it the white glove service where each turn I made I was met by a marshmallow on a stick to head over to the fire pit with, then a hot apple cider and finally perhaps the best warm chocolatechip-peanutbutter cookie I’ve ever had in my life. I was quickly reminded of what a blessing it is to be living in Colorado, add to that the accelerating life science community as evidenced by the incredible company presentations, sum it all up and you get heaven on earth.

MicroRx: Infectious Disease Supercluster

2007-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

Colorado State University announced MicroRx, an entity designed to ally academia and commercial enterprise to ultimately accelerate the bench-to-bedside process. Infectious Disease is the focus of this first CSU Supercluster which was borne out of CSU Ventures, lead by Mark Wdowik.

CSU is an international center of excellence for the study of infectious disease. The university was recently awarded a $40M grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, $17M from the NIH for the Regional Biocontainment Lab, and the CDC’s $80M research lab on the CSU Foothills Campus just to name a few of the headline poppers. University foci include mycobacterial diseases like tuberculosis, vector borne disease like West Nile fever and malaria, retroviral diseases like AIDS, and prion diseases like chronic wasting disease. Other CSU projects focus upon antimicrobial resistance, development of new approaches to control mosquitoes, ticks and other disease-carrying arthropods and food safety.

MicroRx is designed to now aid the movement of research discoveries to the market.

Ambrisentan Moving Closer to Approval

2007-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happily tracking the progress of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) Ambrisentan asset; for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Gilead’s recent announcement that the FDA has accepted for filing and granted a priority review for the NDA is exciting news for the Colorado bio-scape. This approval may result in an accelerated review with an expectation of a 18 June 2007 review date. Recall that Gilead recently acquired Westminster, CO based Myogen for $2.5B.

WIRED Bioscience Industry Panel

2007-01-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to participate on the Metro Denver WIRED Bioscience Industry Panel, administered through the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. If you are interested in learning more about this 3-year $15 million workforce development program or would like to participate please contact me or take a look at the website (here) for more information.

WIRED = Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development

VC in the Rockies!

2007-01-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

Venture Capital in the Rockies is right around the corner, 20-22 February. The list of presenting companies has been distributed.

The life science companies include:

Abla-Tx Inc.
ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
ARCA Discovery, Inc.
BaroFold
Crosstrees
GlobeImmune
High Throughput Genomics, Inc.
LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Q Therapeutics, Inc.
Taligen Therapeutics, Inc.
Veran Medical Technologies, Inc.

Leslie Leinwand: Marsico Endowed Chair

2007-01-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D., who is the recipient of a Marsico Endowed Chair of Excellence. The busy Dr. Leiwand is professor and former chair (1995-2006) of molecular, cell and developmental biology at CU Boulder and of cardiology at CU Health Science Center, directs the CU Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, was a co-founder of Myogen, Inc. (who was recently acquired by Gilead for approximately $2.2B), is one of a handful of prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancements of Science, winner of National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Merit, and American Heart Association awards.

Getting My Blogging Legs Back

2007-01-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

Lots of activity as the year wound up and transitioned into 2007. Quickly…

Array BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) filed an IND application for ARRY-520 a protein inhibitor used to treat tumors and leukemias. Array plans to begin the Phase I clinical trial at three academic medical centers in the United States. Array brought five compounds to the clinic through 2006. Needless to say...what an impressive achievement.

The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center accounted for a record $374M in research grants for fiscal 2006, a 3% increase over 2005. The combined University of Colorado system brought $640M for the year. The Health Sciences Center received the most grants for the year (1,799 and $350M), followed by the downtown campus (185 and $24M).

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) completed the acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNAI) after Sirna shareholders approved the deal on 28 December. Merck announced in October that it was buying Sirna for $1.1B, in hopes of bolstering their siRNA pipline with Sirna’s rich technology portfolio. From what I am hearing on the street the Boulder facility may remain in Boulder.

