LifeScience Aurora: 'Anschutz community among those angling for venture funds'

Quoting from LifeScience Aurora:

"Of the more than 30 bioscience companies who presented their business plans to venture capitalists at a conference in Denver last week, several had some connection to the Anschutz Medical Campus. The 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference stretched over two days last week and local officials say it helped some local start-up companies connect with the venture capitalists they will need funding from to get their companies off the ground. 'The purpose is to get them out in front of venture capitalists from all over the country,' said Vicki Jenings, manager of business development at the Fitzsimons Life Science District."

Link to LifeScience Aurora

CID4 Blog: 'Important Takeaways from a Successful RMLIPC'

Quoting from the CID4 Blog posting by Adam Rubenstein about the recent Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference (RMLIPC):

"The success metric for an investor and partnering conference is unambiguous, a company must achieve either an initial inquiry of interest or secure a follow-on meeting. Using such a performance metric illuminated a very satisfactory grade for the presenting CID4 portfolio companies. The Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference was more than simply a CID4 showcase, what transpired at the historic Brown Palace Hotel was the culmination of a biocluster clearly on the rise. Colorado had an important opportunity to spotlight their diverse array of high-impact technologies and high-quality intellectual capital, and put a stamp on the Rocky Mountain region as a bioscience node that demands the attention of industry and investors. A quick scan of attendees validates that the Front Range deal flow ranks on par with any other cluster across the U.S."

Link to the Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development (CID4) Blog posting

Rocky Radar: '31 Companies Present at 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor Conference'

Quoting from Rocky Radar:

"The second Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference brought together a diverse group of 31 companies and investors at the Brown Palace hotel on Friday. The program included discussion of the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and The Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Colorado along with a lunchtime presentation from Roy Davis of Johnson & Johnson, who urged new companies to stay focused on value creation. The focus of the day, however, was on the presenting companies who each presented for 15 minutes and answered 10 minutes of questions. The companies, 23 of whom hailed from Colorado, spanned the life science spectrum including drugs, devices and diagnostics. The companies also represented a wide variety of stages of development from companies with currently marketed to products to those just getting of the ground."

Link to RockyRadar.com

GEN on Fort Collins-based VetDC: 'Firm Finds New Uses for Drugs, Diagnostics, and Devices in Companion Animals'

Quoting from the Biobusiness Profile in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News by Carol Potera:

"Companies spend billions of dollars annually on the development of human drugs, devices, and diagnostics. Yet many promising products fail to reach the marketplace and their value is never realized. VetDC was started in Fort Collins, CO, last year to repurpose discarded and shelved technologies for veterinary use. The company in-licenses emerging, underexploited technologies from human biotechnology companies, then develops and commercializes them for dogs, cats, and other companion animals."

Link to genengnews.com

VetDC is a portfolio company of the Colorado Institute for Drug Device and Diagnostic Development (CID4) in Aurora, CO. Link to learn more.

VetDC was a presenting company at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor & Partnering Conference (RMLIPC) in Denver. Link to the RMLIPC presenting company list.

Business: 'Colorado biotechs court financing by showing off inventions'

Quoting from the Denver Post article by Steve Raabe:

"Saving lives with battlefield triage tools. Diagnosing cancer long before it spreads. Installing heart valves without open-heart surgery. Inventors of those technologies, and more, presented their best attributes Thursday in 20-minute pitches designed to entice venture capital. Thirty-one companies — many based at the Bioscience Park Center at Fitzsimons in Aurora — showed off their potential to prospective financiers at the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor & Partnering Conference at the Brown Palace Hotel. The session was especially timely, officials said, because a struggling economy and volatile stock market have added competitiveness to biotech financing."

Link to denverpost.com

Consulate General of Canada Hosts Canadian Bioscience Companies at the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor & Partnering Conference in Denver

A targeted group of Rocky Mountain investors and senior executives from international companies in the life science industry had the opportunity to learn more about investment and partnering opportunities with Canadian companies during Colorado BioScience Association’s Second Annual Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor & Partnering Conference. The event took place on Sept. 21 – 23, 2011, at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.

