San Diego- Cautious optimism reigned at the inaugural BIOCOM San Diego Investor Conference, both for the future of the fledgling event and for the availability of financing as biotech business models continue to mature.
Biotech once held the monopoly on cutting-edge scientific innovation, but pharmaceutical companies have developed massive research and development engines, thereby invading the historical biotech territory, and they are doing so with R&D budgets that dwart what biotech can afford.
So what's to do?
Former executive chairman fo Biogen Idec Inc. William Rastetter, who also is a new partner at Venrock Associates, addressed those issues in his plenary breakfast speech. He advised applying many of the same principles that helped him gorw Idec Pharmaceuticals from a San Diego based start up to a multibillion dollar powerhouse, eventually merging with Biogen Inc, to form the world's third largest biotech. His tips included protecting assets with strong intellectual property, fostering an environment of collaborative inquiry and implementing a focused strategy.
Rastetter also advised companies to become the best in the world at something the "establishment" doesnt like or understand. At Idec's inception, that was monoclonal antibodies-specifically using a single antibody to treat a broad patient population. Today, he sees regenerative medicine as an area in which biotech may be able to exel while pharmaceutical companies hang back.
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