Bioscience
Roundtable Brings Leaders Together
From the desk of Paul
Pescatello, President and CEO of CURE
 |
| Congressman Chris
Murphy |
The
Bioscience Business Roundtable event November 16 in West
Hartford brought together business and government leaders
concerned about the progress of bioscience in our state.
Speakers included U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy and
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, as well as State Senators
Jonathan Harris and Gary LeBeau and Lt. Governor Michael
Fedele.
CURE was a key sponsor of the event, and I had the privilege
of moderating the Roundtable's two panels, one on Federal
issues facing the Connecticut bioscience industry, the other
on the current state and future of Connecticut bioscience
research and development.
 |
| Governor M. Jodi
Rell |
Introducing the first speakers, Senator Harris, co-chair of
the Public Health Committee, cited the collaborative work of
his former State Senate colleague, Congressman Chris Murphy,
and Governor Rell.
It was clear that speakers from both sides of the aisle are
proud of what Connecticut bioscience has accomplished, and
how important the state's pioneering support of stem cell
research has been in establishing Connecticut's reputation
in the industry. It seems that the public's desire for
bipartisan action to solve problems and build a sound
foundation for economic growth has been achieved in
Connecticut.
 |
| Senator Jonathan A.
Harris |
The Federal panel gave a comprehensive update on pending
federal health care legislation. The panelists pointed out that,
while the focus is understandably on tackling long-standing
goals such as insuring the uninsured, there are other issues
at stake with important implications for the bioscience
industry.
One of the most important of these is how federal
legislation will treat the intellectual property rights so
important to fostering drug discovery. As I wrote recently
in the Hartford Courant, we must ensure that
companies that invest in developing new medicines have a
chance to recoup their investment before their work is
undercut by copycat manufacturers.
 |
| Lieutenant Governor
Fedele with state panelists Dr. Lin, Dr. Grabel, Rob
Bettigole, and R. Mark Van Allen |
The State panel focused on the exciting basic research that
is ongoing in Connecticut universities. Translating this
research for clinical application requires attracting
venture capital dollars to Connecticut.
According to one speaker, some 88% of venture capital
investment in Connecticut companies comes from out of state.
From 1970 to 2008, venture capitalists invested more than
$6.4 billion in the state, and in 2008 biotech was the
Connecticut industry attracting the most venture capital.
 |
| Paul Pescatello |
The lesson is clear. Promoting basic research at the
university level is an important accomplishment, but we can
and should be doing more to encourage the venture capital
investment to fuel the creation of clinical applications and
biotech company formation — critical pillars for the 21st
century Connecticut economy.
Paul R. Pescatello is President and CEO of CURE.
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