VetDC Wins Venture Showcase Competition at BioWest 2012

 VetDC (Fort Collins) won the 2012 Venture Showcase competition at the 2012 BioWest Conference and Expo yesterday at the Marriott City Center Denver, receiving the $7,500 cash prize. The announcement is made by April Giles, Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) Executive Vice President who says this year's Venture Showcase was made possible by sponsors Dorsey and Whitney LLP, EKS and H and The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. BioWest, the Rocky Mountain Region's premier medical device and biotechnology conference, is organized by the CBSA and held every other year.

 

VetDC is an emergent veterinary biotechnology company that licenses innovative human biomedical technologies to address serious medical needs in companion animals. By aligning with CSU's top-ranked veterinary school, VetDC has unique capabilities to develop animal therapies, resulting in speed to market, risk reduction, and capital preservation. VetDC has assembled a proven team with regulatory, CMC, and clinical expertise. VetDC's lead candidate, VDC-1101, is an anti-cancer drug with extensive animal data. VDC-1101 is expected to launch in 2014 with $50M peak revenue potential. In 2011, VetDC secured funding from the Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development (CID4). VetDC President/CEO Steven Roy made the presentation at the Venture Showcase. For more information, visit: http://www.vet-dc.com.

 

“The Venture showcase announcement is the capstone to the BioWest Conference," Giles explains."It creates a huge buzz in the industry for the up-and-coming companies chosen to compete. We are very proud to announce VetDC as this year's winner.”

 

The Venture Showcase format allowed each company’s lead executive to make a 15-minute presentation with slides explaining their technology and business plan to a panel of judges in front of a live audience. This year's judging panel included the following bioscience experts and venture capitalists:  

   

• Joe Adams, Partner, EKS&H

• Robert Chicoski, Partner, Saturn Partners

• Mike Handley, Senior Managing Partner and Executive Director, Level 5 Partners

• Ned Scheetz, Managing Director, Aphelion Capital

• Michael Weiner, Partner, Dorsey

 

Link to the Business Wire release

 

Link to the PitchEngine Social Media newswire

Colorado Matters: 'Colorado Biotech's Big Day'

Quoting from the Colorado Public Radio overview about the 2012 BioWest Conference and Expo's Venture Showcase competition:

"In a downtown Denver ballroom, the white coats meet the suits. Colorado’s top biotech scientists step out of their labs and run their big ideas by venture capitalists. The idea is to bring new products to market. It's the 'venture showcase' put on by the Colorado BioScience Association."

Link to CPR's Colorado Matters website

Link to the interview with Colorado BioScience Association EVP April Giles

Link to the BioWest webpage (registration is available at the Marriott City Center Denver tomorrow September 11, 2012)

Skippy's Vegetable Garden: 'fast growing greens'

Blogger Kathy Martin of 'Skippy's Vegetable Garden' posted about Bell Aquaculture's Fish Rich fertilizer on September 7th.

Quoting the posting:

"We've had perfect weather for the fall seedlings. It's amazing how fast they're growing. Next week I'll apply another dose of my new fish fertilizer to keep them growing. Since they sent the fertilizer to me free, I am doing a little advertising for them. You can order this fertilizer here: Fish Rich."

Link to Skippy's Vegetable Garden

2012 BioWest Conference & Expo Showcases 40+ New Technologies, Products and Services for the Region’s Robust Bioscience Industry

More than 40 exhibitors will be showcasing new technologies, products and services at the 2012 BioWest Conference and Expo -- the Rocky Mountain Region’s premier medical device and biotechnology conference -- organized by the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), September 11, at the Marriott City Center, Denver. The announcement is made by CBSA Executive Vice President April Giles, who says: “The companies participating in the exhibit area are each playing an important role in helping advance the bioscience industry within the region. We’re very pleased to welcome them to our ninth BioWest event and look forward to yet another exciting and successful conference.”

BioWest brings together more than 500 industry leaders, government representatives, executives, researchers, investors and entrepreneurs from throughout the region. This year's national speakers for BioWest include Ginger Graham of Harvard Business School and past president of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Mike Huckman former CNBC biopharma and medical device industry reporter-turned-PR pro.

BioWest provides the region's bioscience community opportunities to network, learn from one another and collaborate to grow the industry. Exhibitors confirmed to date include:

