Biotechnology

If any theme will mark the biotechnology industry in the coming year, says industry expert G. Steven Burrill, it likely will be this: The big will grow larger while the small struggle on. Only this year, the struggle shouldn't be quite as exhausting. That said, the industry should also find a friendlier investor climate, predicts Burrill, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based merchant bank Burrill & Co., a major biotechnology industry investor. Already this year investors have been flocking back to the industry.

AIDS researchers and experts warned yesterday that Human Genome Sciences Inc.'s announcement that it had sequenced and patented the genetic code for a key doorway the virus uses to infect cells is no guarantee that any significant new drugs will ever be developed from the breakthrough. In short, don't expect a "cure" or any dramatic new drugs anytime soon. That didn't stop shares in the Rockville-based biotechnology company from spiking higher for a second day yesterday. They closed at $217.

In what analysts said could lead to a capital crunch for the industry, biotechnology stocks suffered a dramatic decline yesterday after an announcement by Synergen Inc. that its most promising drug, Antril, wasn't as effective as first predicted.The stock of Synergen, based in Boulder, Colo., lost 68 percent of its value yesterday, dropping $28.625 a share, to $13.50. More than 21 million shares changed hands, making it by far the most widely traded stock yesterday."I have never been able to understand the reaction of the stock market," said Jon S. Saxe, president of Synergen.

PHILADELPHIA'S evening arrived, Austria brought out its ballroom dancers. Puerto Rico carted in a rum bar and band. Florida flaunted a cheese platter and its governor, Jeb Bush. And Maryland relied on fluorescent martinis and kitsch - yellow, floppy Frisbees reading "Maryland: Where Bioscience is Contagious!" along with a grab bag full of faux viruses and plush, stuffed crabs. What crabs and viruses had to do with one another, no one was asking. The organizers had spent all day on their feet, game faces on, trying to attract attention to their particular corners of the sprawling conference room in Philadelphia, where the BIO 2005 Annual International Convention was wrapping up last month.

MEDIMMUNE INC., a Gaithersburg developer of drugs, vaccines and treatments, had just what the doctor ordered for Maryland: a $50 million manufacturing plant in Frederick County with a payroll that could reach $10 million. This not only is a boost for the Glendening administration's economic development efforts, it sends a strong message to local biotechnology firms that they no longer have to go out of state to set up production plants.This is an important message. While the Interstate 270 corridor in particular is loaded with biotech research firms, there's no manufacturing component.

SEOUL, S. Korea -- When Hwang Mi Soon rose from her wheelchair and shuffled forward with the aid of a metal walker, her small steps were trumpeted around the world. "Stem-Cell Gal's Miracle Steps," crowed the New York Post in November 2004, while a New Zealand newspaper proclaimed, "Miracle Cure for Paralysis." Photos of the 37-year-old South Korean woman who was smiling through her tears accompanied the pronouncements. Today there are only the tears. Hwang is back in the wheelchair, which she has used since falling off a bridge as a teenager.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc., a Baltimore biotechnology company that is developing treatments for regenerating tissue and bone cells, has received $8 million in financing from a California real estate investment trust.The privately held company also said yesterday that it's launched an early-stage human clinical trial of its experimental therapy to regenerate bone marrow cells in breast cancer patients after chemotherapy.The company hopes the treatment becomes its first marketable product.Under the deal with Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., a publicly held REIT in Pasadena, Calif.

MedImmune Inc.'s board of directors said yesterday that it will consider selling the state's flagship biotechnology company to what would likely be a non-Maryland pharmaceutical buyer after facing months of pressure from dissatisfied shareholders to pursue such a move. The announcement, which contrasts with a commitment to go it alone that the board made two months ago, sent the Gaithersburg-based company's stock soaring and raised questions from Maryland's business community. MedImmune, which has about 1,700 employees in the state, said it had received inquiries from potential buyers and will consider whether it makes sense to remain independent or to pursue a sale.

Legislation that would subject human medical experiments in Maryland to greater public scrutiny and government oversight drew opposition yesterday from the state's universities and the biotechnology industry. During a hearing before the House Environmental Matters Committee, the critics argued that a bill introduced by Del. James W. Hubbard would overlap with existing federal regulations and would scare away millions of dollars in research grants. "The legislation is unnecessary," said Donald N. Langenberg, chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

Tom Stagnaro has a company he's sure will make lots o money someday. It's just that 70 percent of the money will be going to someone else.It cost Mr. Stagnaro 70 percent of the stock of his almost 3-year-old company to get $2 million to build its first manufacturing facility. Even that won't buy the factory that will put Univax Biologics Inc. on the map -- just a pilot factory that can make enough of the Rockville company's experimental vaccines to get through clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration review.