Link to the Consulate General of Canada in Denver News Release

BioBeers Denver 3Q11 | Special Conference Edition!

Katie Mullen's Irish Pub - 1550 Court Place, Denver, CO
Thursday, September 22, 2011, 6:00 PM

"After an exciting action-packed day at the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference be certain to come and unwind at our BioBeers Special Conference Edition. Only a few blocks away from the Brown Palace (the Conf. locale) you can hoist a pint with your friends and colleagues at Katie Mullen's Irish Pub. Look for us in the Pharmacy Room (how appropriate is that!). We look forward to seeing you there for some casual networking and fun."

Link to RSVP

BCBR: 'Bioscience firms to make pitches for VC'

Quoting from the Boulder County Business Report website:

"Boulder County companies and investors feature prominently in the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference slated for Wednesday and Thursday in Denver.

More than 30 bioscience companies from across the Rocky Mountain region will make 15-minute pitches to potential investors at the conference at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. Bioscience companies in the region have garnered more than $11.5 billion in financing and acquisition since the end of 2007, according to statistics compiled by the Colorado BioScience Association, an industry trade group."

Link to bcbr.com

Innovative Thought Leaders Address the 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor Conference in Denver

Three renowned speakers will present the most innovative research, collaborations and partnerships within the bioscience industry today at the Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference (RMLIPC), Thursday, September 22, at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. The announcement is made by Holli Riebel (formerly Baumunk), President and CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), who says: "The conference will be attended by leaders of early-stage private and public life science, bioscience investors and strategic partners."

The RMLIPC is the region’s only bioscience conference of its kind. This year’s speakers will discuss new innovative business models to bring emerging technologies to market and develop partnerships for success. “The keynote presenters are crucial thought leaders shaping the future of the bioscience industry,” Riebel said.

The breakfast keynote on Thursday will feature Peter A. Gottlieb, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver and Center Director at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, and Dennis R. Roop, Ph.D., Director of The Charles C. Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. According to Riebel, the CBSA is honored to present these two thought leaders in the clinical world and the stem cell research arena. Drs. Gottlieb and Roop will share how they look at research philanthropy as a growing model for creating and sustaining university initiatives, including Centers of Excellence, that address critical research needs and potential commercializable opportunities.

The luncheon keynote will feature Roy Davis, President, Johnson & Johnson Corporate Development. Mr. Davis is a returning expert presenter at the conference and will share his presentation “Strategic Value Creation: A Corporate Investor’s View,” including his vision for new partnering research and development strategies and expert insight into current issues affecting the biotechnology industry.

Link to the Business Wire release

Link to the PitchEngine Social Media Release

Tech bytes: '2 bioscience companies to make presentations at Colo. event'

Quoting from NewsOK:

"Two Oklahoma City-based companies — Altheus Therapeutics and DermaMedics — have been invited to make presentations at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference on Sept. 21-22 in Denver. Altheus and DermaMedics are two of 30 companies selected to present to more than 50 national investors and partnering entities at the regional conference sponsored by the Colorado BioScience Association."

Link to newsok.com

w3w3.com Interviews Holli Riebel: 'Challenges and solutions for the Bio and Life Sciences industry'

Quoting from CBSA Pres/CEO's recent interview with w3w3.com's Larry Nelson on the upcoming Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference (RMLIPC) in Denver:

"The Bio and Life Sciences industry faces huge challenges raising venture capital in a difficult economy. Investing in an industry that takes ten to twelve years and over $1.3 Billion to bring a drug to market just might shift the action to some widget or a software program that can be flipped to realize a return in just six months. That's the challenge facing the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) and president/CEO, Holli Riebel. 'Also,' she said, 'venture capitalists reside more on the coasts, and so we're always having a more difficult time attracting venture capital out here in the middle of the country.'"

