Economic Development Groups Join Forces to Boost Regional Bioscience Businesses

Representatives of BioEnterprise (Cleveland) and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse were on hand at this month's annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization to promote the economic development groups' new alliance. Together, the groups hope to accelerate the development of the region's medical device, biopharmaceutical, and healthcare service industries.

Under the new alliance, BioEnterprise and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse—whose city centers are about a two-hour drive apart—intend to explore various opportunities to enhance the business environment for regional start-ups. In addition, they intend to develop a joint awareness campaign directed at the venture capital community, that will emphasize the region's resources for bioscience companies.

According to the groups, the combined Cleveland and Pittsburgh regions boast the following resources.

Furthermore, the organizations report that the new alliance will also capitalize on existing intrastate partnerships with industry associations such as BioOhio and Pennsylvania Bio.

“In the Cleveland-Pittsburgh corridor, there are more than 700 existing bioscience companies, more than half of which are medical device firms,” says Baiju R. Shah, president of BioEnterprise. “Strong clusters exist in medical imaging, home health devices, and orthopedics and tissue engineering. In addition, there are emerging clusters in areas such as neurostimulation and cardiovascular devices.

“As important, the recognition of these neighboring regions as a connected corridor has resulted in an immediate increase in coastal venture capital interest in medical device opportunities in the region,” Shah adds. “The proximity of these two emerging and equally strong centers of medical device innovation is unique in the United States, and the collection of existing research and industry assets as well as the growing deal flow from both is significant.”

Shah says that, according to BioEnterprise data, Cleveland and Pittsburgh have been consistently ranked as the second and third most promising regions in the Midwest for quality and quantity of medical device deal flow. Minneapolis is the leader.

BioEnterprise—which tracks healthcare investment across the Midwest—reported that in the first quarter of 2007, Midwestern healthcare start-ups saw a total of $324 million in investments across 43 companies. The figure is more than double the amount of investment reported in last year's first quarter.

“More stunning than the total dollars doubling last year's mark is that the number of transactions nearly doubled last year's pace,” said Shah. “That is the true bellwether for increased venture activity and the mark that demonstrates strong and continuing growth in future years.”

Of the total healthcare investment during the quarter, regional medical device companies accounted for $46 million, compared to $38 million in the year-ago quarter. In 2006, investment in Midwestern medical device companies totaled $356 million—an increase of more than 70% over the $205 million reported for 2005.

West Coast Collaboration

Not long after BioEnterprise and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse rolled out their new partnership, the Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio; Los Angeles) announced that its board of directors voted unanimously to approve the integration of Orange County's Life Science Industry Council (LINC) into SoCalBio. Through the merger, the organizations hope to maximize their capacity to represent and serve Southern California's growing biotech and medical device constituencies in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the Inland Empire, and the Gold Coast.

The organizational integration plan calls for, among other things, creating a SoCalBio office with full-time staff in Orange County, adding a number of LINC board members to the SoCalBio board of directors, and extending SoCalBio member benefits—including its group purchasing program offered in partnership with the Biotechnology Industry Organization—to LINC members.

The SoCalBio–LINC integration is designed to unite members from life sciences companies spanning from Santa Barbara in the North to San Juan Capistrano in the South and from Santa Monica in the West to Riverside in the East.

SoCalBio president and CEO Ahmed Enany noted that although the Greater Los Angeles region is home to leading biomedical and biotechnology firms, service providers, and research institutions, such resources are spread across a large geographic area, which can make collaboration difficult. “This is why SoCalBio was established—to serve as a cohesive force that creates a sense of community for the region's life sciences industry,” he said. “It has helped make collaboration more efficient, while increasing opportunities for the type of serendipity that drives many life sciences developments.”

SoCalBio chairman Alfred E. Mann pointed to LINC's integration with SoCalBio as a sign of such collaboration. “It is indicative of the growing recognition among biotech and medical device entrepreneurs in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as adjacent communities of the importance of standing united behind a common industry promotion agenda,” he said. “We can become even more effective if we work as one community to promote and grow this vibrant cluster of life sciences commercialization activities. Together, we will have more resources and strength to overcome some of the challenges facing the industry here, such as access to financial and human capital. We must work together to educate the public and policy makers about the economic and social benefits of our industry. Joining forces will enable us to more efficiently perform advocacy functions at the local, state and national levels.”

© 2007 Canon Communications LLC

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