MOBIO Launches BIO Benchmarking 2007

"All The Right Reasons"

This program, originated and hosted by the Missouri Biotechnology Association, is a four-month, four-phase nonpartisan legislative leadership education initiative and fact-finding tour.

The program’s objectives are to:

• Promote engagement between Missouri’s policymakers and the state’s biotechnology leaders;
• Broaden awareness of biotechnology’s economic impact across Missouri;
• Share experiences from other states engaged in the biotechnology sector; and, ultimately,
• Sustain informed, open dialogue to facilitate bi-partisan development for long-term and sound public policy.

The steering committee that provided early planning for this program included included staff volunteer support from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Monsanto Company, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and Pfizer Global Research & Development.

BIO Benchmarking 2007 Class

Eleven legislators have agreed to embark on the four-phase BIO Benchmarking tour.

The legislators include:

• State Senator Maida Coleman (District 5–St. Louis, D),
• State Representative Judy Baker ( District 25–Columbia, D),
• State Representative Mark J. Bruns ( District 113 –Jefferson City, R),
• State Representative Kathlyn Fares (District 91–Webster Groves, R),
• State Representative Allen Icet (District 84–Wildwood, R),
• State Representative Paul LeVota (District 52–Independence, D),
• State Representative Mike Parson (District 133–Bolivar, R),
• State Representative Charlie Schlottach (District 111–Owensville, R),
• State Representative Ryan Silvey (District 38 – Kansas City, R),
• State Representative Rachel Storch (District 64 – St. Louis, D,) and
• State Representative Michael Talboy (District 37 – Kansas City, D).

BIO Benchmarking Press Coverage

On September 6, St. Louis Post-Dispatch biotechnology reporter Rachel Melcer covered the BIO Benchmarking tour’s Convening Forum.  Melcer described the program as a way to change “the tune of Jefferson City from fear and controversy over life-science research to the siren song of economic prosperity built on biotech discoveries.”

Read: Missouri Lawmakers Get Life Science Lessons

On October 1, Kansas City Star biotech business columnist Jason Gertzen also wrote a compelling article on the BIO Benchmarking State Tour, recognizing the clear effort to bridge the biotechnology divide in Missouri.

Read: Missouri Makes Effort to Bridge Biotech Divide

Phase I - Convening Forum - September 5th, 2007

• The Convening Forum highlighted the state’s bioscience assets base, outlined the industry’s economic growth potential for Missouri and shared insights from other states’ legislative leaders regarding their bioscience initiatives and resulting economic and scientific advances.
• 100 invited life sciences executives attended.
• First-Class Program! Held at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center at Washington University in St. Louis.
• Great Press Coverage.
• Featured speakers included:
  • Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D., chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis;
  • Stephen Mulloney, director of policy and public affairs, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council;
  • Sen. Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee), co-sponsor of the Kansas Bioscience Initiative;
  • William A. Peck, M.D., vice chair, Research!America;
  • Mary J. Sansalone, Ph.D., dean, School of Engineering & Applied Science, Washington University in St. Louis;
  • Thomas S. Templeman, Ph.D., general manager, Centocor Biologics; and
  • Richard C.D. "Dick" Fleming, President and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association.

The Knight Center served as an excellent backdrop to underscore the life science research engines that are already in place across Missouri.

Rep. Rachel Storch introduces herself to the forum attendees. Rep. Storch represents the geographic area closest to Washington University.

Rep. Allen Icet of Ballwin describes the process by which the state legislature provided first-time funding for the Missouri Life Sciences Research Board. Rep. Icet is chairman of the House Budget Committee, which oversees state appropriations matters for the 163 member house of representatives.

Samuel Stanley, Ph.D., chancellor for research at Washington University, introduces luncheon keynote William A. Peck, M.D., vice chair, Research!America.

Phase II - Missouri Tour - September 17th - 20th, 2007

The Statewide Tour was extremely aggressive, with participants suggesting that they felt they were back in bootcamp. Review the state schedule.

The BIO Benchmarking Missouri Tour started with a trip to St. Joseph, Missouri to tour the Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica facility and hear from key executives - including President George Heidgerken and Business Development Director Jim Kroman. Prioritized investments in the state's public education infrastructure was a key topic here. From there, the group also visited the Nestle Purina Product Techology Center.

The MOBIO tour bus served to provide briefings prior to each stop, class interactions on what they had just experienced, and needed down-time to keep up with constituent phone calls and messages. Here, Rep. Allen Icet and Rep. Mike Parson compare thoughts.

Director Jack Schultz welcomes BioBenchmarking Tour participants to the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center at MU.

Participants in the BioBenchmarking Tour listen intently to MU Bond Life Sciences Center faculty researcher Chris Lorson as he describes his laboratory’s work fighting Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic cause of death in children under the age of two.

