Well, this is a very good sign. 

 

total VC dollars over the past 5 years:

2005 $171 million

2004 $62 million

2003 $32 million

2002 $33 million

2001 $8 million

 

VC investments in med firms soar

Region could gain national rep if private financing stays strong

 

By SHANNON PETTYPIECE

 

6:00 am, January 23, 2006

 

 

 

Northeast Ohio health care companies showed last year they could lure big investment bucks to town. If they can do it again this year, the region likely will gain a national reputation as a health care hot spot that attracts entrepreneurs, workers and investors.

 

The $171 million in private capital raised by local health care companies in 2005 was nearly three times the amount raised in 2004, according to figures compiled by BioEnterprise Corp., a Cleveland-based nonprofit that works with medical startups.

 

Baiju Shah, president of BioEnterprise, said the numbers continue the positive trend of recent years and indicate Northeast Ohio is a serious player in the private capital market.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/

I recall an article from a year ago that said 2004's local venture capital amount was among the tops in the nation among major U.S. cities. I wonder what the 2005 figure will mean.

Wow, that's incredible!  And many of those "first nine months" numbers are for entire states, correct?  NEO's got it goin on!

This is a great sign that the commercialization arm of the innovation center is producing results...

 

Clinic biotech co. raises $6M

 

By MAYA R. PAYNE

 

2:49 pm, March 1, 2006

 

Symphony Medical Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with offices in the Cleveland Clinic’s Innovation Center, recently raised about $6 million in venture capital.

 

The company, which also has offices in Minnesota and California, plans to use the equity funding to add staff, complete clinical trials and introduce an atrial fibrillation prevention product to Europe, according to a statement released by the Clinic.

 

Three previous investors in Symphony — Morgenthaler Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif.; Domain Associates of Princeton, N.J.; and Guidant Compass Group of Indianapolis — contributed to the latest round of funding, as did a new investor, Triathlon Medical Ventures of Cincinnati.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060301/FREE/60301012

Practicality called key to state's biotech effort

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Mary Vanac

Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleveland will never be a biotechnology pioneer like Boston or San Francisco, says Tony Dennis, president of Omeris Inc., the state's biotechnology development organization.

 

But Ohio could grab its piece of the biotech pie by doing what it does best: Putting ideas into practice, and then innovating at the practical level, he says.

 

Dennis and Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, stopped in Cleveland this week to drum up interest in BIO's international conference in Chicago in April. Former President Bill Clinton will address the expected 20,000 attendees.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/

Why did this reporter feel the need to begin an otherwise very positive article with "Cleveland will never be a biotechnology pioneer like Boston or San Francisco" ? ? ?

 

 

Why did this reporter feel the need to begin an otherwise very positive article with "Cleveland will never be a biotechnology pioneer like Boston or San Francisco" ? ? ?

 

I think its because he read some Free Times article and was sick of scientists walking the halls of some emerging Cleveland biotechs and saying "this feels just like a Boston lab" or "the test tubes were straight out of some San Francisco start-up."

 

 

hee-larious!  For those of you who are confused right now, check out this SCENE article at http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-03-01/news/news.html

i think that author is really a front for either roldo, feagler or the minister of boomer culture aka the three stooges of cleveland print media.

The thing that seperates Cleveland from San Francisco and Boston is that they have very well established bio-tech companies. I am not positive but I think both Amgen and Genentech are located in northern California, and Boston has Boston Scientific. I would worry less about the negative in this article and focus on the fact that he said a couple of the Cleveland companies were poised to become gangbusters. :clap:

well, that's exactly my point!  the whole rest of the article is VERY positive.  why start it with a negative statement?  All right, I get it... I'm dwelling on that one sour note.

 

This is fantastic news.  Imagine the potential with a Medical Mart!

well, that's exactly my point!  the whole rest of the article is VERY positive.  why start it with a negative statement?  All right, I get it... I'm dwelling on that one sour note.

 

This is fantastic news.  Imagine the potential with a Medical Mart!

 

Umm...... I don't think the PD lets anything hit the press without some amount of negativity in it. I just don't understand that papers problem. Anyways, if some of these companies can make it, Cleveland will be a very different place in 20 years. I always pictured UC as a place for a drug/biotech companies headquarters.

Cleveland will never be a biotechnology pioneer like Boston or San Francisco, says Tony Dennis, president of Omeris Inc., the state's biotechnology development organization.

 

Best thing to do is prove him wrong, and put his prediction on the litter pile of other prognostications made by other so-called reputable people. Here are some of my other favorite predictions:

 

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert Millikan, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner, 1923.

 

"It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway?" -- Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1872.

 

"Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." -- Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

 

"It will be gone by June." -- Variety, passing judgement on rock 'n roll in 1955.

