"We believe that there are roughly 300 public biotech companies
today. That's our universe. We also track close to a hundred
privates, some of which will develop products in competition with
those whose stock we track. The US continues to lead the global
biotech universe. It boasts some 1,300 biotech-focused companies.
Europe, the sector's perennial bridesmaid, has some 1,600 private
biotech concerns but only about 100 public companies," explains Mr.
McCamant.
He acknowledges that aging baby boomers, now hitting their 50s, will
provide unprecedented market demand in this field. He foresees a
significant increase in pharmaceutical demand, particularly in the
near term, for everything from lifestyle (baldness, male erectile
dysfunction) to more chronic conditions (high blood cholesterol,
diabetes) to the bigger diseases (cancer, cardiovascular). "Up until
now, the big pharmaceuticals have owned the supply side. We believe
that in the next two to three years, more than half of the new
products will come out of biotech," added John McCamant. Official
figures point to nearly 200 private companies, but IHTIR believes
that there are at least 50 more companies, in various stages of early
development.
The two-day International BioTech 2002 Conference recently held in
Tel-Aviv ended on a high note with attendees, guests, presenters and
exhibitors expressing satisfaction at the high level of attendance,
as well as the quality of the presentations.
IHTIR heard from Dr. David Haselkorn, chairman of the steering
committee, that he estimated that 850-900 visitors attended each of
the two days of the conference. Many more individuals came to view
the tens of companies exhibiting their projects.
"The industry moved very significantly in the last two years, not
only overseas but also here in Israel. Obviously, the political
situation doesn't help with raising money. The progress is, however,
amazing under the difficult circumstances. If the political situation
will not clear up, next year will be critical as funds are running
out," IHTIR was told by from Prof. Haim Aviv, credited as being one
of the founders of Israel's biotech industry.
Confirming Prof. Aviv's concern as to the financial viability of this
country's biotech industry, a number of managers of young companies
participating in the Conference, with whom we spoke stated that cash
balances will enable them to continue activities well into 2003. The
prospects for the industry, it should be noted, are considerably
brighter then a decade ago, when Prof. Aviv spent most of his
available time on raising money for Pharmos. (Nasdaq:PARS)
Identifying special skills requires an overview of the industry. One
of the most qualified to do that is Prof. Max Hertzberg who gave up
an academic career, when he founded Orgenics, in the early 1980s.
From there, he moved on to establish a biotechnology incubator which
has served as a spawning ground for fledgling biotech companies. He
also heads an investment fund and is now part of a group negotiating
with the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry
and Trade, to establish an incubator located adjacent to Ben Gurion
University of the Negev. "Strong biological skills and strong
computational abilities, are in great evidence. This combination
between Biology and Information Technology, is being used to predict
three-dimensional structures. We will see a lot more activity using
computational approaches to drug design," he predicts.
InterPharm situated in the science based industries park in Rehovot
and adjacent to the Weizmann Institute, is a subsidiary of Serono,
whose executive headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. InterPharm's
leading product, recombinant bulk human interfon-beta-la, is
formulated and marketed by Serono as Rebif(R) for the treatment of
Multiple Sclerosis patients in many countries.
Prof. Timothy NC Wells of the Serono Pharmaceutical Research
Institute, Switzerland delivered a major address in which he stated:
"Israel's international reputation in this field, and indeed her
first major financially successful biotechnology product, began in
1978, with the formation of Interpharm Laboratories. Interpharm
developed and marketed the world's first commercial,
recombinantly-derived human beta-interferon. Interpharm's R&D efforts
have resulted in a variety of other cytokines, such as recombinant
human interleukin-6. The company uses large-scale, commercial
cultures of mammalian cells, often genetically-engineered Chinese
hamster cells, rather than bacteria".
"How big is the biotech field today, how many biotech firms are out
there at the moment? The question was posed to John McCamant, editor
of The Medical Technology Stock Newsletter.The MTS newsletter is
rated as one of the top five in the United States in its field.
by an interviewer from Forbes magazine.