What's bubbling in the Maryland biotechnology industry's caldron for 1997?
The focus for much of the industry this year is likely to be the tedious work of laboratory and clinical trials as companies seek to advance compelling research into areas as diverse as new vaccines, medicines, diagnostic tools and the frontier known as genomics, the study of human, plant and microbial genes. Among the wide range of products in the state's bioscience research and development pipeline this year: a promising AIDS vaccine and a treatment to prevent the body from rejecting transplanted pig organs.
"It's probably going to be a year of less flash and more grunt," said Capers McDonald, who is chair of the 110-member Maryland BioScience Alliance and president and chief executive officer of Microbiological Associates, a contract testing and manufacturing firm in Rockville.
Don't expect to see much in the way of Maryland-bred products coming up for final Food and Drug Administration market review this year, say industry experts. Also, don't expect much action on the initial public offering front for biotech in Maryland because interest in such investments is considered spotty at best, said Ernst & Young LLP, in the firm's recently released 1997 biotechnology outlook report.
Instead, said Ernst & Young, watch for 1997 to be another big year of "alignment" as pharmaceutical companies with deep pockets keep up the pace they set last year for striking marketing alliances and research collaborations with biotech firms.
A particularly hot market segment for such activity this year, analysts predict, will be genomics.
That could mean more good news for Maryland-based genomics companies, such as Human Genome Sciences, the Rockville-based firm mapping human, microbial and plant genes, industry experts said.
"Genomics will be an island of stability in an otherwise volatile industry," this year, said Elizabeth Silverman, a genomics analyst at Punk, Ziegal & Knoell, a New York-based investment bank.
As for graduates coming out of colleges with skills in biotechnology manufacturing, laboratory research and scientific information, this will be a good year to job hunt in the state, said McDonald of the Maryland BioScience Alliance.
That's because many companies are forecasting job creation as they plan to expand laboratory work and some, such as Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., MedImmune Inc., and North American Vaccine Inc., are gearing up to manufacture approved products.
McDonald said segments of the state's biotech industry will be marked by consolidation.
The most likely segment for acquisitions and consolidation, he said, involves contract outfits that design and manage clinical trials and those that contract to make and distribute bio-pharmaceutical products.
"There's a lot of money walking around. Some consolidation seems likely in the year ahead," said McDonald.
Pub date: 01/19/97