Link to w3w3.com

Link to download the related podcast

Link to a second podcast about the presenting companies at the RMLIPC

9News Interview: "Conference brings together local innovative life-science companies"

CBSA Pres/CEO Holli Reibel interviewed with 9News Business Reporter Gregg Moss this morning about the upcoming Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference in Denver. Presenting companies featured in the interview included PeptiVir, VetDC and Flashback Technologies.

Link to information about the RMLIPC, being held Sept 21-22 at the Brown Palace

Link to the related 9News.com posting

NCBR: 'Biotech firms lead healthy innovation'

Quoting CBSA's Pres/CEO perspective from the Northern Colorado Business Report article by Josh Zaffos covering Inviragen, Senator Bennet/FDA Commissioner Hamburg CEO Roundtable and the RMLIPC:

"Bringing a drug or device to market has its challenges, said Holli Riebel, president of the Colorado BioScience Association: 'What makes it difficult right now is the regulatory market.'...

'There's a really large concern we're hurting (biotechnology) innovation in this country by not getting to market' within a reasonable timeframe, Riebel said...

Riebel said the FDA has struggled to keep up with developing technologies, while also suffering through the ubiquitous federal-agency problems of understaffing and restricted budgets. The agency is currently hiring new reviewers, but bringing inexperienced staff up to speed is a concern...

Riebel said one of the major interests from biotech boosters is for a fast-track process for regulatory approval of certain products. Officials have also pushed for reviewers to get training and certification in certain areas to speed along processing in some cases.

'How can we develop more predictability and consistency?' Riebel said. 'How do you start putting benefits into the analysis and not just look at what is the risk.'...

Much of the funding for biotech ventures is based on the East and West coasts, so the investor conference enables regional bioscience firms to make connections and prove they're equal to competitors from around the country, Riebel said.

The time is particularly ripe for such opportunities, she added, since many big pharmaceutical corporations have trimmed down in-house research and development in recent years, partly because of the costs and the regulatory environment. Companies are more willing to invest in small biotech firms that can focus on developing a few product lines from research programs to marketable drugs and devices.

Inviragen is a prime example, Riebel said, having developed vaccines that originated from the local labs of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CSU and now targeting them for populations in developing countries.

'We're feeling better about some of the financial opportunities,' Riebel said, 'because we're turning out fantastic companies.'"

Link to the complete article

CBSA's Pres/CEO Holli Riebel + Ten Others Join CU Tech Transfer Advisory Board

Quoting from the Boulder County Business Report:

"BOULDER - Eleven new members have been added to the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office's Business Advisory Board.

The tech transfer office facilitates the movement of CU technologies from the research lab to the marketplace. The Business Advisory Board plays an important part in assessing the tech transfer office's performance, advising on new initiatives, providing access to the technology business community and advocating for resources needed to build a world-class technology transfer operation at CU.

New board members include:

Shannon Golden-Shubert, partner and co-founder at Life + Tech Law.

Doug Henston, renewable energy entrepreneur.

Paul Nelson, managing director at Clean Range Ventures.

Rex R. O'Neal, partner at Faegre & Benson LLP; co-chairman of the firm's emerging companies practice and new energy, clean technology and climate initiative.

Misha Plam, founder of BiOptix and AmideBio.

Holli Riebel, president and chief executive of the Colorado BioScience Association.

John Ryan, partner at medical technology firm Onset Ventures.

Chris Shapard, executive director of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association.

Laura Simon, director of UC Denver's Office of BioPharma Alliances.

Fintan R. Steele, associate director at CU-Boulder's Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology.

Trent Yang, director of entrepreneurship and business development at the CU-Boulder Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute.

