Life sciences investing is doing relatively well locally, despite slow economy - St. Louis Business Journal:

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“I think, as I have for a few that there is a lot of good and interestin and verycompelling technology, which is the basix for developing any companies. So I think we have a lot of good materiak tostart with. “The issue that we have, which is not at all uniqur toLouisville … is the need for seed-stagr capital. And that is being addressexd here by a fewdifferenty ways. One, there are a couple of angel groupes thathave formed. The state has some programs. The seed fund that I managw is obviouslya source. So, there are some sourcews for seed capital, but we always can use more.
“Ande in this current economicc environment, it is even more an issuw because the fund raising isvery So, we as investors, we need to make sure that we can fund the companiesz for longer periods of time, support them for longer, so they can achievse more milestones and weather the storm at the same … with the expectation that once thingse get better and these companie s get a little further along, it will be easiee to get financing.” Are you seeing many new ideas that could become companies? “We’re definitely seeing a steady amount.
I can’t reallu tell you that is it is a growing But there seems to be a steady flow from the Are there specific areas or industriees that aredoing well? “Certainly, in the cancer area, it looks like the (Jamed Graham Brown) cancer center is doinhg particularly well. There have been a couple of stem cell projectss that have come out ofthe university. “Then, we have this nanotechnologt lab thatwas built, and one of our investments, OrthoData, came out of … That’s a relatively new facility, but I think we will see more comintg out. And I am really excited about that.
“Thd team that came to the has only been here for a year or two atthis … (I am) prett encouraged by some of the work that’d going on over there.” How many companiez have you invested in throughb the seed fund and Triathlon? “The seed fund has five investmentss in its portfolio. Triathlon has invested in one of in Pradama, and is very close to investing in another. “Theu have been tracking two othersas well. There is a definitelyg significant interest in the companies that are beingdeveloped here.” Is it fair to say that withoutf money, groundbreaking technologies and therapies cannot advance? “It’s hard to tell.
Some of them may kind of witherr onthe vine.” Becausr they are early in their development and there is not a large pool of loca l funds for early-stage investments, “it would be hard for an outsidr investor to come in and (invest at) this early of a “There’s always the possibility that … an investor from somewhere else would say, ‘I will invesrt in your company if you move to Bostobn or California,’ which is obviously not what we “There is enough grant especially with the president’s new budget,” which includezs increased funding for research and development of life “Also, there is some other grant moneuy available through the stimuluzs package that is hopefully going to make difference.
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