Biotech innovation in California, and especially in the Bay Area, continues to propel the world’s fifth-largest economy. While the economic impact of the life sciences sector is sizeable, $135.6 billion in the Bay Area alone, according to a recent Biocom study, the key driver for many biotech professionals is not economic – it is a shared a passion for improving people’s lives. That passion is evident in efforts to deepen connections between the great ideas from the region’s academic research institutions, nimble entrepreneurs and large biopharmaceutical companies in order to generate effective new treatments for patients.

The first step - fostering early innovation through collaboration

As one of the largest biotech employers in the Bay Area and a global leader in the research, development and manufacture of biotech and specialty pharmaceutical therapies, Bayer continues to expand its reach to help teams of entrepreneurial-minded researchers and early start-up businesses take their inquiries from bench to bedside. The Bayer CoLaborator, part of the second-largest global network of incubator labs for emerging life sciences companies sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, according to Bayer, and is part of its Open Innovation Center – North America West in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. The larger of Bayer’s two U.S.-based incubators, the CoLaborator at Mission has housed 18 companies, seven of which have entered into partnerships with Bayer. In fact, 90% percent have alliances with pharma, biotech or academic partners which demonstrates the impact of creating the right environment including collaboration with others in the ecosystem.

“Our work with early innovators is focused on helping them to advance medicines to the clinic,” says Chris Haskell, Bayer vice president and head of its Open Innovation Center - North America West. “Incubators like the CoLaborator provide a launching pad for early companies bringing forward novel drug candidates or technologies important to improving patient care.”

Building ecosystems of expertise

For Lisa Mendoza, director of external research and alliances within Bayer’s Open Innovation function, building bridges with external partners at academic research institutions is critical to driving scalable innovation. Bayer recently launched an alliance with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, and has a long history working locally with UCSF to develop therapies, serve as a launchpad for emerging companies, and foster relationships through mentor programs.

Another example is UCSF’s Entrepreneurship Center which features strongly in the region’s biotech ecosystem. The Center helps UCSF faculty, post docs and students explore entrepreneurial opportunities and evaluate viability to commercialize their research, or clinical ideas, says Stephanie Marrus, managing director of the Entrepreneurship Center. “The more we can help entrepreneurially minded faculty and students understand industry and its needs, the more capable they become in responding to business requirements in order to translate their science and clinical ideas to the marketplace.

“We’re exposing the entrepreneurial academic community to different ways of interfacing with industry through alliances, licensing and startup, company creation and all elements of the Innovation Ventures department to which the Center belongs. We teach, make connections and provide mentorship, one of the most important components for a successful entrepreneurial venture. We have a large network of mentors and advisors, including executives at Bayer, who contribute their time to help our ventures get started.” Bayer is actively engaged in mentoring teams enrolled in Startup 101, the Entrepreneurship Center’s, core course that has given birth to many startups.

Amy E. Herr, professor of bioengineering at UC Berkeley, says academia has a two-fold role in facilitating successful collaborations with industry. “Our role is to identify and undertake fundamental research and train the next generation of scientific leaders by conducting cutting-edge research and pairing graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with outside experts. Providing early exposure to industry grounds our research to meet the challenges of today, as well as the as-of-yet unknown challenges of tomorrow. Such academic-industry collaborations give our alumni a ‘running start’ on making meaningful contributions once they embark on their careers in industry, both big and small.”

Accelerating biotech development and production

In Berkeley, Bayer is ramping up its pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities with a $150 million investment in its new Cell Culture Technology Center (CCTC). Currently under construction, the 40,000-square-foot facility will support late stage clinical trials and launch of emerging therapies with an emphasis in oncology, cardiology and specialty care therapeutics. The facility will support Bayer’s ongoing collaborations with early startups. “The Cell Culture Technology Center is a resource that will not only support Bayer discoveries reaching patients, but also our work with partners by taking their discoveries and promising therapeutics from research ideas all the way to patients. Bayer’s open innovation model and the CCTC facility support the advancement of therapeutics from discovery through development, into the clinic, and ultimately to launch,” says John Kenneally, CCTC senior director.

The CCTC’s infrastructure is based on Single Use Technology (SUT), which allows for flexibility and scale to quickly adjust production to support multiple products in one facility. It is scheduled for completion in late 2021. The CCTC is part of a larger development plan for the site, which will expand with up to an additional 1 million square feet of new production, research and office space according to the plan submitted this spring to Berkley city officials.

출처: SANFRANCISCO Business Times