Bioscience firms find one voice

OUTSIDE THE BOX: Denice Spero, co-director of iCubed, will be the featured speaker at the March Economic Outlook Breakfast. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN
OUTSIDE THE BOX: Denice Spero, co-director of iCubed, will be the featured speaker at the March Economic Outlook Breakfast. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

Four months ago, when Denice Spero, co-director of iCubed, the Institute for Immunology and Immunization, hosted scientists from around the world at the sixth annual Vaccine Renaissance Conference at Hotel Providence in October 2012, it attracted scant attention from the local business community.
And despite iCubed’s promise, reflected by its rapid expansion, growing from four employees in 2009 to more than 20 employees in 2012, the state’s potential to become a major center for vaccine discovery, development and manufacturing has until recently been little noticed outside the local industry.
But Spero is suddenly in high demand; she will be featured speaker at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Breakfast in March.
And R.I. Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, as part of her foray into economic-development issues, recently met with Spero and a group of CEOs on Feb. 7 to discuss opportunities to grow the biosciences sector.
The impetus for the raised visibility is the newly created Rhode Island BioScience Leaders, a fledging organization of 30 CEOs, chief operating officers, founding scientists and decision-makers from 24 bioscience firms who have banded together to form a collaborative group, with the goal of helping companies grow.
The co-founders are Edward G. Bozzi, an assistant clinical professor in University of Rhode Island’s biotechnology manufacturing program, and Spero, who first began discussions in the summer of 2012. Bozzi was interested in finding jobs for his students in the biotech sector, and Spero wanted to address the need for more incubation and lab space.
“I approached it from the perspective of a former pharmaceutical-industry executive,” Spero said. “I thought it was important to get all the leaders together and see what the common issues were. That’s where we started.”
The group’s initial focus is on smaller Rhode Island companies that are making small-molecule drugs, therapeutics, or a device that has a biologic component that can impact human health, Spero explained.
“All of our members are CEOs, [chief operating officers], founding scientists or research heads – we really wanted the decision-makers,” Spero continued. “The CEOs really appreciated this type of organization, because as a CEO, if there’s an issue, you often have no one to walk with.” The R.I. BioScience Leaders provides a format where CEOs and other decision-makers can bring their questions and get strategic advice, knowing that the discussions will be kept confidential, Spero added.
“We want to create an environment that supports the growth of companies,” Spero said.
In initial discussions, access to capital emerged as a common barrier faced by many of the companies – whether it is a small company seeking seed money or a more advanced company involved with drug development, which costs tens of millions of dollars for clinical studies.
“We had some members who are scientists who founded their companies, and they had gotten to the point where they realized they need a business CEO to come in and help them get to the next level,” Spero said.
The group invited Timothy Ehrlich, a co-founder of Ocean State Angels with his father, Dr. Michael G. Ehrlich, chief of orthopedics at Rhode Island Hospital, to meet with them in December 2012. Timothy Ehrlich is also a partner with the Waltham, Mass.-based law firm Gunderson Dettmer LLP, which represents emerging technology companies and investors.
The younger Ehrlich told Providence Business News he was impressed by both the number and breadth of companies who were members of the Rhode Island BioScience Leaders. “It is definitely a critical mass of like-minded folks – not just in Providence, but in Cumberland and Tiverton. When I showed the list of companies to colleagues up in Massachusetts, they were stunned,” Ehrlich said.
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, praised the effort of the Rhode Island BioScience Leaders and that of a similar group, The Rhode Island Med Group, being organized around the medical-device sector. “The build-out of [industry] clusters is extremely important. Rhode Island has a distinct, competitive niche in each of these areas.” •

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