 

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

 

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" -- Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick, spoken as he looked out over the parapet at enemy lines during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864.

 

"With over fifteen types of foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.

 

"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." -- General Tommy Franks, March 22nd, 2003.

 

I thought we could use this thread for all of Cleveland's bio-tech news. If anyone thinks we should start a seperate thread go ahead.

 

Imalux gets Chinese distributor

 

 

 

11:09 a.m.

 

Beijing Goodwell Co. has agreed to distribute in China the Niris Imaging System of Cleveland's Imalux Corp.

 

Beijing Goodwell will promote, sell and service the system that uses optical coherence tomography to produce images of human tissue abnormalities, including some cancers. Doctors can use the images to diagnose and treat diseases in urology, gastroenterology, gynecology, dermatology, and dentistry.

 

Imalux is just beginning to market its imaging system, which is small, portable and produces images with harmless near-infrared light. OCT could become the sixth major medical-imaging modality, joining the likes of X-rays and MRIs.

 

This sounds like good news.  Anyone have numbers on Imalux?  Number of employees?  Years in existence?  etc...

Ah, from their website:

 

Imalux Corporation was founded in 1996, based on a novel imaging technology, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). In 2000, initial seed funding enabled Imalux to start the process of commercialization. Since that time, with additional funding totaling more than $10 million, Imalux succeeded in being the first OCT company to develop and bring to market a platform OCT imaging system.

Here's a recent Crain's article that gives some background on Imalux.  Subsequent article mentioned that they receied a $500K loan from the state " to buy machinery and equipment for a project expected to bring 35 jobs to the region within three years."

 

Imalux shifts focus to putting its product into practice

Imaging company works to build demand for early-stage cancer detecting device

 

By SHANNON PETTYPIECE

 

6:00 am, December 5, 2005

 

Imalux Corp. of Cleveland is facing the last, and one of the biggest, hurdles in the long journey to become a successful medical device company — trying to convince people to use its product.

 

After working for 10 years and raising more than $10 million in venture capital to develop an imaging device that uses light waves to detect early-stage cancer, 12-person Imalux is finding out whether doctors will buy into the fruit of its labor.

 

Peddling the $65,000 product during the past 18 months has been a challenge because there is no existing market for what Imalux is selling, said CEO Lloyd Breedlove, who will step down at the end of the year to take a job closer to his family in North Carolina. The company is searching for a replacement.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20051205/SUB/512050309

Nice article, Ms. Pettypiece, if that is in fact your real name

From Crain's:

 

English biotech firms checks on Cleveland

By JAY MILLER

 

6:00 am, March 27, 2006

 

Constant Systems Ltd., a biotech firm of Daventry, England, is scoping out Cleveland.

 

Last week, the company demonstrated its cell-disruption equipment to local researchers as part of an effort that began late last year to establish a U.S. beachhead. The company initially is considering Cleveland for a sales and marketing office.

 

The firm, a unit of Score Group plc, a Scottish engineering and services firm, has two staffers in the Charter One Global Enterprise Center in Cleveland.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060327/FREE/60326001

^Is it just me, or has Charter One done more for the city since they were bought out by out of towners than when they were when they were HQed here?

Another wobbly video interview from Cool Cleveland.  This time it's Baiju Shah, who heads up BioEnterprise.  Pretty cool stuff though.

 

http://www.coolcleveland.com/files/video/BioEnterprise.wmv

More good biotech news, although this has been reported in places other than Crain's as well, including the Cool Cleveland video posted above.

 

 

Cleveland lands major health care event

Conference viewed as signal city’s place on investment, innovation map is on the rise

 

By BRANDON GLENN

6:00 am, July 10, 2006

 

The investors are coming.

 

For the first time, one of the nation’s two leading health care investment conference organizers has chosen Cleveland to host an event. About 400 international health care investors and entrepreneurs are expected to attend the conference on June 20 and 21 of next year, according to Baiju Shah, president of nonprofit BioEnterprise Corp., the conference’s local co-host.

 

Read more at:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060710/SUB/60707025

Was looking through Crain's at some other biotech articles and thought this one was noteworthy as well.

 

 

State’s $4.7M grant to have big effect on Garfield Heights drug-testing biz

By BRANDON GLENN

6:00 am, June 5, 2006

 

After years of slow but steady growth, biotechnology company ChanTest Inc. of Garfield Heights looks poised for its biggest breakthrough, thanks largely to a $4.7 million grant from the state of Ohio.

 

The grant will fund a project in which ChanTest will create a library of 72 cellular proteins that occur in animals and humans. ChanTest will use the proteins to test the side effects and efficacy of drugs produced by client pharmaceutical companies.

 

More at:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060605/SUB/60602045

It seems that stem cell research is the cutting edge right now in biotech.  Since Ohio does not support this kind of research, I don't see why most big players in the biotech sector would be interested in locating here.  I am by no means an expert in this industry though, so please feel free to prove me wrong.

