BIO 2012 Datebook: Back to the Future as BIO 2012 Opens in Boston

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Odds are that if you are in Boston this week, your IQ will go up a few points simply from being in close proximity to some of the world's best and brightest minds of science and business. Boston is hosting this year's annual Biotechnology Industry Organization's (BIO) conference (Boston Convention Center, June 18-21, 2012), the largest gathering of key players in the biotech industry.

Hundreds of top ranking politicians and industry heavyweights from across the globe will be absent from their respective boardrooms this week as they make their way to Boston. Conference officials report an estimated attendance topping 15,000. Rich with iconic landmarks from key moments in America's history, today Boston welcomes the global visionaries of tomorrow, all of them seeking to cure, clean up and improve our planet through biotech. And if a healthy profit is made while doing so, so much the better.

Greater Boston is considered by many to be the very heart of biotech, with its dense concentration of biotech company headquarters, research centers and stellar intellectual capital. The city last hosted the conference in 2007, following another stint in 2000. Home to some of the world's top research universities and hospitals, for many, a visit to this year's convention will be a short cab ride from the office. An estimated one-third of the world's biotech companies have a presence in the area, and Massachusetts leads the nation in per-capita NIH funding, receiving $1.7 billion in 2011.

Unlike previous years, the exhibition floor opened early on Monday at noon. While a number of exhibitors were still in various stages of unpacking, the heart of the conference--meetings--were already under way. Like a ballgame at Fenway, there were pitches flying everywhere. After being kindly curbed away from entering the BIO One-on-One partnering area, where 4,000 companies from 65 countries are expected to engage in 25,000 meetings over the course of the conference, I continued to meander through the massive hall.

The mood was upbeat, everyone eager to showcase their successes in either drug development or prowess in landing the "big builds." The site-selection process appears to be as important as the actual biotech products, having become an entity unto itself. The "...if you build it, they will come..." philosophy permeates the conference. From China to Iowa, all are eager for the majors to choose them for the next drug manufacturing or research campus. Billions of capital investment dollars are in play, and all are determined to showcase why their location is the logical choice.

There are myriad reasons to be in Boston this summer for BIO 2012. Some are seeking the astronomical funding needed to bring a drug to market, while others are offering up their locales as the ideal spot to construct a $300- to $1,000-per-square-foot biotech research or manufacturing facility. The not untypical scenario of a Chinese biotech company that has its research lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, looking to form alliances with partners to manufacture drugs at their plant in China illustrates the global presence at the conference.

Despite the obvious hard sells, the entire capital process within the industry is notoriously secretive. With all parties invariably subject to ironclad non-disclosure agreements until after the fact, it becomes a quest for who, what, when and where.

Tantalizing hints abound, both from the companies planning to expand and those eager to host them. Once the site of layoffs following its acquisition by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), the former Wyeth campus in Andover, Massachusetts, is rumored to be targeted for expansion. It is the biggest secret that everybody knows about. It is the facts that remain elusive at this point.

Industry darling Alexandria Real Estate Equities Incorporated's (NYSE:ARE) (Pasadena, California) conference display staffers underscore why they have become such a heavy hitter within the life science facility sector. The REIT's stunning yet simple lighthouse display is a beacon to walk up and see just how successful they are. With hundreds of millions of dollars in projects in various stages of planning and construction in the greater Boston area alone, everyone is anxious to know more, and who.

While there is no problem discussing the new 300,000-square-foot Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) campus rising in Cambridge as part of the $500 million development called the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square, go ahead and try to pry out unannounced projects or tenants. It is just not happening with those stoics from Alexandria.

Those questions are politely but firmly answered with "Our clients do not wish to be named at this point." That discretion has earned them a spot in most global industry facility planners' notebooks.

Unlike previous years, the once abundant number of industry protesters seems to have all but disappeared. Except for a handful of "Occupy" denizens, the troops that rallied under the scattered focus of biotech somehow being "bad" have moved on to other things. One could only hope that would include gainful employment, a definite step up from dressing in mock biohazard suits waving giant carrots.

Check back for daily updates from the show. Top highlights will be covered. Find out who is building what, where and why. Particular focus will be placed on both established and emerging biotech hubs across the world.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.