AspenBio Pharma, Inc. (OTCBB: APNB) has filed an Investigational New Animal Drug Application with the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. for approval of StayBred™, a veterinary drug designed to help dairy cows maintain pregnancy.

Bolder BioTechnology, Inc. (Boulder) announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted it two patents, 7,148,333 and 7,153,943. The patents are for products related to GM-CSF, a human protein that stimulates bone marrow cells differentiate into mature white blood cells. Recombinant GM-CSF products are used to treat neutropenia and reduce the incidence of severe infections in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, to accelerate bone marrow recovery in cancer patients receiving bone marrow transplants and to increase numbers of peripheral blood progenitor cells for transplantation.

Shameless Self Plug: OnBioVC

2006-12-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have been blogging here at Colorado Life Science Deal Flow (CLSDF) since May of 2005. My foray into the blogosphere was catalyzed by observing little orange RSS & XML chicklets all around the web. This curiosity about new technology led to building something that has become unexpectedly and simultaneously valuable and rewarding.

Rewind a few weeks to my conversation with a former managing director of a successful life science venture capital firm turned CEO (again). This distinguished gentlemen, who shall remain nameless (for the time being), was smartly complimentary of CLSDF :-) . The heaping praise was very much appreciated however, then came the inevitable “BUT”. He mentioned that there does not appear to be anyone blogging about the entire bio VC landscape; CLSDF is obviously very geographically niche.

So with that in mind…OnBioVC was born (www.OnBioVC.com).

Not being certain where this path may lead it will undoubtedly be a fun experiment…

I’ve added a side-rail animated headline scrolling link to OnBioVC. I hope you will subscribe to the new OnBioVC RSS feed (and the CLSDF feed; let me know if you require any assistance with subscribing to RSS feeds) and enjoy the content there, please send me any comments.

On another note: I will be taking a little breather from posting and thus I'm signing off from the blogosphere until ’07.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Mo Med Device Co.'s = Mo Betta

2006-12-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Nellcor, a division of Tyco Healthcare and global force in pulse oximetry and critical patient care solutions, is moving its corporate headquarters and some new product development and engineering functions to Gunbarrel from Pleasanton, CA.

No doubt a component to the move decision must be contributed to the quality of workforce present in the region. The relocation will likely find themselves adjacent to the Valleylab campus, another division of Tyco Healthcare.

More momentum for the Colorado life science industry...

CSU and Mayo Clinic Sign MOU

2006-12-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Colorado State University (Ft. Collins) and the Mayo Clinic (Scottsdale, AZ) have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding intellectual property rights surrounding potential collaborative research projects. This multi year agreement covers the development of oncology and infectious disease therapeutics. Mayo will benefit from access to the well regarded Animal Cancer Center while CSU may access the domain expertise of Mayo’s track record of bringing discoveries at the bench to the bedside.

This burgeoning relationship speaks volumes to the quality of life science work and promising science conducted throughout all of Colorado. Congratulations to the Rams on this historic agreement!

CO Bioscience Discovery Grant: $2,129,000

2006-11-27T18:44:00.000-08:00

The State of Colorado Bioscience Discovery Grant Program provides matching funds for proof-of-concept projects. The University Colorado Tech Transfer Office selected 13 finalists from a large pool of applicants. The proposals totaled $2,129,000, and have been sent to the state for final review. Though funds are earmarked for technology that has not yet been obligated to an entity it will be exciting to watch the data that pours in and see if any start-ups emerge downstream as a direct correlation of this grant program.

