By Pete Mooney
I have been watching the developments of our fledgling biotech industry in Vermont with interest having worked in this industry for some 20 years.
In my experience, there are at least four things absolutely necessary to launching a successful biotech venture. First, you need to be close to major teaching and research hospitals. Conducting clinical research requires you to be near a community of academic physicians and to have access to patients in order to conduct trials. Second, you need to be in an area with a critical mass of talented clinicians and researchers. Being very near major academic institutions with a focus on graduate and post-graduate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs is a plus in this regard.
Third, you need access to significant capital willing to wait on a return. This should preferably come through a relationship with a major pharmaceuticals company that has an interest in your research or, increasingly, a well-funded foundation that sees the future potential of your areas of study. Organizations like Gates or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation come to mind.
Finally, you need to be in a community that is generally excited about the possibilities of genetic research. Biotechnology is fundamentally about the modification of the genetic code, whether this be through developing drugs such as monoclonal antibodies or other areas of exploration such as regenerative medicine. If you spend time in Research Triangle Park, Basel, or, increasingly, the SF Bay Area, you would note a passion for this type of research.
There is a reason that biotech activity has exploded in the Boston area. Critical mass came when the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research (NIBR) came to Boston and employed some 700 research scientists in Cambridge. Combined with organizations like Harvard Medical and Massachusetts General, this critical mass has driven just amazing biotechnology growth in the 128 corridor. Every biotech I know wants to be near Boston.
Thinking through the requirements outlined above, I ask myself how a Korean biotech company thinks it will be successful in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Success in biotech is not a one-off. A lot of groundwork needs to be in place to help an individual company be successful. This would include things like ensuring UVM, UVM Medical, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and other major institutions have the right degree programs and investment for the industry. We would need to work hard to attract investment in the state from some of the major players in the pharmaceuticals industry. Also, it would require the state to foster a more business-friendly posture and provide incentives more like those in New York state to drive business growth. Finally, it would be helpful if our citizenry developed a different attitude regarding the amazing potential of biotechnology and genetic research. Vermont has not shown itself to be a state much interested in the modification of the genetic code.
I may be missing something here, but I have a hard time understanding how a venture like this can be successful in Vermont, much less how we hope to start a successful biotechnology industry in the state given our current support base and attitude toward this type of research.
Mooney lives in Waitsfield.
