How to succeed in biotech: get the best people

Venture capital looks for three things in a biotechology company: people, people and people. So said Michael Quinn, managing partner at Innovation Capital, speaking at the inaugural Australian Life Scientist Roundtable discussion on Friday.

The topic of the Roundtable was 'innovation to commercialisation' with a panel of industry luminaries discussing the challenges in bridging the gap between research and bringing a successful product to market.

Quinn emphasised that the biotechnology companies that fail tend to do so not because they have poor technology, but because of people issues.

"In terms of a business, maybe one per cent is the research, ten per cent is getting it produced, and the rest of a whole host of business issues of how to get it to market," he said.

"I have never seen any business in our portfolio or any other business I've been involved with fail because their technology has failed."

Quinn stressed the importance of having a strong management team with experience in the business and regulatory landscape of biotech to forge a successful biotechnology company.

There was broad agreement from the entire panel.

"People are important," said Jim Patrick, chief scientist at one of the true Australian biotech success stories, Cochlear.

"But actually it is teams of people that make start-ups successful. One needs a range of complementary skills in a team to be successful. Technical, financial, regulatory, marketing, clinical studies etc."

Other issues addressed at the Roundtable were the 'gap' between research and business, the culture within universities and research institutions, strategies for commercialisation - whether producing a product or focusing on licensing, managing intellectual property and patents and the role of government in fostering biotechnology.

The panel included:

• Anna Lavelle, CEO of AusBiotech
• John Shine, Institute Head of the Garvan Institute
• Jim Patrick, Chief Scientist at Cochlear
• Bernie Tuch from the NSW Stem Cell Network and the Prince of Wales Hospital
• Mark Baker from Macquarie University
• Wallace Bridge from the University of New South Wales
• Michael Quinn, Managing Partner at Innovation Capital
• Trevor Davies, Partner at Allens Arthur Robinson
• Tony Gellet from PricewaterhouseCoopers

A full write-up of the Roundtable will appear in the May-June edition of Australian Life Scientist, which will be available on May 31st.