Biotech summit highlights sector's strong voice

Partnering, collaboration and communication were keenly discussed at the 3rd Australian Biotechnology Summit, held in Sydney last week. Australian of the Year and Clinical Cell Culture (C3) co-founder Fiona Wood led the charge, calling for a solution driven biotech industry.

"Medicine is changing," said Wood. "Biotech's main challenge is to organise ideas to be logical and rational. The most important thing for biotechnology to succeed is communication. We must have the whole community interested. We must try to engage everyone and create excitement to grow the industry."

Wood said she believed it was important to educate investors about the speculative nature of the biotech sector, "We must make sure the market understands -- update the market honestly with risks, warts and all. The same ethics should be taken to the patient, the boardroom and the laboratory."

She also highlighted the need for biotechs to support each other and foster relationships, "We are a small country, but Australia punches above its weight. We need to take the blinkers off, facilitate real collaboration and free flowing ideas. We need to perform in science as we do in sport."

Acrux CEO Igor Gonda spoke in a similar vein to Wood. "We have to be very competitive and out there on all fronts, especially in the US," he said.

Some Australian companies lacked the drive to enter the market successfully, Gonda said. "Too many Australian companies are self-effacing, and to the Americans we don't appear arrogant enough. We have to get to fever pitch and add testosterone patches."

Concerns about taking the next step were also outlined by Proteome Systems new CEO Stephen Porges, "We have amazing science in Australia. We have more early-stage compounds out there than anyone else, but then it falls over with the business."

Porges didn't mince words for the summit's 230 delegates. "Senior management is more led by science, but there is a need for broader general management. There is an obsession with the scientist manager," he said. "Skills of a great scientist are different to a great manager. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can get them all in the one."