The BIO International Convention is unmatched in terms of drawing participants and creating visibility and thus a can’t-miss for all actors in health biotech.
The Genopole team sent to the event held 3–6 June in San Diego (California) observed a clear revival in the zeal of investors and an unprecedented interest of pharmas for women’s health. The team had three main objectives at BIO:
- Promote Genopole’s accompaniment programs to attract new talent
- Put a spotlight on Genopole companies
- Gather new knowledge on market and regulatory tendencies
For four days, all of the world’s (excepting China’s) industrial, financial and institutional actors were to be found at BIO International.
The convention is a veritable magnet for health biotechs, to the point where discussions start in the airplanes headed there—or even at the airports!
With its non-stop meetings, conferences and other chances to exchange, the event is an unmatched opportunity for taking the pulse of the health market.
And it’s back in form! The Genopole delegation at BIO observed a clear revival of investor interest after two years of listlessness.
That revival is good news for such companies as STH Biotech and Endogene.Bio, two biocluster start-ups able to accompany the Genopole delegation to BIO thanks to financial support from a revitalization convention with Carrefour, managed by the Essonne Prefecture.
Genopole hand-in-hand with Endogene.Bio and STH Biotech
CIndeed, one of Genopole’s missions is to find potential partners (service providers, regulatory consultants, corporations, financers, etc.) for its start-ups with the aim of easing their internationalization or industrialization.
For example, Endogene.Bio is developing a diagnostic test for endometriosis. For the start-up’s CEO, Maria Teresa Perez, establishing contacts with key accounts has been greatly facilitated by Genopole’s accompaniment.
“It is much more complicated to network alone. We had opportunities to speak in-depth with pharmas and service providers who are interested in women’s health, who recognize the range of diseases specific to women, going beyond the simple issues of contraception or fertility,” she explained. “With the contacts made at BIO, as soon as we got back from the event, we received a letter of intention from an international pharmaceuticals company stating that it would back our candidacy for the European call for proposals EIC Accelerator meant for high market impact start-ups.“.
👍 Furthermore, Endogene.Bio’s exposure at BIO International will also give impetus to a fund-raising campaign planned for the last quarter of 2024.
STH Biotech, currently at the Genopole incubator (Essonne CCI), is developing a plant-based biomanufacturing method for therapeutic compounds from cannabis. “I was pleasantly surprised to discover so many sector actors interested in cannabinoids,” stated the start-up’s CEO, Héloïse Mailhac. “Cannabinoids are of interest in several therapeutic areas, notably in America, where numerous states have legalized the medical use of cannabis. We met with many pharmaceutical companies looking for ways to address multiple sclerosis-associated pain, appetite disorders, nausea, epileptic seizures and other conditions.
👍 Now back from the event, the discussions started with 20 pharmaceutical companies and 5 American universities will be continued with the goal of establishing codevelopment partnerships for the production of APIs in a range of medical settings.
Laurence Lacroix-Orio, head of the Business Growth Hub and Stéphane Soum, program manager in charge of industrialization, “took advantage of BIO International to present the fields of activity of the companies Genopole accelerates to funds and key accounts in America, Asia, Europe or elsewhere“.
Such companies as Cell Environment, Lamark, Floating Genes and Abolis, among others, drew signs of interest.
Also, Vitropep‘s alternative to syringe-based injections garnered great attention from not only pharmaceutical companies specialized in diabetes but also actors in the veterinary market.
The microalgae-based antibody production technology developed by Alga Biologics, Gene.iO laureate, made a big impression among actors in oncology.
“We noticed a large increase in the number of funds focused on the entire range of biotech innovations, from health to the bioeconomy, underlined Laurence Lacroix-Orio. Some are looking to develop in Europe and we invite them to participate in this year’s Partnering Week, which will be held in Paris and online on 15 October, for an opportunity to connect with the range of companies in our portfolio“.
A space for exchanges… with Europe
Beyond industrial and financial contacts, “our objective is also to strengthen institutional connections with structures similar to ours so that we can build international bridges“, added Alexis Biton, coordinator of international affaires at Genopole. This deep-dive into the worldwide biotech ecosystem lets us collect information on tendencies in the sector.
“Its getting back up to speed faster in the United States, where a simplification of clinical trial regulations was deployed to accelerate the market arrival of novel biotherapies (Inflation Reduction Act). We do need to be careful that Europe doesn’t fall behind and rather takes inspiration from the American federal policy, proactive and coherent across the states, to ease the discovery & development of innovations, maintain manufacturing, and stimulate markets here“.
Thereto, BIO International provided a space for exchanges with the European Commission, who was there to promote the EIC Accelerator, its program for financially supporting start-ups bringing game-changing innovations to the market. That offered an occasion to relay the visibility challenges European start-ups face in the US, to measure expected changes in market relations between America and Europe, and to explain Genopole’s acceleration programs and how they strengthen candidate dossiers for European programs submitted by the biocluster’s start-ups.