It's pretty tough to compete with the billions that CA voters approved for stem cell research but I hope Clevo holds it's own.

There are two types of stem cell research (I don't really know the difference between the two). The Cleveland Clinic just opened a building last year for such research.

It seems that stem cell research is the cutting edge right now in biotech.  Since Ohio does not support this kind of research, I don't see why most big players in the biotech sector would be interested in locating here.  I am by no means an expert in this industry though, so please feel free to prove me wrong.

 

From the little that I've picked up in reading newspaper and magazine articles, there are many different types of biotech firms.  Stem cell might be cutting edge, but there are also medical device companies, which Cleveland seems to have a lot of.  I would say that while biotech seems to be a newer industry, it already has a lot of different sectors within it.  So while Ohio unfortunately may not support stem cell research, that is only one piece of the pie that we can collect venture capital from.

St. Louis venture cap fund opens Cleveland outpost

 

By BRANDON GLENN

6:00 am, July 24, 2006

 

Northeast Ohio health care companies have another potential source of investment money, as St. Louis venture capital fund Oakwood Medical Investors has opened a one-person outpost in Cleveland.

 

The office is in the BioEnterprise Corp. building in University Circle. BioEnterprise is a nonprofit that assists local health care companies.

 

Steve Girouard, former executive director of the $23 million Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic, is Oakwood’s Northeast Ohio representative and holds the title of director of cardiovascular investments. Dr. Girouard said Cleveland was an attractive place for Oakwood to open an office due to the presence of health care stalwarts such as the Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland and BioEnterprise.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060724/SUB/60721032

Hopefully, the second half of 2006 turns out better than the first.  It would be good to see Ohio continue to make strong gains in attracting biotech investment.  We'll need the investment in order to diversify and continue growing the economy in the future.  Also, I'm kind of disappointed that the Crain's Cleveland article didn't break down the investment to specifically Cleveland and/or Northeast Ohio.  It would be nice to know how well Cleveland itself has grown 2005 vs. 2006.

 

 

Ohio bio investments down

By LESLIE STROOPE

2:38 pm, July 27, 2006

 

Investments in Ohio’s health care startups fell 34% during the first half of 2006, according to a report released by BioEnterprise, a Cleveland nonprofit serving health care companies.

 

BioEnterprise found that investments in Ohio health care startups fell to $47.9 million from $72.2 million during the first half of 2005. The findings were included in the organization’s quarterly Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report, which tallies venture investments in 10 Midwest states and Western Pennsylvania.

 

More at:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060727/FREE/60727011

Seeking bioscience boost, backing

Leaders hope forum brings investors, firms together

 

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Emily Hamlin

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Ohio's bioscience industry is growing, and its leaders hope a conference that runs through today will create even more momentum.

 

The Biotechnology Industry Organization's Mid-America Venture Forum, which started Monday in Cleveland, links venture capital firms from around the country with bioscience companies, including seven from Northeast Ohio.

 

The gathering at the InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center already has stirred up interest in the Greater Cleveland area, said Baiju Shah, president of the Northeast Ohio bioscience-company developer BioEnterprise.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1159346243258331.xml&coll=2

Shah said he expects to announce later this week that at least one investment fund with a health-care focus will set up camp in Cleveland.

 

Great news!

From Crain's:

 

Midwest health care investments climb

By SCOTT SUTTELL

 

11:57 am, October 24, 2006

 

Midwest health care startups received $564 million in total investments through the first three quarters of 2006, a 36% increase compared with the like period of 2005, according to a new report from BioEnterprise Corp. of Cleveland.

 

The Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report characterized the growth in investments as “a significant increase that outpaces national industry growth.”

 

Minnesota, the Midwest’s traditional leader in health care ventures, led all states with 18 startups attracting $181.8 million in investments through the first nine months of this year. Following Minnesota was Illinois with $101.6 million in six companies, and Ohio with $67.8 million for 19 companies.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/

That article linked to the following two pages:

 

http://www.bioenterprise.com/reports/index.html

 

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/cleveland/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20061024005799&ndmHsc=v2*A1161082800000*B1161726527000*DgroupByDate*J2*N1000168&newsLang=en&beanID=1138278911&viewID=news_view

 

 

 

Another one from Crain's. Not as big numbers as some of the others, but it's always a goof sign to see Phase 2 NIH funding.

 

I've met with the Bioenterprise people and they're top notch folks. Grounded in reality and optimistic at the same time. I firmly believe they are responsible for a significant portion of the VC influx we've seen. That and the incredible talent / spinoffs from NASA GRC and CCF.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061025/FREE/61025008&SearchID=73261161970156

 

Cleveland Medical Devices gets big grant

 

2:56 pm, October 25, 2006

 

Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. has received an $896,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to further develop a home therapy and monitoring device for stroke patients.