On the opening morning of the St. Louis stop of the Benchmarking Tour of Missouri, members of the Missouri General Assembly toured the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.  Rob Rose, Director of Public Affairs for the Danforth Center, leads both Senate and House members on a tour of the Center’s greenhouse.  Here, Rose explains how Thale Cress(Arabidopsis thaliana) plants are used in the first step of the research process.

Dr. William Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University in St. Louis, provided a private lunch briefing to legislators following the Centocor Biologics facility visit. Dr. Danforth focused his remarks on the activities of St. Louis civic leaders in building a life sciences movement for the state.

Joseph P. Hammang, Ph.D., Senior Director, Science Policy & Public Affairs for Pfizer, Inc., MOBIO's Kelly Patrick Gillespie, and Patrick Kelly, director of state governmental affairs for BIO share a light-hearted moment prior to the dinner that featured former U.S. Congressman John Kasich of Ohio. Kasich, former chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, was in town to speak to a group of Midwest biotech executives.

At the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, John Kotyk, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Radiological Sciences, hosted a tour of the new Center for Clinical Imaging Research.  The CCIR is a state-of-the-art biomedical facility that provides the latest in advanced imaging technology, equipment and expertise to support basic and translational inpatient and outpatient clinical research. Dr. Kotyk explained how investments in the Center for Clinical Imaging will expand research collaborations both within the university and with partner institutions.

MOBIO built this program with an eye towards other leadership programs, such as the respected Aspen Institute - designed to remind participants that there are many common values that draw all citizen legislators to public service, regardless of political affiliation. Here Democratic Rep. Judy Baker visits with Republican Rep. Allen Icet as they make the cross-campus visit to the MU College of Engineering.

Michael E. Dockter, Ph.D., vice provost and chief research officer at Saint Louis University, and Craig Dixson, assistant director of SLU's design and construction division, and Jenny Lodge, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research at SLU School of Medicine, led BIO Benchmarking participants on a tour of SLU's almost finished $80 million biomedical research center. Photo below shows exterior of structure.

Phase III - Boston Bioscience Education Tour - October 24th - 26th, 2007

In October, the BIO Benchmarking Class toured a mature biotech marketplace, Boston, to demonstrate how a pro-science climate drives economic opportunity and security amid today’s highly competitive global marketplace. On the schedule were several large biopharmaceutical research centers, Genzyme - a biotech firm that has grown from start-up to 10k employees in just two decades, the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Harvard, and an opportunity to interact with Massachusett legislators and key executives of the Massachusetts Biotech Council.

At Merck Research Laboratories - Boston, tour participants heard from Dr. Carlo Paravanno, executive director of the Merck Institute for Science Education and Merck's commitment to workforce development.

The AstraZeneca Research facility in Waltham rolled out the red carpet with a full program and tour on Thursday morning. Included in this photo from left to right are Rep. Peter Koutoujian of the Massachusets House of Representatives, Brian Shank, AstraZeneca Regional Director of State Government Affairs, Carol Curtis, AstraZeneca State Government Affairs Associate Director for Missouri, MOBIO's Kelly Gillespie, and Stephen Mulloney, director of policy, Massachusetts Biotech Council.

Lon D. Lowrey, RPh, Director, State Governmental Affairs - Missouri, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation served as the host for the class visit to the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. Here the group also heard from Dr. Donald Johns, Global Head of Neuroscience in Translational Medicine.

Ann Stanesa, Associate Director, Public Affairs, and David Fleming, Diagnostics Group Senior Vice President, welcomed the tour to the Genzyme Corporation's Allston Landing site. Genzyme’s premier protein manufacturing facility at Allston Landing began producing Cerezyme, an enzyme replacement therapy for Type 1 Gaucher disease in 1996. Gaucher, Fabry, MPS I and Pompe diseases belong to a group of more than 40 rare genetic diseases called lysosomal storage disorders. Lysosomal storage disorders are considered ultra-orphan diseases affecting less than 10,000 people worldwide.

Special thanks to Al Beardsley and Costas Anagnostopoulos of Kereos for helping to arrange this visit.

Phase IV - Life Sciences Summit, Annual Conference and Annual Meeting - December 6th - 7th, 2007

In December, the final opportunity for the BIO Benchmarking Class will be to interact with biotech executives, laboratory researchers, university officials, technology transfer officers, intellectual property specialists, health care executives and economic development professionals at an interactive, working forum. Speakers include Dan Berglund, President and CEO, State Science & Technology Institute to describe emerging state policy developments across the country. In addition, Peter M. Pellerito, BIO's Senior Policy Consultant for State Government and University / Industry Relations will provide a biotech-specific state-by-state review. Topic specific panels will include legislators and their insights as to best steps for the long-term good of the state of Missouri.