Peter Coode, James Kim, Chris Capel and Sam Taylor.

Cash compensation ranges and equity ownership were just two of the issues discussed by James E. Kim of Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc at the NCBIO Emerging Companies Forum October 1. Kim told attendees that CEOs of small cap biotech companies have an average compensation range of $300,000 to 400,000 with a bonus target of 30-50% of salary.

Mr. Kim said equity options continue to be a popular compensation vehicle. He discussed equity options as compensation, which can include stock options, restricted shares and performance shares, and reviewed the advantages and limitations of each. Factors considered when determining whether to use equity compensation include business challenges such as technical hurdles, commercialization hurdles and organizational issues. Kim also discussed the impacts of change in control on severance agreements.

Mr. Kim is the head of the San Francisco office of Frederic W. Cook & Co., a national consulting firm specializing in executive compensation. The firm is the named advisor to the Board Compensation Committees of over 20% of the Fortune 1000, including companies such as Amgen, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.

Also at the October 1st meeting, NCBIO President, Sam Taylor, updated members on the Organization’s activities and priorities for the coming year.

Smith Anderson and PricewaterhouseCoopers cosponsored of the event and a reception following the presentation.

NCBIO has completed an eight-week series of interviews with nearly fifty North Carolina advanced medical technologies, companies, research institutions, service providers and other organizations interested in the growth of North Carolina’s advanced medical technologies industry. In a report summarizing the interviews, NCBIO President Sam Taylor reported that there is strong support for NCBIO’s initiative to launch a new, nonprofit North Carolina Advanced Medical Technologies Center.

The interviews gave medical technologies stakeholders and opportunity to comment on a draft vision statement for the new Center. The vision statement includes three important goals for the proposed initiative, including improving medical technologies companies’ access to qualified employees, vendors and management talent; enhancing North Carolina’s national image as a location for medical technologies research; and a expanding opportunities for multi-disciplinary collaboration in the conceptualization and development of new advanced medical technologies products.

NCBIO has received a $100,000 planning grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to develop a proposed business plan for the proposed Center. Approval of the proposed plan by the Biotechnology Center would qualify the new entity for up to $2.5 million in launch funding from the Biotechnology Center’s Centers of Innovation Program.

Dignitaries from around North Carolina were on hand in Kannapolis on October 20, for the dedication of North Carolina Research Campus’s new David H. Murdock Core Laboratory building. The facility, with its collection of state-of-the-art scientific equipment, will be used by North Carolina university faculty and other researchers to investigate health conditions and treatments of all types.

In addition to the Core Laboratory, ceremonies on the 20th will include the formal opening of the UNC Nutrition Institute and the North Carolina State/Dole Nutrition Institute, also located at the NCRC campus.

The North Carolina Research Campus located in Kannapolis is a collaborative of research and innovation where seven universities from North Carolina are coming together to conduct world-class research in food, nutrition, health, and disease. Joining the universities are companies from around the globe, including Dole Foods, PPD, Anatomics, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Sensory Spectrum, and Carolinas Healthcare System.

Eric Ward, Sam Taylor, Hal Price and Norris Tolson.

NCBIO and its members recognized the work of Biotech Manufacturer’s Forum Program Manager Hal Price at a reception September 17. Price is leaving the position after nearly five years to pursue other interests. A former manager of Biogen Idec’s manufacturing facility at Research Triangle Park, Price was instrumental in the formation of the BMF.

Price led NCBIO’s efforts in the development of the NCBioImpact training initiative, which ultimately resulted in the deployment of more than $70 million in construction, equipment and program-start funding for NCBioImpact, including the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) at North Carolina State University, the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Training Enterprise (BRITE) facility at North Carolina Central University and the North Carolina Community College System’s BioNework training program. The three programs now receive nearly $20 million a year in state funding for their operations.

NCBIO President Sam Taylor stated, "Hal believed that a state-of-the-art training program was crucial to growing the biomanufacturing industry in North Carolina, to keeping existing companies and attracting new companies. He led the way in making that vision a reality.” North Carolina Biotechnology President Norris Tolson, Golden LEAF Vice President Mark Sorrels, and BMF Chairman, Mark Paige of Novozymes also praised Price’s dedication to the training effort and to the life science industry.

North Carolina’s world-class life science training program is full of activities this fall for students and industry. The program brings together companies, the North Carolina Community College System and the University of North Carolina system in an innovative and comprehensive training program.

The NC State Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) is in its second year of operation. BTEC officials anticipate that more than 250 students for this academic year. That’s more than a 50% increase in undergraduate student numbers. Ninety-five percent of the 163 students BTEC trained last year are in full-time positions, internships or bound for graduate school. Students at BTEC work in a simulated Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) pilot scale facility with state-of-the-art equipment and procedures.

BTEC is offering four new courses this fall: Principles and Applications of Bioseparations, Expression Systems in Biomanufacturing, Animal Cell Culture Engineering, and Tissue Engineering Technologies. BTEC has offered short courses and trained FDA inspectors. It has also partnered with ISPE and with vendors on a variety of specialized courses and topics.

North Carolina Central University’s Biomanufacturing Research Institute & Technology Enterprise (BRITE) provides hands-on training in process analytical technology and development, quality assurance and quality control. Thirty-eight courses have been developed and 31 will be offered to the 158 students enrolled in the program this fall, 110 undergraduate students and 48 graduate students. Scholarships have been awarded to 38 students. BRITE placed eight students in summer internships, and four students have graduated from the program. Two of those went to work for industry and the other two are seeking advanced degrees.

The program has been successful in enrolling community college transfer students, and has developed a number of collaborations with BTEC and community colleges. Faculty members have published research in a number of publications and have one potential patent application.

