In the conference room of a Denver law office, a small Lakewood company named CeraPedics LLC is looking for $5 million. A young executive in a pinstriped suit starts his 10-minute pitch on his company’s development of an injectable putty used to grow bone.
Lawyers from Faegre & Benson pepper Eric Frank, business development manager for CeraPedics, with questions.
“How do you know you will not run into safety issues?” asks attorney Richard Nakashima.
It’s all practice for BioWest 2005, a two-day conference of biotechnology and medical device companies from the Rocky Mountain region. The event, which starts Tuesday at the Colorado Convention Center, is expected to draw 700 people.
CeraPedics is one of 10 companies making presentations on Tuesday during BioWest. In addition to courting inventors, the company that gives the best presentation will be awarded $10,000 by Faegre & Benson, a sponsor.
Before the event, the law firm is helping companies such as CeraPedics prepare to pitch to venture capitalists.
Frank, along with CeraPedics chief executive Andrew Tofe, addressed all of the attorney’s concerns. Tofe has already had success with another form of the putty product, which is currently being used in dental implants.
“I think (the practice session) went really well,” said Frank. “I thought their comments were good. There are probably a couple of small changes we want to make (to our presentation).”
BioWest’s leading sponsor is the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The goal is to bring together members of the bioscience industry.
There are an estimated 11,700 bioscience workers in more than 350 companies in the metro Denver region, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
This is the fourth consecutive year of the BioWest gathering.
“BioWest is a venue to help our companies grow by providing education and networking opportunities that aren’t available anywhere else in the Rocky Mountain region,” said Christine Shapard, director of biosciences and emerging technologies for Colorado’s economic development office.
National experts will lead 15 panel discussions on topics ranging from the state of the biotech and medical-device industries, to protecting the nation’s food supply from mad cow disease and E. coli. More than 70 companies will exhibit their products and services during BioWest. Most of the participants hail from Colorado, with others from Utah, Wyoming and Montana.
“This is the first year that we tried to create a regional presence for conference,” said Denise Brown, executive director of Colorado BioScience. “We wanted to create a large convening so we can demonstrate nationally that there’s a thriving, important bioscience industry in the region.”
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