ARAMARK Cleanroom Services http://www.aramark-cleanroom.com  
Biomedical Systems http://www.biomedsys.com
BiOptix http://www.bioptixinc.com
BSI Group America, Inc. http://www.bsiamerica.com
CARE Research LLC http://www.careresearchllc.com
CascadeTek http://www.cascadetek.com
CBIZ MHM http://www.cbiz.com/cbizmhm-colorado
Charles River http://www.criver.com
CSU Ventures http://www.csuventures.org
Fisher Scientific http://www.fishersci.com
Fitzsimons Life Science District http://www.fitzscience.com
Flanders Investment and Trade – Belgium http://www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.com
Grafik9 http://www.grafik9.com
ISEC Incorporated http://www.isecinc.com
ITW Texwipe http://www.texwipe.com
The Jackson Laboratory http://www.jax.org
Just Animate Studio http://www.justanimatestudio.com
LABS Inc. http://www.labs-inc.org
Liquidyne http://www.liquidyneusa.com
Merck and Co., Inc. http://www.merck.com
Montana BioScience Alliance http://www.montanabio.org
National Jewish Health Advanced Diagnostic Laboratories http://www.njlabs.org
NextGen Pharma Technologies, Inc. http://www.nextgenpharma.com
PCM Trials http://www.pcmtrials.com
Phase Three Product Development http://www.linkedin.com/company/phase-three-product-development
Pozzetta Scientific http://www.pozzetta.com
Pre-Clinical Research Services http://www.preclinicalresearch.com
Reglera http://www.reglera.com
Ricerca Biosciences http://www.ricerca.com
Robin Bond Media http://www.robinbondmedia.com
Technical Safety Services, Inc. http://www.techsafety.com
Thermo Fisher http://www.thermofisher.com
Toxikon http://www.toxikon.com
Ubiquity Group http://www.ubiquitygroup.com
University of Colorado Tech Transfer Office http://www.cu.edu/techtransfer
World Courier, Inc. http://www.worldcourier.com

BioWest will also include the popular Venture Showcase competition, where five finalists come together and pitch their technologies and business plans in front of a live audience to a panel of bioscience experts and venture capitalists. The winner, announced at the end of the conference day, will receive a $7,500 cash prize. Finalists for the 2012 Venture Showcase competition are the following:

Flashback Technologies Inc. - Longmont, CO - http://www.flashbacktechnologies.com
KromaTiD - Fort Collins, CO - http://www.kromatid.com
Siva Therapeutics Inc. - Boulder, CO - http://www.sivatherapeutics.com
SuviCa Inc. - Boulder, CO - http://www.suvica.com
VetDC Inc. - Fort Collins, CO - http://www.vet-dc.com

Sponsors for the 2012 BioWest Conference and Expo include: Founders Session Sponsor, Colorado Science + Technology Park at Fitzsimons; Keynote Lunch Sponsor, Ernst and Young ; Venture Showcase Sponsors, Dorsey and Whitney LLP, EKS&H, Metro Denver EDC; Track Sponsors, NextGen, Clinipace, Lonza, Sheridan Ross PC, Emerson Consultants; Lanyard Sponsor, Cooley; Closing Reception Sponsor, Wells Fargo; Co-track Sponsors, Medical Center of the Rockies, National Jewish Health Advanced Diagnostic Laboratories, DaVita Clinical Research; Conference Bag, CPC Clinical Research; Break Sponsor, BIO; and, General Conference Sponsors, Amgen, Fisher Scientific, Inviragen, Johnson & Johnson, PhRMA and TerumoBCT.

Link to the Business Wire release

Link to the PitchEngine Social Media Release

Univ of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute - Aquaculture and You: 'A Visit To Bell Aquaculture' Podcast

"Take an audio tour of Bell Aquaculture in Indiana, where the aquaculture of the future is being accomplished today. President Norman McCowan describes in detail the operations of this large-scale, vertically-integrated aquaculture farm and processing facility, where the long-term research of UW's Sea Grant has combined with private initiative to provide good jobs and a sustainable food resource for the Indiana economy." Posted 8/21/12

 

Link to the podcast

 

Link to the related article by Aaron Conklin

Denver Post: 'Four growing biotech firms move into Fitzsimons Accelerator Building'

Quoting from the August 23rd article by John Mossman:

"The Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority is celebrating the move of four startup companies from the Bioscience Park Center 'incubator' to its new wing known as the 'accelerator.'

The four biotech companies — Mitomics USA, Greffex Inc., Touch of Life Technologies and Light Labs — are among 39 firms that have been housed in Bioscience Park Center. They have run out of room and are graduating to the $8 million, three-story, 37,000-square-foot expansion, taking up most of that space. The new facility already is 78 percent leased.

'It's a nice problem to have when you haven't even opened your new building yet and you could potentially now be limited in space again,' said the authority's new president and chief executive, Steve VanNurden."

Link to denverpost.com

Aurora Sentinel: 'FRA celebrates grand opening of new wing'

Quoting from the August 22nd Aurora Sentinel:

"The FRA on Wednesday unveiled the new wing at their headquarters, a state-of-the-art addition that dramatically expanded the building at 12635 E. Montview Boulevard by about 50 percent. Steve VanNurdern, the FRA’s executive director, the new space is already about 80 percent full.

The FRA’s grand opening was scheduled for July 25, but they pushed it back to Aug. 22 because of the Aurora theater shootings. The first new tenant, Greffex Inc., moved into its new space this month. Next month, the other three new tenants — Mitomics, Touch of Life Technologies and LightLabs — are scheduled to move in.

The new wing will add about 40,000 square feet to the 60,000-square-foot home to the FRA and hub of the burgeoning Life Science District. The project is an important step for the district, officials say, because it will provide space for more advanced companies that are ready to take the next step beyond the facilities the building currently offers."

Link to the Aurora Sentinel