Link to bcbr.com

LifeScience Aurora: 'Sen. Michael Bennet, FDA commissioner hold roundtable discussion with CEOs'

Quoting from the new LifeScience Aurora publication:

"The dialogue was what the CBSA needed according to President and CEO Holli Riebel.

'The session today is a positive next step to work CBSA has already contributed to Sen. Bennet’s Coloradoans For An Innovation Economy (CFAIE), and speaks strongly to the work the Senator is doing on our industry’s behalf,' Riebel said in a statement."

Link to the article

30+ Life Science Investors/Partners Headed to Denver Sept 21-22

More than thirty of the industry’s leading investors and strategic partners will attend presentations by the region’s most innovative life science companies at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference (RMLIPC), September 21-22 at the Brown Palace Hotel, Denver. The announcement is made by Holli Riebel (formerly Baumunk), President and CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) who says, “Leading biotech, device, diagnostic and pharma investors from across the country and world will be coming to Denver to create the newest deals and shape the future landscape of the life science industry.”

The conference will present a strong slate of Rocky Mountain region companies to the investors. Thirty-one companies were selected to present from over fifty applicants spanning a range of sectors within the industry.

Apposite Capital, London, England - http://www.appositecapital.com
BioVentures, Wellesley, MA - http://www.bioventuresinvestors.com
Boston Equity Advisors, Canton, MA - http://www.boston-equity.com
Boulder Ventures, Boulder, CO - http://www.boulderventures.com
Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York, NY - http://www.bms.com
Canaan Partners, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.canaan.com
Charter Life Sciences, Santa Clara, CA - http://www.clsvc.com
Covidien, Mansfield, MA - http://www.covidien.com
CSU Ventures, Fort Collins, CO - http://www.csurf.org/tto
Delphi Ventures, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.delphiventures.com
Doremus Advisory Services, New York, NY
Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.dfj.com
Frontier Angels, Polson, MT - http://angelsoft.net/angel-group/frontier-angel-fund
High Country Venture, Boulder, CO - http://highcountryventure.com
Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ - http://www.jnj.com
Longitude Capital, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.longitudecapital.com
Lumira Capital, Palo Alto, CA - http://www.lumiracapital.com
MedImmune, Gaithersburg, MD - http://www.medimmune.com
Merck Ventures, Montvale, NJ - http://www.merckcapitalventures.com
Morgenthaler Ventures, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.morgenthaler.com
OK Life Sciences Fund, Tulsa, OK - http://olsfventures.com
OnSet Ventures, Menlo Park, CA - http://www.onset.com
Red Script Ventures, Brunswick, NJ - http://www.redscriptventures.com
Research Corp BioVentures, Tucson, AZ - http://www.rctech.com
Sanderling Ventures, San Mateo, CA - http://www.sanderling.com
Sevin Rosen Funds, Palo Alto, CA - http://www.srfunds.com
Sun Mountain Capital, Santa Fe, NM - http://www.sunmountaincapital.com
Takeda Ventures, Palo Alto, CA - http://www.tri-takeda.com
TPG Biotech, San Francisco, CA - http://www.tpgbiotech.com
Volcano Capital, New York, NY - http://www.volcanocap.com
vSpring Capital, Salt Lake City, UT - http://www.vspring.us

Link to the Business Wire release

Link to the Pitch Engine Social Media Release

Denver and the West: 'Job-growth ideas for Colorado sent to Obama'

Quoting from yesterday's Denver Post coverage: "After hustling together a group of business leaders to figure out what it would take to spur job growth in Colorado, Democrat Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall​ and Gov. John Hickenlooper shipped the findings to President Barack Obama on Wednesday, a week before he is set to unveil his jobs plan...

Those who participated included Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems, and Holli Riebel, president of the Colorado Bioscience Association. The business leaders held a series of meetings in the past several months to compile their recommendations."

Link to denverpost.com

Link to similar coverage in The Colorado Independent

Link to similar coverage by the Denver Business Journal

Link to the DBJ pdf posting of the “Colorado Competes” report