Back to News << Stony Brook holds biotech summit

Hundreds of hopeful biotech entrepreneurs, experts, academics and venture capitalists united Wednesday for a global biotech summit organized by Stony Brook University at the Hyatt Regency in Hauppauge.

At the two-day conference, sponsored by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, experts discussed strategies to obtain funding for biotechnology research, stressing the importance of protecting work and marrying business sense with biotech expertise.

"We have an opportunity to transform how universities participate in the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation technologies," said Clinton T. Rubin, director of the Center for Biotechnology, and distinguished professor and chair of Stony Brook’s department of biomedical engineering.

Although OSI Pharmaceuticals, the area’s biggest and best known biotech company, is leaving Long Island, the event attracted a wide range of firms.

Participants ranged from local firms such as Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals and Ingenious Targeting Laboratory to international firms such as Germany-based Sartorius Stedim Biotech.

Scientists eager to share information about their projects were greeted by advice about how to succeed in the biotech business at a time when many said it’s getting tougher to obtain funding.

Susan Froshauer, CEO of Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, cited venture capitalists preference to target low-risk projects as one obstacle.

"Regulation is tougher," she added. "I think this is a very difficult situation for entrepreneurs."

Donald Drakeman, a venture partner at Advent Ventures, told the crowd that the true value of a product can be in its patents rather than final product.

"You can mess up a good thing by not getting the right filing at the right time," Drakeman said

He added that biotech entrepreneurs need to network with business people, rather than simply relying on the power of the written correspondence.

Froshauer said medical technology is attracting interest from investors enamored by medical technology.

"It’s a good area to be in now," she said. "Big companies look for small medical device companies."

Although Stony Brook’s role in the conference was to bring people together, it already has helped advance more than a dozen commercially available biomedical products with cumulative sales approaching $1 billion.

Those products include ReoPro, which prevents platelets from causing blood clots following coronary angioplasty; Periostat, to treat periodontal disease; and BasicMint, an anti-cavity agent.