E&Y 'Beyond Borders' Gathering in RTP Aug. 24

Patheon CEO Jim Mullen

Put a placeholder on your calendar for August 24, 2016 if you want to join business services giant Ernst & Young in Research Triangle Park for a public discussion of its 2016 “Beyond borders” report on the bioscience industry.

“Beyond borders: Returning to Earth” is not a forum on immigration, but a review of bioscience successes and challenges. E&Y will kick off the RTP event with an 8 a.m. breakfast followed at 8:45 by the discussion session, all that the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center at 4700 Emperor Blvd. The event is free, but attendees must register by August 16.

Now in its 30th year, the E&Y report says the biotech industry is continuing to prosper, despite challenges and fluctuations in the marketplace. In fact, it shows that in 2015, the industry set numerous financing, deal-making and financial performance records, as total market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion for the second year in a row. For the third consecutive year, the U.S. and European biotechnology sectors set new records in key financial barometers such as revenue, net income, financing and deal values.

Investor risk aversion dampens sector

It isn’t all rosy, though. Slowing growth in many of these indicators, together with a swift erosion of public investor interest, suggest that the industry’s unprecedented success may have peaked.

People attending the RTP event will hear not only from E&Y executives, but also from a local high-profile business leader making headlines recently: Jim Mullen, CEO of Durham-based global pharmaceutical company Patheon. Before joining Patheon, Mullen was the CEO of Biogen.

Patheon is in the news this week because it is issuing an initial public offering of stock that it hopes will raise up to $700 million. A significant contributor to North Carolina’s reputation as a world leader in contract manufacturing, Patheon is one of the top three contract manufacturers in the industry, operating 12 commercial-scale production facilities around the world that employ some 8,000 people. That includes nearly 1,600 employees working at its three North Carolina campuses in Greenville, High Point and Durham.

VC in California, Massachusetts still leaves NC trailing

Attendees at the E&Y get-together can also expect some discussion about the fact that despite North Carolina’s position as a major life science hub, with companies here raising $500 million in 2015, the big venture money still changes hands in Massachusetts and California.

Humacyte’s December $150 million Series B preferred stock financing, and vTv Therapeutics' $117 million raise via an IPO, are included in the E&Y report, but don’t look for Novan’s $80 million in 2015 funding, because that came in two rounds rather than one fell swoop.

The cutoff E&Y is using to spotlight funding events is $80 million, so the likes of AgBiome’s $34.5 million, G1 Therapeutics’ $33 million and Innocrin’s $28 million weren’t big enough to be pointed out in this year’s report.