Northbank Communications reports on recent conferences

Northbank staff have been out and about, pounding the beat and pressing the flesh at leading events in the life science calendar in support of our clients and, of course, to meet new companies as part of our own business development efforts. Conference attendance helps keep us up-to-date with what’s going on, so here’s what we gathered since February 2005.

BioInvest 2005 showcased new companies seeking investment

Although there will always be more ideas than there are funds to foster them, companies with good drug ideas and especially solutions to drug discovery bottlenecks can attract an investment audience. So it was at BioInvest, held on the 29th of March, when the UK Department of Trade and Industry played host to a group of investors interested in getting a first glimpse of eight shiny, new companies in biotechnology and bioinformatics that are currently seeking finance for their ideas. The meeting was the brainchild of the UK Bioinformatics Forum and the Oxford Bioscience Network, both based at Oxford Brookes University. Fiona Brown attended the presentations which ranged from promising new ideas for drugs, treatment programmes for smoking and diabetes to data management. One venture capitalist at BioInvest made the point. ‘We look for investment opportunities obviously but we are also always on the lookout for partnering prospects for our current companies and this is where meetings like this are so valuable.’ www.bioinformaticsforumuk.net

Northbank presents at SYBEN Networking Event

The theme of the South Yorkshire Bioscience Enterprise Network (SYBEN) February Networking Event, held on the 16th of February, was the importance of good communications for scientists and bioscience companies. Following on from lively presentations from the Science Media Centre and fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey, Emma Palmer spoke on the whys, hows and whats of communications for life sciences companies. The event was well attended by local businesses and academics, providing an opportunity for lively debate and plenty of networking. www.syben.org.uk

Oxfordshire Bioscience Network

The Oxfordshire Bioscience Network meetings have got off to a great start in 2005. As ever, these popular meetings provide a wonderful opportunity to meet with people working in bioscience from around the Oxford area and, as Northbank’s Oxford-based representative, Rebecca Todd is a regular. January saw the fourth local biotechnology forum, hosted by Prosidion, at which the Chief Executives and/or Chief Scientists of three contrasting local biotechnology companies presented profiles of their companies: Prosidion, itself an established and significant player in the region, CMP Therapeutics, a new kid on the block, and the small but neatly formed RioTech Pharmaceuticals. Their different stories stimulated some interesting discussion over drinks afterwards. In February, Talentmark Interims hosted a discussion about interim management and its role as a value generator for growing companies. A number of experienced senior managers from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arenas shared their fascinating experiences of the ups and downs of working in interim roles and provided insights as to how they felt interim management can benefit a company. www.oxfordshirebioscience.com

IBC's 9th Annual Drug Discovery Technology® Europe & InfoTechPharma®

Drug Discovery Technology is a comprehensive overview of the full drug discovery and pharma market landscape combined with an opportunity to discuss the impact of the new science on discovering breakthrough medicines. Held in conjunction with InfoTech Pharma, the premier annual global forum for top-level Pharma IT executives covering the latest IT applications for discovery processes, new approaches in clinical development and standardization updates, and effective data transfer and integration, the two exhibitions formed the PharmaSolutions Expo in London, 14th – 17th March. Peter Colley, Northbank’s representative, saw this year’s attendance set a new record with 926 attendees from 34 different countries. Delegates were able to choose from over 130 lectures, lively lunch time forums and some excellent presentations. www.drugdisc.com

5th Annual European C21 BioVentures (EC21) conference

Held on the 22nd – 23rd March, Techvision’s EC21 conference in London is one of the premier private finance events in Europe. With companies and venture capitalists from across Europe, this year proved to be as successful as ever. There were 33 companies presenting including Northbank clients Ablynx, ESBATech, MNLPharma, Scil Technology and Oxford Genome Sciences. As well as a schedule of company presentations, organisers also operated a meeting scheduling service to hook up presenting companies with potential investors. There was also a competition organised by Technology Vision Group LLC and Ferghana Partners Group in which companies competed for the opportunity to present their business plan before an audience of investors. The winner of this was Dr. Jonathan Kil, President & CEO of Sound Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a Seattle-based company focused on therapeutics for hearing loss. On the evening of the 22nd of March there was also an informal drinks reception for all presenters and investor delegates hosted by the London Stock Exchange in its new building. This offered a convivial opportunity for networking and was very well attended by investors. This annual event is an ideal conference opportunity for private life science companies in funding rounds. www.techvision.com/ec21

BioSquare 2005

Held in Lyon on 13 – 15 April, this event proved to be another top partnering event for management of biotechnology companies to meet with key research and business development executives from the pharmaceutical and finance industries. In typically French fashion, the wine and champagne were flowing, fuelling networking discussions all through the evening.Katja Stout and Sue Charles were on hand to attend a whirlwind number of meetings and this year’s event hosted the largest Partnering program in its history with 4,500 scheduled meetings. www.ebdgroup.com/biosquare

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