 

The Phase 2 research grant will enable Cleveland Medical Devices to advance the development of its “Untethered Home Therapy System,” according to a statement from the company.

 

The device consists of a lightweight, wearable sleeve embedded with motion sensors and electrodes for measuring the electrical activity from muscle, according to the statement. The sleeve will connect to a command module that records data from the sleeve sensors and delivers functional electrical stimulation to weak or paralyzed upper extremity muscles during therapy.

EDIT:  Article removed -- no link

EDIT: Article removed -- no link

Well it will make up for the Cleveland biotech firm moving to Buffalo. :)

^^ I read on the NPR story that the Buffalo move wasn't expected to make a big impact on the local scene.

 

But I don't want to play second-fiddle to Minneapolis! :O

The article doesn't specifically detail the total for Cleveland for 2006.I'm anxious to see whether we were able to build on last year's record total.

Go Detroit!

^^ I read on the NPR story that the Buffalo move wasn't expected to make a big impact on the local scene.

 

The mayor's office wasn't concerned about it either.

^

How could the mayor's office not care? Cleveland BioLabs is/was probably the biggest bio-tech company in our city. Also, in the article from Crain's it sounds like they are expecting to grow rapidly in the next few years.

This may answer your question Frqntflyr.  From Crain's this morning.

 

Venture dollars drop for local biotechs

By CHUCK SODER

 

9:55 am, January 23, 2007

 

Investors injected $87 million into young health care companies in Northeast Ohio in 2006 — barely half of what was raised in 2005, but $26 million more than 2004, according to an annual report by BioEnterprise Corp.

 

The region ranked fourth out of 11 others in the Midwest in terms of dollars generated. The region, however, ranked first in number of companies receiving money, according to the Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report.

 

BioEnterprise president Baiju Shah said he is “very encouraged” by the findings, which he said indicate an upward trend in health care investment, despite the drop from 2005.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20070123/FREE/70123002

I'm surprised St. Louis didn't get more money.  I thought that they had a rapidly growing biotech sector as well.

Some good news from cleveland.com today:

 

 

Cleveland investment fund financing Israeli biotech company

-- Mary Vanac, [email protected]

5:41 p.m.

 

EDIT:  Article removed, no link

About more than just biomedical, but...

 

$500 million invested in Northeast Ohio starts

 

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Mary Vanac

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

In the past three years, nearly 100 Northeast Ohio companies received equity investments totaling more than $500 million from venture capital and private equity firms.

 

That's half a billion dollars.

 

"That is quite stunning," said Baiju Shah, a member of the NorTech Venture Capital Advisory Task Force, which is publishing a report on the region's venture investing activity from 2004 through 2006.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/

Sounds great, but there is really no context.  How does that compare to previous 3 year periods, or comparable regions, or to our GRP over that period?  I wonder if any other region is tracking these numbers like this.

More good CLE biotech news.....From Crain's:

 

Copernicus secures large commitment

By SCOTT SUTTELL

2:07 pm, February 15, 2007

 

Copernicus Therapeutics Inc. of Cleveland will receive up to $5.2 million in 2007 from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. of Bethesda, Md., to support continued development of a potential gene therapy for cystic fibrosis.

 

More at:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20070215/FREE/70215007

in competition news -- looks like noo yawk is jumping on the bio-tech bandwagon:

 

 

Bioscience Park Ready To Rise on East River

By JAY AKASIE

Special to the Sun

February 20, 2007

 

 

New York City Bioscience Initiative

The city’s first major bioscience office park aims to attract bioscience companies to New York, as well as to give them access to resources at Bellevue Hospital and NYU’s medical school.

 

A recent survey that went out to 600 of the world's top bioscience engineers and entrepreneurs reported that being around top academic institutions and accessing talented workers top the list of concerns companies consider when deciding where to set up shop.

 

It's a bit frustrating for the managing director of health care & biosciences for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, William Fair, when he hears that the North Carolina Research Triangle and Cambridge, Mass. perennially top the destination list for such firms. "We've got the brand-name schools and top talent here in New York City," he said. "But sometimes it's tough for an emerging industry make itself known when there's so much going on in this city."

 

But Mr. Fair, an aggressive graduate of Stanford University and the Kellogg School of Management, has already laid the groundwork to quintuple the amount of space in New York City devoted to the high flying businesses in the bioscience field. He's just announced the East River Science Park will hold some 535,000 square feet of sleek, high-tech office towers, laboratories, and public spaces that will connect to New York University's medical school complex and Bellevue Hospital.

 

http://www.nysun.com/article/48930

Oh MrNYC, why are you so fixated on that dying city?