Buffalo Niagara Life Sciences Blog

Buffalo Niagara Life Sciences Blog

Committed to the continued growth of the life sciences in the Buffalo Niagara region, Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP is pleased to present this up-to-date interactive resource for entrepreneurs and life science companies considering, or in the process of, starting or growing a life science business.  For more information about our law firm, please return to Buffalo Niagara Life Sciences or visit www.lippes.com.

HWI Receives Grant, Oishei Targets Medical Research

The Buffalo News reported that M&T Bank's Charitable Foundation awarded $100,000 to the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to pay for recruitment of its new CEO and other scientists in the future. HWI's new CEO, Eaton E. Lattman has expressed a desire to work with University at Buffalo to bring a senior scientist to HWI to serve as the head of the Structural Biology Department.  He also wants to expand the Institute's computational biology program and increase efforts in molecular modeling for cancer drug discovery, and plans to team up with Roswell Park Cancer Institute and UB in "cluster hiring."

Also in the News is an announcement by the John R. Oishei Foundation, which has more than $300 million in assets, that it is moving to an "issues-based" funding model in which it will try to address six main areas of concern.  Among those concerns: improving the health of residents, and supporting and expanding the medical research industry.  Oishei has already been heavily involved in the funding of the region's health and life sciences sectors, and will no doubt continue to play a leadership role in the advancement of the life sciences in Buffalo.

SBIR Funding for VC-Owned Firms

The House recently passed legislation that would make small businesses majority-owned by venture capital firms eligible for Small Business Innovation Research awards. SBIR awards fund about $2.3 billion in research every year, and is vital for many start-up life science and biotech companies.  In 2003, the SBA ruled that a company no longer qualifies as a small business if venture capital firms have a 50 percent or greater equity stake.  The Biotechnology Industry Organization and the National Venture Capital Association have been lobbying Congress ever since, arguing that the cost of bringing new drugs and technologies to the market force many companies to turn to VC firms for money.

After participating in the Pre-Seed Workshop this past week on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, I was reminded of just how challenging it can be for fledging companies to fund their initial research and trials.  The SBIR program was referenced numerous times during the during the day as a perfect resource and it makes sense to make this change.  Why should a start-up be penalized for seeking majority VC funding? 

Pre-Seed Workshop to Benefit WNY Researchers

The New York State Center of Excellence in Life Sciences and Bioinformatics and Roswell Park Cancer Institute will host a Pre-Seed Workshop for researchers and entrepreneurs designed to assist in the formation and commercialization of new high-technology businesses.  The workshop will include intensive programming to determine whether the researchers are ready to pursue the next steps in commercializing their high-technology product and service concepts, including how to seek outside funding for their ideas, inventions or start-up business.  The event will kick off with a dinner on May 8, with opening remarks from Erie County Executive, Chris Collins. 

The workshop sessions will be held on May 9 and May 16 in the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Center for Genetics and Pharmacology, adjacent to UB's Center of Excellence on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Six teams of researchers and inventors will partner with a business coach, tech-transfer experts and MBA students from the UB School of Management at the workshop. Each team will also be assisted by attorneys from Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP.

Life Science Law in Canada

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Mala Joshi in Toronto.  Mala is a life sciences lawyer at Blaney McMurtry LLP in Toronto, and is the author of the blog "Life Science Law in Canada".  My discussion with Mala confirmed my belief that there are tremendous partnership opportunities out there for life science companies and entrepreneurs in Buffalo and Toronto and everywhere in between.  I hope to feature frequent news here about the life sciences in Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe -- and hope that we are able to highlight some successful cross-border partnerships in 2008. 

Cleveland BioLabs Receives $8.9 Million Contract

Business First and The Buffalo News reported that Buffalo-based Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. has received $8.9 million from the U.S. military to develop a radiation treatment drug.  The company will receive funding through the summer of 2009 for testing of the experimental drug, Protectan CBLB502. The drug is a genetically engineered version of a human protein that helps cells heal.

