Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Hosts Inaugural Biotech Investor Conference-Sept. 19 Event Designed To Boost Tech Transfer

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;  Conferences;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 18 Sep 2007 - 17:00 PDT

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More than 100 biotechnology investors are expected to meet at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Sept. 19 to hear Hopkins experts describe advances in cancer biology and explore new technology licensing opportunities. The conference, the first of its kind hosted by the Cancer Center, is intended to heighten commercial investment interest in its portfolio of emerging cancer treatments.

"Developing new diagnostics and treatments in the laboratory is one thing and we do it in spades, but to get them to patients, science-based institutions need the financial backing and expertise of biotech industry affiliations," says Stephen Baylin, M.D., director of research at Hopkins' Kimmel Cancer Center. The Center ranks third in the nation in research grants from the National Cancer Institute, earning $86.9 million in 2006.

Stem cell researcher Curt Civin, M.D., is co-chair of the conference, called "Johns Hopkins Biotech 2007: Investing in Cancer Research." Civin has firsthand experience in commercializing cancer-related technology. His novel stem-cell sorting technology which purifies bone marrow stem cells as transplants for cancer patients won him an Inventor of the Year Award in 1999. Hopkins licensed the invention patents for the technology to Maryland-based Becton Dickinson, which in turn has sublicensed it to several other companies, including Baxter International Inc., to pursue applications in the research, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer and other diseases. The method is commercially available and has been used in bone marrow transplants for thousands of cancer patients and referenced in more than 15,000 scientific articles.

The Hopkins conference, says Civin, is an outgrowth of the momentum created by the Bayh-Dole Act, which gives universities the opportunity to explore commercial partnerships based on discoveries made with public funds as a means to accelerate new treatments.

Although royalty income is one goal for academic medical centers that pursue technology transfer arrangements, "seeing an invention actually help people is far more gratifying," Civin says.

Neurosurgeon James Campbell, M.D., is co-chair of the conference, which is to feature discussions of genetic medicine, stem cells, biomarkers, and cancer immunology. The meeting includes keynote speeches from Ivor Royston, M.D., managing founding partner of Forward Ventures, and Stephen Friend, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president and franchise head of oncology at Merck Research Laboratories, plus a discussion of the challenges of university technology transfer by Aris Melissaratos, senior advisor to the president for enterprise development at The Johns Hopkins University. It concludes with a panel of industry investor experts discussing their experience in commercialization of laboratory discoveries. Panelists include T. Rowe Price's Jay Markowitz, M.D, Robert Glassman, M.D., of Merrill Lynch, Robert Mashal, M.D., from Alinea Pharmaceuticals, Richard Sherman, J.D., from Hawaii Biotech Inc., and Karen Bernstein, Ph.D., of the Bernstein Report on BioBusiness.

Attendees will include venture capitalists and representatives from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies from all corners of the United States.

Sponsors of the conference are the Forest City-Science and Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, international law firm DLA Piper, MedImmune, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation.

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center