Market Information
United States

Biotechnology Sector Profile: USA - Buffalo

May 2002

Mary E. Mokka
Business Development Officer
Canadian Consulate General
3000 HSBC Center
Buffalo NY 14203
Tel.: (716) 858-9556
Fax: (716) 852-4340
E-mail: mary.mokka@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Internet: http://www.buffalo.gc.ca

Market Overview

This consular territory encompasses Western and Upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania, and the State of West Virginia, with a population of 15 million.

Upstate New York biotechnology firms are small (86% have fewer than 26 employees) and are located around Buffalo, Rochester and Ithaca. There are also some very large firms employing more than 300 people, including Bristol Myers Squibb (pharmaceutical/biologics); Genencor (specialty biochemicals), and Cellular Products (diagnostic/blood screening kits). A Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics will open soon at the State University of New York in Buffalo. In addition, the third-largest medical corridor in North America stretches from Toronto to Syracuse, encompassing more than 800 medical institutions, R&D facilities and companies.

Pennsylvania plans to establish three "Life Sciences Greenhouses" using over $151 million1 in tobacco settlement funds. In Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh region is headquarters to a core cluster of 60 biotechnology companies employing more than 6,000 people. Most of these are small companies, with the exception a few large pharmaceutical firms (Bayer, Mylan Laboratories and SmithKline Beecham) and medical device firms (Medrad and Mine Safety).

Opportunities

Companies in both Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania welcome interest from Canadian firms and look to strategic alliances as a means to grow globally. Core research is concentrated in drug discovery tools, medical devices/diagnostics, therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders and tissue/organ engineering, regenerative medicine and oncology

Other Useful Information Sources/Web Sites

BioPoint - Pittsburgh Biotechnology, Biomedical and Medical Industry Resource: http://www.biopoint.org
This site seeks to offer a clear picture of the Pittsburgh biomedical community-what it has to offer, where it is headed, and what opportunities exist for employment/ investment and licensing.

Pittsburgh Technology Council: http://www.pghtech.org/pittsburgh/report_bio.html
Visit the Pittsburgh Technology Council's site to view the State of the Industry Report, which contains facts and figures on the Biomedical and Biotechnology sectors.

Pittsburgh Regional Alliance: http://www.pittsburgh-region.org
The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance is an economic development organization whose mission is to "sell the region" to attract businesses, talent, and investment. Visit their Web site to view reports like Pittsburgh's Biomedical Centers of Excellence Identification and Validation, and BioVenture/Life Sciences Greenhouse Prospectus.

World Trade Center Pittsburgh: http://www.wtcpa.org
The World Trade Center Pittsburgh is an economic development organization that offers businesses educational services, publications and consulting. A directory of biotechnology firms in Pittsburgh is accessible through their Web site.

University of Pittsburgh Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering: http://www.pitt.edu/~biotech
Visit the university site to get the latest update on biotechnology studies and programs.

GSIA Biotech Club Carnegie Mellon University: http://www.gsia.cmu.edu/afs/andrew/gsia/biotech
The club's mission is to link members with opportunities in the biotechnology arena, to enhance biotechnology awareness, and to host biotechnology activities at CMU and in the greater Pittsburgh area.

BuffLink Inc.: http://www.bufflink.org
This non-profit organization was founded to serve as a catalyst for building the life-sciences economy in Upstate New York.

The Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics: http://www.bioinformatics.buffalo.edu
This organization merges high-end technology, including supercomputing and visualization, with expertise in genomics, proteomics, and bio-imaging, to enable major contributions in science and health care.

DFAIT's Trade and Investment Division: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/trade/menu-en.asp
This division promotes the export of Canadian goods and services, and assists U.S. investors looking for business opportunities in Canada through direct investment and business partnerships. Services to Canadian business include:

• provision of market information and intelligence
• individual assistance in formulating an initial marketing strategy for the United States
• organization of trade missions/shows and partnering seminars
• access to databases of U.S. manufacturers' representatives and distributors seeking Canadian sources of supply
• NEBS - New Exporters to Border States - a key educational program explaining the essentials of exporting to Canadian firms that are interested in penetrating the U.S. market
• WIN Exports - a database of more than 35,000 Canadian suppliers of goods and services

For detailed market reports about this sector, please visit http://www.infoexport.gc.ca