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I’m writing
this month’s Commerce Comments both for our local readers
in St. Louis, as well as for the readers made up of the anticipated
18,000 attendees at BIO 2006, being held in Chicago April 9-12.
We’re particularly pleased that this annual meeting of the Biotechnology
Industry Organization is taking place in the Midwest for the first
time.
BIO 2006 affords a unique opportunity to showcase the attributes
of the Midwest, including St. Louis, in the biotechnology space.
BIO 2006 is expected to draw CEOs, researchers, policymakers and
venture capitalists. We have enjoyed working with both the Missouri
Biotechnology Association and the Illinois Biotechnology Industry
Organization in the planning for this year’s event. We are also
pleased to be part of a Midwestern pavilion in the exposition for
BIO. The RCGA is a partner in this mega exhibit, and we are proud
to be present in both the Missouri and Illinois exhibits as well.
We will be participating in a session on the state of biotechnology
on April 10th. The Battelle Institute will be presenting its findings
of a yearlong state of the industry assessment. Afterwards, I’m
pleased to be moderating a panel on the emergence of four cities,
namely Baltimore, Chicago, Phoenix and St. Louis as emerging key
players in biotech.
In keeping with the tradition of the past few years, we’re making
this a special publication of St. Louis Commerce Magazine
to highlight the region’s progress in biotechnology, on one of our
five most promising industry clusters. Our cover story profiles
the area’s key players in the BioBelt who share their vision for
the region:
- Dr.
Roger Beachy, President of the Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center, which conducts research to enhance the
nutritional content of plants for human health.
- Dr.
Robert Belshe, Director of the Saint Louis University
Center for Vaccine Development, which conducts clinical
research on new vaccines and biologics.
- Michael
Collins, President of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
Part of Tyco Healthcare, it opened a new state-of-the-art
R&D center in the region in 2005.
- Dr.
William H. Danforth,
Chair of the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences and
Chancellor Emeritus for Washington University in St. Louis;
his work includes supporting the development of venture
capital and expanding area facilities for the biotech
industry in the region.
- Dr.
David Duncan, President and CEO of Chlorogen Inc.,
one of the region’s life sciences companies to recently
graduate from the incubation process, is developing proteins
directed toward diseases such as ovarian cancer.
- Dr.
Tim Eberlein, Chair of Surgery at Washington University
in St. Louis and Director of the Siteman Cancer Center,
now the third largest cancer clinic in the nation.
- Dr.
Daniel Getman,
Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development.
He is director of Pfizer’s St. Louis Laboratories, creating
new medicines.
- Hugh
Grant, Chairman, President and CEO of Monsanto Co.,
the global provider of agricultural products that improve
farm productivity and food quality.
- Dr.
Ganesh Kishore, Chief Biotechnology Officer for DuPont.
One of its business units, St. Louis-based Solae is developing
new ways to use soy protein.
- Jai
Nagarkatti, President and CEO of Sigma-Aldrich, the
world’s leading research chemical supplier, offering 130,000
different products for life-science research.
- Dr.
Philip Needleman, partner with Prospect Ventures Partners,
shares his experience and gives advice to start-up companies.
- Dr.
Ralph Quatrano, Chairman of Biology at Washington
University in St. Louis. He is leading an effort to study
how plants respond to drought.
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Dr. Peter Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical
Garden. He has spent 35 years building the facility into
a renowned international research center.
- Dr.
Larry Shapiro,
Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean
of the Medical School, Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Shapiro and Washington University have a number of
important bioscience initiatives underway in the areas
of genomics.
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As world leaders
in biotechnology, this group could be described as a plant and medical
science dream team. They join others as leaders in the BioBelt in
St. Louis.
St. Louis continues to see dramatic progress of implementing the
BioBelt strategy that was developed with the assistance of Battelle
back in 2000. In this month’s issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine,
we look at the full spectrum of those elements—from tech transfer
out of the region’s great university and research facilities, to
the incubation process that is integral to helping biotech companies
grow. We also examine angel investing and the building of the venture
capital pipeline. St. Louis is quickly emerging as an attractive
place for investors interested in biotechnology, from both inside
and outside the region.
This month’s issue also examines the real-estate side of the development
equation. The emergence of the 179-acre CORTEX West biotech research
district is one example of a collaborative approach to meeting the
needs of the biotech industry. We also take a closer look at BioMed
21, a $300 million initiative to translate genome research into
new medical treatments, which grew out of St. Louis being one of
the three original centers for the Human Genome Sequencing Project.
And finally, we’re debuting in this issue what will be a regular
column called “Tech Tidbits,” to chronicle the many activities happening
with technology companies, entrepreneurs, and research institutions
in the region.
This month we look at a consumer electronics recycling initiative,
a clinical trial to search for genetic links in peripheral arterial
disease and Saint Louis University’s efforts to commercialize intellectual
property.
We hope you enjoy reading this special issue of St. Louis Commerce
Magazine. As always, please share your comments and suggestions
with us at dfleming@stlrcga.org.
RICHARD C.D. FLEMING
President and Chief Executive Officer
St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
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