WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Biotechnology Industry
Organization (BIO), along with its sponsors, will host the BIO
InvestorForum 2006, a conference designed to offer timely insights into
investment trends and select private and public companies positioned for
growth in the coming year, Oct. 18-19 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
"This annual conference highlights the remarkable maturity of the
biotechnology industry and the extraordinary promise captured in future
pipelines and innovation. With more than 300 products in late-stage
clinical trials and thousands more in development, this robust industry is
pressing forward in offering broader profitability and predictable
valuations driven by continued focus on product success and healthy
investment," said Jim Greenwood, BIO's President and CEO. "The BIO
InvestorForum provides public and private investors with ample
opportunities to meet with corporate management as well to collect in-depth
information on a variety of therapeutic areas."
BIO InvestorForum provides select public and private companies, as well
as those on the "growth watch list," an opportunity to network with
investors through individual company presentations and a host of
therapeutic workshops and industry roundtables addressing investment trends
and growth watch areas. The conference attracts institutional investors,
hedge fund managers, venture and private equity investors, in addition to
research analysts and bankers representing leading banks in the sector.
The conference program kicks off at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18 with
an investor- and industry-led opening plenary session, "Picking Your
Financing Pathway. The Right Model at the Right Time." BIO and its
conference advisory committee have secured a sophisticated group of
industry leaders and public and private investors to discuss how to select
the best financing model in the current environment, while balancing near-
and long-term corporate objectives with shareholder, employee and Board
satisfaction.
James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Cytokinetics, Inc., will
moderate the plenary session.
Providing context for the plenary, panelist Deepa Pakianathan, Ph.D., a
general partner with Delphi Ventures, said, "In the face of a financial
market's low appetite for risk, we are seeing biotechnology companies
evaluate a wide array of financing options from large biotech and pharma as
well as non-traditional funding sources that are allowing them to advance
the development of new and exciting products."
Meanwhile, Annette Grimaldi, a panelist and managing director of
Jefferies & Company, Inc., added, "It's gratifying to witness the
maturation and evolution of the sector as public companies advance their
pipelines and become commercial organizations while new companies on the
cutting edge of science continue to emerge. The challenge is matching the
capital needs of the sector with the requirements of the financial
community. I look forward to furthering the dialogue on the topic at the
BIO InvestorForum."
Other panelists include Biotech CEOs Mark J. Ahn, Hana Biosciences,
Inc. and Steven H. Holtzman, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and industry
investors include Kurt von Emster, General Partner, MPM Capital and Karen
Boezi, Partner, Thomas McNerney & Partners.
Indeed, U.S. biotechs have raised $12 billion in public and private
financing this year to date, in contrast to the public markets in 2005 in
which $20.8 billion in financing was raised. In 2005, U.S. public
biotechnology firms invested nearly $16 billion in research and
development, and launched more than 30 biotech and biotech-related
therapies, according to Ernst & Young's annual report, Beyond Borders.
While networking opportunities at the BIO InvestorForum 2006 are
abound, reporters and other attendees may update their knowledge by
attending a series of therapeutic workshops, industry roundtables and
plenary sessions. For more details on the program, visit
http://investorforum.bio.org/opencms/bif/2006/program/.
Advance media registration for BIO InvestorForum 2006 is now available
online. Registration is complimentary for credentialed members of the news
media. To register, please visit
http://investorforum.bio.org/opencms/bif/2006/Registration/media.jsp. Only
reporters and editors working full-time for print or broadcast news
organizations may register onsite with valid media credentials. All
freelancers and online publications must register in advance by Friday,
Oct. 6.
The BIO InvestorForum host sponsor is Rodman & Renshaw; co-hosts are
Bank of America and Jefferies; the corporate sponsor is RBC Capital
Markets; and the industry sponsors are Amgen, Aquilo Partners, BioWorld
Today, BMO Capital Markets, Dorsey, Ernst & Young, Foley, HellerEhrman LLP,
Johnson & Johnson, Latham & Watkins LLP, Merck, Pfizer, PR Newswire and VWR
International.
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across
the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the
research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and
environmental biotechnology products.
SOURCE Biotechnology Industry Organization
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Related links:
http://www.bio.org
http://investorforum.bio.org/opencms/bif/2006/program
CONTACT:
Kim Coghill, +1-202-962-9232 or Jeff Joseph,
+1-202-962-9230, both of Biotechnology Industry Organization
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