Biotech world converges at show
By Jim Stafford
Business Writer

SAN DIEGO — University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center researcher James McGinnis will prowl the floor of the BIO 2008 convention this week at the San Diego Convention Center without a defined agenda.

"This is the first time I've gone to such a meeting,” McGinnis said last week before departing Oklahoma City. "I'm used to going to scientific meetings. My major objective is to learn what other people are doing and how they are doing it.”

McGinnis is co-founder of Oklahoma City-based Nantiox, a startup company working to advance patented technology he developed that shows promise in treating people suffering from diabetic retinopathy and other diseases that cause blindness. He will join almost 90 other Oklahomans and 23,000 participants from around the world attending the giant convention that focuses on everything biotechnology-related.

Focus on the future
The annual BIO show is a major networking and educational conference that has become a focus for Oklahoma's life science community and technology-related economic development groups.
The financial bar set by the Biotechnology Industry Organization for small companies is so high that fledgling companies such as Nantiox often are discouraged from attending.

This year, organizers of the Oklahoma delegation developed a "scholarship program” that is providing $1,500 to each of seven Oklahoma companies to attend the convention. Scholarship funding was provided by the Oklahoma Business Roundtable, said Josh O'Brien, manager of biosciences public relations for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

Getting a boost up
The Oklahoma Business Roundtable provided the scholarship funding and a pair of technology-based venture capital fund managers — William Paiva of the Oklahoma Life Science Fund, and David Humphrey with Oklahoma Equity Partners — helped select companies for participation, O'Brien said.
"We're very appreciative to the Business Roundtable,” O'Brien said. "It was not a difficult conversation to have; they are very supportive of biotech.”

Networking opportunities
In addition to Nantiox, companies receiving the scholarship include MolecuPrint, OrthoCare Innovations, Kemmx Corp., Onconos, Altheus Therapeutics Inc., and HealthAide Inc.
"We're hoping this is another way that we can help Oklahoma startup companies have a chance to succeed,” O'Brien said. "Some of these people are presenting from our pavilion. We hope they are setting meetings and looking for ways to network, not only within the delegation but outside.”

In fact, representatives from OrthoCare, HealthAide, Kemmx and Altheus will make presentations in a special area set up within the Oklahoma exhibit space.

For McGinnis, the BIO opportunity represents one of pure self-education for the Oklahoma scientist and entrepreneur. McGinnis and his venture partners are working on securing grant funding to advance a technology built around nanoceria particles that have shown promise of prevention in a laboratory setting.

"The most exciting part of this (company) to me is I think we can prevent blindness,” McGinnis said. "I'm going (to San Diego) for information but not to recruit venture capital or anything like that.”

Copyright 2008, The Oklahoma Publishing Company

http://newsok.com/biotech-world-converges-at-show/article/3258305/?tm=1213667274

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