Press Release
Contact: Robert Albright |
Phone: 919-549-7500 ext.123 |
Gillings, Mullen and Companies to Headline SEBIO Conference
Companies Selected from Across Southeast; Biogen, Quintiles Execs to Keynote
September 16, 2003, Research Triangle Park, NC — Organizers of the 5th annual Southeastern BIO Investor Conference (SEBIO) today announced keynote speakers and participating companies for the region's premier life sciences event. Dennis Gillings, Chairman and Founder of Quintiles Transnational Corp., and James C. Mullen, Chairman and CEO of Biogen, will both keynote the conference. Seventeen companies from across the Southeast have also been selected to present at SEBIO 2003, and an additional 12 companies were competitively chosen to participate in an early-stage event.
SEBIO 2003 (www.sebio.org), to be held November 10 and 11 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, NC, will highlight the Southeast's life sciences investment opportunities and will explore the latest industry trends and new business opportunities. SEBIO 2003 is presented by SELSA, the Southeastern Life Sciences Association, a regional collaboration of leading organizations from life sciences, entrepreneurship, and venture capital from both the public and private sectors.
Dennis Gillings, Ph.D., is chairman of the board and founder of Quintiles Transnational Corp., the world's largest pharmaceutical services company. Gillings is currently leading a $1.7 billion acquisition of the company's stock from the public equity markets. James C. Mullen is chairman of the board and CEO of Biogen, the world's oldest independent biotechnology company. Mullen, who joined Biogen in 1989, became chairman of the company in July 2002 and has successfully overseen the creation of Biogen's world-class manufacturing capability in Cambridge, MA, and Research Triangle Park, NC. Gillings and Mullen will both speak at SEBIO on November 11.
“We are very excited that two prominent industry leaders, James Mullen and Dennis Gillings, will share their experiences at SEBIO 2003,” said conference co-chair Dennis Dougherty, the founding general partner of RTP-based venture capital firm Intersouth Partners. “Having keynotes of this caliber speaks volumes to the growing strength of the Southeast as one of most unique and attractive areas of life science investing in the nation.”
In addition to the conference's strong speaker lineup, the SEBIO Selection Committee has also chosen 17 life sciences companies to present their business plans to an audience of venture capital firms, investment funds, and angel investors on November 11. Presenting companies include:
- Adenosine Therapeutics (Charlottesville, VA)
- Altea Therapeutics (Tucker, GA)
- Amphora Discovery (Durham, NC)
- AxoGen (Gainesville, FL)
- DarPharma, Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC)
- Emageon (Birmingham, AL)
- Gentris Corporation (Morrisville, NC)
- Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc. (Plantation, FL)
- Icagen, Inc. (Durham, NC)
- Metabolon, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC)
- NOBEX (Research Triangle Park, NC)
- Oriel Therapeutics, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC)
- Pharmasset, Inc. (Tucker, GA)
- Serenex, Inc. (Durham, NC)
- StemCo Biomedical (Durham, NC)
- TransMolecular, Inc. (Birmingham, AL)
- TransTech Pharma, Inc. (High Point, NC)
SEBIO 2003 will also feature an early-stage program for preinvestment-stage biotech companies. This half-day program includes one-on-one meetings and group seminars with an advisory panel of venture fund and business mentors. The 12 early-stage companies that were competitively selected for SEBIO 2003 include:
- Affinergy Inc. (Durham, NC)
- Alveolus, Inc. (Charlotte, NC)
- Argolyn Bioscience Inc. (Mt. Pleasant, SC)
- Cagenix, Inc. (Memphis, TN)
- Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC (Charlottesville, VA)
- Hemocellular Therapeutics, Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC)
- Living MicroSystems, Inc. (Richmond, VA)
- Pasteuria Bioscience, LLC (Alachua, FL)
- Piedmont Pharmaceuticals, LLC (Greensboro, NC)
- Syntherica Corporation (Durham, NC)
- Valeo Medical Inc. (Nashville, TN)
- Veran Medical Technologies, Inc. (Nashville, TN)
About SEBIO 2003: Presented by the Southeastern Life Sciences Association (SELSA), SEBIO 2003 is the fifth annual life sciences investment conference that brings together biotechnology executives, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers, and other industry professionals. States represented at the conference include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In addition to highlighting the Southeast's life science investment opportunities, the conference will also explore research, market, and financing trends with nationally recognized leaders from the investment and bioscience industries. www.sebio.org
About SELSA: The Southeastern Life Sciences Association (SELSA) is a public/private partnership formed in 1999 to promote the growth of the life sciences economy in the Southeast. SELSA is committed to developing programs and events to further that goal, including the SEBIO conference. Today, the Southeast is recognized as one of the fastest growing life sciences regions in the United States, and home to more than 350 life sciences companies.
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is a member of SELSA and is an organizational sponsor of SEBIO 2003. CED is a private, nonprofit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring, and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops, and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers, and professional firms. www.cednc.org
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