Finalists included:

Stephen Hunsucker, School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, UCDHSC. “Protein Biomarkers to Differentially Diagnose Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma and Follicular Thyroid Adenoma.”
Leland Shapiro, School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCDHSC. “Infusion of Alpha-1-Antitrypsin (AAT) to Suppress Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV) Replication in Patients.”
Steven Anderson, School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, UCDHSC. “Suppression of Irradiation-Induced Salivary Gland Dysfunction by IGF-1.”
Jeffrey Holt, School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, UCDHSC. “Biomarker Enabled Development of PARP Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy.”
Gary Brodsky, School of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, UCDHSC. “In-vivo Analysis of a Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Activator.”
Edward Dempsey, School of Medicine, Cardiovascular Pulmonary Research Laboratory, UCDHSC. “Moving Bryostatin-1 from the Lab to the Clinic for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension.”
Robert Hodges, School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, UCDHSC. “Applicability of SARS Coronavirus Antibody Technology to Influenza Virus.”
Karen Stevens, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, UCDHSC. “A New Treatment for Ineffectively Treated Schizophrenia Patients: Pre-clinical Validation for Centrally Administered Clozapine.”
Douglas Graham, School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, UCDHSC. “A Novel Biologically Targeted Agent for the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.”
David Ross, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCDHSC. “Hydroquinone Ansamycin Pro-drugs as Novel Anticancer Hsp90 Inhibitors.”
Tad Koch, Chemistry and Biochemistry, CU-Boulder. “New Targeted Drug for the Treatment of Lung Cancer.”
Christopher Bowman, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, CU-Boulder. “Redox-Initiated Radical Chain Polymerization for the Detection and Amplification of Biological Recognition Events.”
Michael Larson, Mechanical Engineering, UCCS. “A Device for Laser Fusion of Septal Tissue.”

The Business of Biotech – The Network!

2006-11-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

I’ve started a new FeedBurner Network, “The Business of Biotech”. Please observe the member badge in the side bar. If you, or someone you know are blogging about anything life science related I would urge to join the network.

FeedBurner Networks is a service (currently in beta), that encourages discoverability and self-promotion of your feed content. This service benefits publishers, subscribers and even advertisers by increasing discoverability of feed-driven content. Publishers benefit by banding together to increase exposure and take advantage of cross-promotional opportunities. Subscribers benefit by finding more content that interests them and advertisers benefit with increased targeting capability and exposure to content that may have been difficult to otherwise find.

ARCA Discovery: Names CEO

2006-11-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

ARCA Discovery, Inc., (Denver,CO) a biopharmaceutical company developing genetically-targeted therapies for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases, announced that Richard B. Brewer has been appointed President and CEO.

Prior to ARCA Discovery Mr. Brewer was managing partner at Crest Asset Management, previously, Mr. Brewer was president and CEO of Scios, Inc. (NYSE: JNJ), served as chief operating officer of Heartport, and was Senior Vice President of Genentech (NASDAQ: DNA).

ARCA’s lead product Bucindolol is a next-generation beta-blocker for advanced heart failure and other indications, which promises to be the first genetically-targeted cardiovascular drug. Extensive Phase III data shows that bucindolol is likely to be an effective and well-tolerated therapy for many heart failure patients that can be targeted to those patients most likely to respond favorably – thereby overcoming a major problem with current treatment approaches. A large substudy from a Phase III trial published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that a common genetic variation in the beta-1 adrenergic receptor may help doctors identify heart failure patients who may benefit most from bucindolol. Data presented at the 2005 American Heart Association Meeting from the same DNA substudy demonstrates further enhancement of bucindolol’s efficacy by targeting both the beta-1 variant and a variant of the alpha-2c-adrenergic receptor. ARCA Discovery has exclusive, worldwide rights to bucindolol and intends to seek FDA approval of the drug next year.

Data Data Data...

2006-11-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

We can thank the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development for officially estimating the cost to bring a biotech product to market, that is $1.2B with average preclinical costs of $615M and clinical costs of $626M, and requires just over eight years to bring to market. Note:

Average out-of-pocket cost per approved biopharmaceutical for the preclinical period totaled $198 million. When capitalized, this estimate is $615 million per biopharmaceutical.
Average out-of-pocket clinical period cost per approved biopharmaceutical was $361 million. When capitalized, this estimate is $626 million.

Also on the data front…Array Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) reported preliminary results of their MEK enzyme inhibitor (ARRY-142886) showing inhibition of MEK1/2 - an enzyme that plays an important role in the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cell signaling pathway, which regulates cell proliferation.

