Genentech's Desmond-Hellmann and Stanford's Professor Weissman Will Be Keynote Speakers at BIO VentureForum West 2003
"The recent economic upswing and pending biotechnology initial public offerings signal an ideal time to go out and see the next generation of biotechnology leaders at the BIO VentureForum West conference," said Rodney A. Ferguson, J.D., Ph.D., Managing Director with JPMorgan Partners and a member of the advisory board for BIO VentureForum West. "In addition to high-quality plenary sessions and speakers, this event also provides an excellent opportunity to network with members of the investment community and future syndicate partners."
"The biotech industry's resurgence provides the backdrop to this conference," said Morrie Ruffin, BIO's vice president for business development. "The Nasdaq Biotech Index is up 60 percent since the start of the year, and through August, biotech companies had raised $10.1 billion in new investment – a pace second only to that of 2000. The timing couldn't be better for a conference showcasing top biomedical scientists and the companies that are going to bring the next generation of therapies to patients."
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., executive vice president for development and operations and chief medical officer at Genentech, Inc., will give the keynote address at the opening luncheon on Tuesday, October 15. Desmond-Hellmann has won numerous honors and awards for her work in oncology and AIDS research. She was named to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform in 2001 and to the board of directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in 2002.
Irving Weissman, M.D., Ph.D., will give the luncheon keynote address on October 16. Dr. Weissman, the first scientist to identify and isolate stem cells in any species, is a professor in the departments of pathology and developmental biology and director of the Institute for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Weissman was a member of the founding scientific advisory boards of Amgen (1981-1989), DNAX (1981-1992), and T-Cell Sciences (1988-1992). He co-founded SyStemix in 1988, StemCells in 1996, and Celtrans (now Cellerant), the successor to SyStemix, in 2001.
Presenting Life Science Companies
Presenting companies include the following: Acceptys, Inc., Aciont Inc., Acologix, Inc., ActivBiotics, Inc., Active Pass Pharmaceuticals Inc., Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Aderis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Agensys, Inc., AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Altea Therapeutics, Altus Biologics Inc., Angiogenix, Inc., Arizeke Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Arriva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ARYx Therapeutics, Inc., Attenuon, L.L.C., AXOVAN Ltd., Bayhill Therapeutics, Inc., Bioenvision, Inc., BioGenex Laboratories, Inc., Bionaut Pharmaceuticals, BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corporation, Biosyn, Inc., Biota Inc., BioVex Limited, Celator Technologies Inc., Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., Cengent Therapeutics Inc., Ceregene, Inc., ChemoCentryx, Inc., CombinatoRx Incorporated, Conforma Therapeutics Corporation, Copernicus Therapeutics, Inc., Corgentech Inc., Corus Pharma, Inc., Critical Therapeutics, Inc., Cyclacel Limited, Cyternex, diaDexus, Inc., Elitra Pharmaceuticals, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc., Eunoe, Inc., Favrille, Inc., Fluidigm Corporation, Galileo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Gemin X Biotechnologies Inc., GeneCraft, Inc., Genteric, Inc., GenVault Corporation, GlobeImmune, Inc., Gryphon Therapeutics, Hawaii Biotech, Inc., ImaRx Therapeutics, Inc., Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc., InNexus Biotechnology Inc., Iomai Corporation, Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc., KAI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Kémia, Inc., KeyCell Therapeutics Inc., Koronis Pharmaceuticals, Lipocine Inc., Lipomics Technologies, Inc., Lorus Therapeutics, Massie Laboratories, Inc., MaxCyte, Inc., MDS Proteomics Inc., MediciNova, Inc., Mercury Therapeutics, Inc., MicroIslet Inc., Nephros Therapeutics, Inc., Neurogenetics, Inc., NexRay, Inc., Oculex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., OncoGeneX Technologies Inc., Oncolytics Biotech Inc., Oridis Biomed, Osel, Inc., Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Plexxikon Inc., Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Protein Mechanics, Inc., Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc., PTC Therapeutics Inc., QUATRx Pharmaceuticals Company, Quorex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raven Biotechnologies, Inc., Renal Tech, Salmedix, Inc., Santarus, Inc., Scimagix, Inc., SemBioSys Genetics Inc., Signal Analytics, Sirna Therapeutics, Inc., SkinMedica, Structural GenomiX, Inc. (SGX), Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Target Discovery, Inc., Thios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Thuris, Transave, Inc., TransMolecular, Inc., TransTech Pharma, Inc., Vascular Designs, Inc., VasoGenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., VDDI Pharmaceuticals, Ventria Bioscience, VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc., Vitra Bioscience, Inc., X-Ceptor Therapeutics, Inc.
In addition to BIO, VentureForum West partners include the National Venture Capital Association, BIOCOM/San Diego, the Bay Area Bioscience Center and the California Healthcare Institute. For more information about BIO VentureForum West, visit www.bio.org.
VentureForum East Coming in November
BIO will host its first VentureForum East regional conference in Philadelphia, November 17-19. Details about this meeting will be forthcoming, but for initial information, please see www.bio.org.
BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.