BioNetwork is a statewide initiative that networks community colleges across North Carolina to provide specialized trianing and equipment for workforce training. The system has awarded 25 Biogen Idec scholarships to students at ten different community colleges. Twenty-three community colleges were supported by BioNetwork in July with program development and other activities. The program has six specialized centers across the state and also operates a Validation Academy at the BTEC Capstone Center, run by Wake Technical Community College. The Validation Academy will offer courses in October, co-sponsored with NCSU, BTEC and ISPE.

The BioNetwork Capstone Center focuses on offering to incumbent workers, new hires and community college students hands-on, short-course-based training in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical operations in a simulated cGMP facility. More than 1800 students have been trained at the Capstone Center. The BioNetwork’s BioBiz Center has developed a six semester series of classes for an AAS herbalism degree. A variety of courses are being offered at the state’s community colleges this fall for degrees and for customized industry training.

North Carolina A&T State University has been awarded a grant for an Engineering Research Center (ERC) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award marks the first time that a historically minority university has been the lead institution of an ERC. Award funding has been approved at $18 million for the initial five years, with a potential duration of ten years. The NSF ERC for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials at A&T will conduct research in the areas of biomedical engineering and nano-particle applications and will operate in partnership with the Universities of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. It also has a global technical partner in Germany’s Hannover School of Medicine and a global cultural and outreach partner in the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. California State University at Los Angeles will serve as an outreach partner in the United States.

Two early stage bioscience startup companies have located to the newly established Wake Forest University Babcock Demon Incubator (BDI) Wet Lab in the Piedmont Triad Research Park. The two companies are Creative Bioreactor Design, Inc. (CBDI) and Salzburg Therapeutics, Inc. Both businesses are inception stage companies requiring specific resources to develop their technology. CBDI is developing the scientific equipment needed to grow tissue and organs in the regenerative medicine market. Salzburg Therapeutics is developing nanomedicine therapeutics for prostate cancer.

The BDI’s wet lab space is now available to qualified applicants and located in the Piedmont Triad Community Research Center at Piedmont Triad Research Park. The BDI Wet Lab is designed to support emerging inception stage startups to help validate scientific technologies within a low-cost, fully equipped multi-user wet-lab space. As the project matures, the new capability enable the BDI to support six bioscience or nanotechnology startup ventures annually.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center will host the Science–Business Forum: University Education for Life-Science Careers October 20. This all-day conference will bring together academic and industry leaders from North Carolina and beyond to discuss which mix of business, science, and industry-specific curricula can produce graduates with the skills most transferable to the workplace. Participants will

• Discuss innovative undergraduate and graduate curriculum models—including the Professional Science Master’s—that combine science and business education;

• Find out about the results of the National Academy of Science’s study of new master’s science education programs from Don Langenberg, Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Maryland System;

• Hear what North Carolina biotechnology employers are looking for in new hires, and get the latest on career preparation from nationally known career consultant David Jensen;

• Learn how UNC Tomorrow can stimulate change in the UNC System from Alan Mabe, Vice President for Academic Planning;

• Network with industry representatives and academic colleagues.

Click here to learn more about the Forum or to register.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has announced the five sponsoring companies chosen for the first year of its Industrial Fellowship Program. The companies are:

Affinergy Inc. in Durham, which is focused on site-specific biological delivery systems; Aldagen Inc. in Durham, which develops proprietary cell therapies; BASF's plant science group in Research Triangle Park; Winston-Salem-based Targacept, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company; and Tengion in Winston-Salem, which develops neo-organs and tissues.

A total of 18 companies applied for the program, which pays two years of salary and benefits for a post-doctoral researcher with academic-only lab experience to work in an industrial setting. Additionally, Industrial Fellows will have access to programs in business, intellectual property, regulatory affairs and other areas to complement their training. The Industrial Fellowship Program is designed to fill a gap for scientists in need of industry experience as well as for companies in need of scientific expertise.

To jump-start growth in the natural biotechnology sector, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center has awarded a $100,000 Centers of Innovation planning grant to an Asheville-based consortium with members from the mountains to the coast. Coordinating the planning process for the Bent Creek Center of Innovation for Natural Biotechnology and Integrative Medicine will be Annice Brown, an assistant director in the Asheville office of the North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center.

The Biotechnology Center started the COI program last year as a way to combine biotechnology-dependent industry sectors and North Carolina's diverse strengths to create jobs in all areas of the state. The planed Centers of Innovation are not research campuses; their goal is to virtually coordinate North Carolina research within their industry sector to enhance the commercial opportunities of nascent technologies. Three other groups have received similar grants from the Biotechnology Center, including a Piedmont Triad-based consortium focusing on the emerging field of nanobiotechnology, a group from eastern and southeastern North Carolina focusing on marine biotechnology, and NCBIO's effort to advance the state's advanced medical technologies sector.

Eight North Carolina companies have been selected by SEBIO to participate in its 10th Anniversary Investor Forum, an event that brings together the Southeast’s most promising life sciences venture opportunities with the regional and national venture capital community. The SEBIO Investor Forum will be held December 4-5, 2008, at the Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual conference, designed to stimulate venture investment, offers an "early-stage” event focused on best practices for newly emerging companies and a "presenting companies” event which showcases a second group of young companies that have already completed one round of institutional financing.

Companies from North Carolina participating in the early-stage event are Alte Biosciences, Cary; Arbovax Inc., Raleigh; and MastCell Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raleigh. Presenting companies from North Carolina are Argolyn Bioscience, Inc., Durham; Argos Therapeutics, Inc., Durham; Erimos Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Raleigh; LaamScience, Inc., Raleigh; and Pique Therapeutics, Inc., Durham.