Cleveland BioLabs Inc., a publicly traded company that was spun out of the Cleveland Clinic, moved its headquarters to Buffalo in 2007, and now resides on High Street on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  The biotech company followed its founder, Andrei V. Gudkov, a cancer researcher, to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

New COO For Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus named Patrick J. Whalen of Amherst as its first Chief Operating Officer. The BNMC is home to the region's top clinical, research and medical education institutions.  As the BNMC continues to expand and update its Master Plan for healthcare and life sciences in downtown Buffalo, we will have regular updates on this blog and at Buffalo Niagara Life Sciences.

Kinex Illustrates Angel Funding Potential in WNY

Buffalo's Kinex Pharmaceuticals LLC recently announced that it has closed on a $3 million round of angel funding, bringing its total capital raised to $9 million.  Reports also indicated that Kinex has relied almost exclusively on angel investors for its funding, with just $1 million coming from institutional investors.  This is a clear example of how substantial angel funding can be, and evidence that angel investors in Western New York are alive and well and committed to advancing regional companies performing important research and developing important products. 

Kinex is in the midst of clinical trials for drugs effective in inhibiting leukemia cells and inhibiting the growth and spread of tumors for all major cancer types. It also is developing pharmaceuticals for diseases of the eye and hearing loss, and has received four patents in the last two years.  The new angel funding will enable development beyond the clinical trials and also gives the company more leverage as it continues to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for licensing opportunities.

Kinex is also a model tenant on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  Founded in 2003 as a spin-off from the University at Buffalo, the company currently operates from space at the UB Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. Kinex plans a future move down the street in to a 5,600-square-foot space in the former Trico Building, which is being developed by the BNMC for life science tenants.

2007 Was Record Year for Biotech Investment

Biotech investment looks strong after a record 2007.  The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports that U.S. biotech companies received a record $5.2 billion in 2007, representing the second most of any industry sector.  The article notes that many investors do not see a downturn on the horizon for biotech investment.  Likewise, the venture capital climate for biotech and life sciences investment in Buffalo Niagara remains strong.  Will 2008 be another record year?

Hauptman-Woodward Names New CEO

The Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, located on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, named Eaton "Ed" Lattman CEO.  Lattman is coming to Buffalo after 31 years as biophysics professor and dean at Johns Hopkins University. H-W is home to structural biologists who study the cause of disease and potential therapies at a basic molecular level.  According to Business First , Lattman will earn a $225,000 salary.

Field Guide to be Presented on March 27

The Field Guide for Starting and Growing a Life Science Business in Buffalo Niagara will be discussed at the Life Sciences Commercialization Lecture at the Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  The presentation will be followed by a free cocktail reception -- "Beakers 'n Beer" -- at the Doubletree Club Hotel, 125 High Street.  Join researchers, entrepreneurs, and medical professionals from the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus for food and networking. The reception is sponsored by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Buffalo Niagara Contributes to Region with 22 Million People and $530 Billion in Economic Activity

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail, Richard Florida explores the Buffalo-Toronto region's economic world-standing, highlighting the extended region as the 12th-largest mega-region in the world and fifth-largest in North America. His findings serve to again highlight the tremendous partnership opportunities for life science companies in the Buffalo Niagara region.

According to Mr. Florida's definition, mega-regions are made up of two or more contiguous cities and their surrounding suburbs, and generate more than $100-billion in annual economic output.

In North America, only the mega-regions of Bos-Wash (Boston-New York-Washington), Chi-Pitts (running from Chicago through Pittsburgh), LA-San Diego-Tijuana, and Char-lanta (Charlotte through Atlanta) are larger. In the rest of the world, Tor-Buff-Chester is outflanked only by Greater London, Greater Tokyo, Osaka-Nagoya, Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussels, Rome-Milan-Turin, Frankfurt-Stuttgart and Barcelona-Lyons.

Tor-Buff-Chester is bigger than the San Francisco-Silicon Valley mega-region, Greater Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and more than twice the size of Cascadia, which stretches from Vancouver to Seattle and Portland. Its economic might is equivalent to more than half of all of Canada's. If it were its own country, it would number among the 16 biggest in the world, with economic output bigger than that of Sweden, the Netherlands, or Australia.