Results demonstrated 39 of 57 patients completed at least one cycle of treatment with ARRY-142886. After completion of the second cycle, 19 (49%) had stable disease, and nine of these patients (six melanoma, one each of breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and medullary thyroid cancer) remained stable for five or more months (range, 5-14+ months; median, 6 months). Two patients, one with thyroid cancer and the other with melanoma, continue to receive treatment with ARRY-142886 after one year. Sixteen of the 20 patients with melanoma completed at least one cycle of treatment. Twelve had stable disease after completion of cycle two, with stable disease persisting for at least five months in six patients (range, 5 - 13+ months; median, 6.5 months).

Encouraging results indeed as Phase II studies are initiated.

(Image courtesy of www.plala.or.jp)

GlobeImmune: Tarmogens On A Tear

2006-10-31T17:42:00.000-08:00

GlobeImmune has announced positive interim data from their randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled Phase Ib study of their GI-5005 Tarmogen in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV). To date GI-5005 is well tolerated with no serious adverse events reported. The preliminary data has demonstrated that the treatment has converted subjects with a weak cellular immune response, typical of chronic HCV patients, to a strong cellular immune response, and the immune responses observed have shown statistically significant changes in ALT levels and viral load.

Tarmogens (Targeted Molecular Immunogens) are whole, heat-killed recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, genetically modified to express one or more protein targets that stimulate the immune system against diseased cells. The whole heat-killed yeast, with the antigen expressed inside is the product that is administered to the patient. Tarmogens program the cytotoxic T cells in the patient’s immune system to eliminate diseased cells containing the antigen.

Check out the June 2006 Red Herring Top 100 Startup Companies in North America: GlobeImmune article (here).

Sunday Non Sequitur

2006-10-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have been spending a little time this Sunday evening working to spruce up the sidebar, mission statement, and permanently embed the Colorado Bioscience movie; for I feel this ten minute film is a wonderful resource and should be easily accessible.

There are some regular readers of this blog, to those of you I am as thankful as amazed by your readership…tonight however, I am particularly interested in hearing from those who do not use an RSS aggregator to subscribe to RSS feeds. If you are not aggregating content via RSS you simply are not acquiring your web content as fast, fresh and efficiently as possible. Send me an email and I’ll show you how to enter the RSS-age, it is free, fast and easy.

Finally, I have been searching high and low for other blogs who focus on bio, business and the business of bio. If you know of any please send the links my way. Thank you!

Colorado Life Science Movie

2006-10-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

CLICK ON THE ARROW TO PLAY

Thank you to the following entities for aiding in the creation of this ten-minute encapsulation of the state of bioscience in Colorado:

Colorado Bioscience Association
Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade
Forest City Enterprises
Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority
Aurora Economic Development Council
Amgen
Roche

If there are any blogger-experts out there who know how I may perma-post this file in the sidebar please let me know. Thank you.

Can’t Get Enough Stem Cells?

2006-10-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

...Then don’t miss out on the 23rd University Colorado, Boulder MCDB Graduate Student Symposium on Stem Cell Biology.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette and James Battey, M.D., Ph.D. (Chair, NIH Stem Cell Task Force) are the keynote session speakers.

Festivities kick off Friday 20 October. For more information and registration check (here).

MIT Enterprise Forum in Colorado

2006-10-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered about Stem Cells? Then Don’t miss this event…Thursday 12 October 5:00-7:00pm at the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora @ Fitzsimons.

The Promise of Stem Cells: Separating Hype from Reality

The MIT Enterprise Forum and the MIT Club of Colorado presents a scientific look at embyonic stem cell research and examine its influence on commercial applications in such industries as pharmacology, transgenics, biomedicine and cloning.

The Forum will consist of a live video broadcast from MIT followed by a live panel of local scientists doing cutting edge research in Colorado. A unique opportunity to hear from two active areas of the country in one sitting.

More information and registration (here).