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Identifying biotech and scientific advancement investment opportunities

By: Curtis R. Sprouse

August, 2015

Once again Bruce Booth has provided a nice analysis of the material challenges the BioPharma industry will need to address. See his recently published article here.

In the article Booth poses the question," What will happen when the public and non-traditional investors decide they don’t want to allocate their capital to private biotech companies?" A good follow up question would be, “How do we keep them interested in the BioPharma sector?”

As an industry, we need to better align capital with early stage science and create a more efficient and effective model for advancing science. Non-traditional investors are now interested in the BioPharma space. But they are more interested in relatively few later stage opportunities that are better defined with lower risk profile relative to potential return.

The answer to one of Bruce's key question is clear: What will keep investors interested in this space is “returns” and more opportunities. As Booth stated, however, when the perception is that there are better places to go, they will go.

Helping academics, incubators and angels improve the selection and maturation process is a significant area of opportunity. These three significant groups have resources, interest, and access to world class science. The key is to improve the process and develop an environment where collaboration can expose quality science to the appropriate resources (facilities, experience, and people), process, timeline, focus, and capital.

The Executive Forum has identified science advancement dynamics as an area of extreme need and opportunity. The Forum will undertake efforts to align resources, provide structure, and implement models for improved success. It will explore how to leverage the existing components of the environment and the need to add components that will encourage and facilitate a more direct and deliberate model for success.

We are looking for people who want to be involved in the discussion and effort. There are many direct paths to immediate collaboration in the Executive Forum network that have and will continue to form. We will use the collective effort to build a better collaboration to identify and develop immediate areas of opportunity while constructing and implementing a larger scale industry initiative. Please invite other innovative leaders to join the network. Have them contact me with questions and interest.

Held September 24-25 at the Boston Harbor Hyatt Hotel, The EurekaConnect Executive Forum will provide a mix of International and US topics on how to develop world class companies, speaker sessions, and panels on innovation and investment. Click here for more information.