Biotech mentoring scheme to be launched

The Government will this morning launch a US/Ireland "mentoring" programme that will bring together chief executives of biotechnology companies from the two countries

The initiative arose as a result of contacts between the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, and the US Secretary of State for Health and Human Services, Mr Tommy Thompson.

The US/Ireland Research and Development Partnership Task Force programme was an attempt to foster research connections between Ireland and the US according to Mr Thompson, who yesterday addressed BioIreland 2002, an all-Ireland biotechnology industry conference.

He arrived with a high-powered delegation, which included the head of the US National Institutes of Health, Dr Elias Zermouha, and the head of the US National Cancer Institute, Dr Andrew von Eschenbach.

The initiative was raised during the recent US/Ireland conference in Washington DC, Mr Thompson said. It would bring together company heads as a way "to improve research, improve management and improve growth in the biotechnology industry" between the two countries.

The busy two-day conference in Dublin began with an overview of the biotech industries in the US and in Europe. Mr Carl Feldbaum, president of the US-based Biotechnology Industry Organisation, painted a bleak picture for the US industry in the short term. It was "pretty nasty right now" he said, a situation that the industry there described as "indiscriminate carnage".

A turnaround was unlikely before late 2003 or early 2004, he said, with the depressed market caused by the general downturn but also by uncertainty about the Middle East.

When looked at long term, the view was decidedly better, he said, with increased employment, revenues, drug approvals and successful IPOs "all on a pretty predictable curve up".

In 1990 there were about 1,300 biotech companies in the US and that figure had risen to 2,500 today, he said. The fundamentals of the industry remained strong. "Long term we serve the markets which are the broadest and deepest in the world," he said, including the health industry.

The "mortality rate" for small biotech companies was comparatively low, he said and most coped with the downturn by "morphing" into a different shape either by mergers, sell-offs or reduction in staff. Many were typical of the picture presented by the Irish drug developer Elan - small but holding valuable intellectual property.

Mr Hugo Schepens, secretarygeneral of the European Association for BioIndustries, presented the European biotech picture yesterday. There were about 2,000 biotech companies across the countries linked to his association and it was a "difficult time" for them in the short term, he said.

"We were caught by the present economic downturn in the middle of a catch-up movement with the United States," he said. He also predicted long-term growth, however.

"The long-term prognosis is positive, no doubt about it. All the fundamentals are there," he stated.

The BioIreland 2002 conference concludes later today. The second all-Ireland conference is planned for Coleraine in 2004.