About the author: Earl Shelton of Menlo Park, formerly a scientist at Syntex Research, is a business development consultant at BioTechnology Partners.
By Earl Shelton
A recent heath care conference in San Francisco, sponsored by the financial giant J.P. Morgan, attracted hundreds of investors and industry executives from around the world who came to hear the latest news from leading companies in the heath care industry, including some based in Menlo Park.
One speaker, Uwe Reinhardt, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, masterfully capsulized the atmosphere by using a “humor of the absurd” style. He contrasted the seemingly impossible economic outlook for meeting health care demands as the Baby Boomer generation moves into retirement, with the great potential for both fundamental cost-saving changes in health care delivery as well as for revolutionary medical advances.
Examples of the types of changes that offer hope were provided by two private Menlo Park companies, which presented updates on their products.
The replacement of risky and expensive surgery to repair heart valves by a medical device was described by President and CEO Ferolyn Powell of Evalve Inc. (www.evalveinc.com). The company’s MitraClip device, commercially available in Europe, is under investigation for FDA approval.
The device is placed within the heart by doctors in a catheterization lab in order to treat mitral valve regurgitation, the most common form of heart valve disease in the United States. Patients generally recover quickly and may have improved quality of life while still preserving future use of surgical options, such as valve repair or replacement.
Acclarent Inc. (www.acclarent.com), another medical device company, is dedicated to treating conditions of the ear, nose and throat with less invasive novel alternatives to conventional endoscopic surgical approaches.
One condition anyone suffering from a cold or sinus headache can relate to is chronic sinusitis, a persistent and painful blockage of the sinus passages. William Facteau, president and CEO, used videos of actual endoscopic procedures to illustrate how the Balloon Sinuplasty system, already approved by the FDA, uses small, flexible instruments to avoid the loss of healthy normal tissue that often accompanies present surgical procedures. This translates into a less painful and faster recovery for patients, now numbering over 50,000.
DNA sequencing
In a conference that found most companies focusing on their financial viability and staying power in an uncertain economy, it seemed fitting that a company with seemingly “unbelievable” and not yet commercialized technology would present its story at the last hour on the final day.
Yet Hugh Martin, chairman and CEO of Pacific Biosciences (www.pacificbiosciences.com; PacBio), spoke to a packed room about the company’s technology, called Single Molecule Real Time DNA sequencing.
The eventual goal of this 220-person startup is to allow sequencing of individual genomes as part of routine medical care with the hope it could enable more effective health maintenance, disease prevention and tailored medical treatments.
PacBio plans to launch a first-generation product for large research centers in 2010 that could transform the ease and cost of sequencing complex individual genomes, from viruses to mammals.
The original Human Genome Project took about 13 years and cost $3 billion to reach completion. PacBio, first funded in 2004 and now headquartered in Menlo Park, was awarded an Advanced Sequencing Technology grant of $6.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop technology that could lead to a cost of only $1,000 per individual genome.
A proof-of-concept research paper appeared online in the journal Science (www.sciencemag.org) in December. PacBio was recognized by Fortune magazine in October 2008 as “Silicon Valley’s hottest startup” after it completed a $120 round of venture funding.
‘Valuable forum’
The conference is a “great opportunity to get a snapshot of what the issues are in health care, and what is on the horizon to address them,” said Bob Reed, a biotechnology consultant based in Woodside.
Among other local participants was Steve Sawyer, a Menlo Park resident and an insurance broker with Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. The conference, he said, is a “valuable forum to see clients and refresh relationships with those who work in this industry.”
Held Jan. 12-15 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, this was the 27th annual conference. It was begun in 1983 by Hambrecht & Quist with 21 companies presenting. This year, 340 companies shared the latest news with more than 2,500 investors and industry executives from around the world.
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