Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the Denver Boulder region rapidly emerging as a significant
hub for the life sciences industry. A report from Biotechnology
Innovation Organization states Colorado's bioscience sector employed over forty thousand
people since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And if you've seen the movie Extraordinary Measures, you may
be familiar with this story. BIO President and CEO John F.
Crowley is here in Denver on the first stop of
the BIO on the American Road Tour and joining us
live in the KWA Common Spirit Health Studio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
John, thank you so much for coming in this morning.
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Morning. Thank you for having me. Great to be back
in Denver.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We're going to start with a very simple question, because
I think we need to what is biotechnology.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Sure, biotechnology is science and it's medicine and its research.
But ultimately, I think you can think of biotechnology as
a great big word that for so many people just
means hope, hope that when their child is diagnosed with
a rare disease, or their parent with Alzheimer's, or a
wife with breast cancer, that there is science, there is research,
(00:58):
and there are newer and better medicines constantly to address
these ailments and these challenges in life, much as there
were many years ago for our family when we thought
there was no hope. So it's a vibrant industry. It's
only a forty nine year old industry here in the
United States, and it's one particularly marty, as you indicated
in Denver and Boulder and broadly in Colorado, that's thriving
(01:19):
and needs to thrive in this ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
How far has BioMed biotech come in those forty nine years, Oh,
incredibly far.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
You know, those are the real early days of just
starting to understand how do we manipulate cells and proteins
in different ways, to think about medicines. To give you
some idea to put it in human perspective. Back in
nineteen eighty a child diagnosed with leukemia that ninety five
percent did not survive. It was an absolute death sentence,
just horrible. Today, about ninety five percent of children diagnosed
(01:50):
with blood cancer survived their illness because of the miracles
of medicine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You mentioned it a little bit there, but this is
personal to you.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's very personal. You know, I grew up in New Jersey.
My dad was a cop and New other New Jersey.
I was a Navy officer and was able to go
to some good grad schools, and we had our children,
and then we found out many years ago that our
then fifteen month old daughter, Megan was diagnosed with this
rare form of muscular dystrophy called Pompei disease. There's no
history in our family, one of many thousands of human
(02:20):
genetic diseases, and up until the first year of life,
Megan seemed to be healthy, but you know, wasn't pulling
up in the crib, wasn't taking those first steps. And
so you go through the diagnostic odyssey and doctored a
doctor and test to test until they told us that
she had this disease and wouldn't live to be a
couple of years old, and that our then seven day
old son Patrick had a twenty five percent chance of
(02:41):
having the disease as well, in fact, did have the disease.
It launched us into the whole world of science and
medicine to try to develop a treatment and a cure,
and thankfully, with incredible help and science, entrepreneurship, faith, everything
that comes together, we were able to develop a medicine
that saved our children's lives.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You have to have the right conditions, the right environment
to be successful in this. Why is Colorado unique to this?
And I briefly asked you off here about the importance
of university and academic research in this. We've got cuc issues,
two of the finest institutes when it comes to science.
How important is that academic research? And is that part
of the reason why Colorado is, if you want to say,
a hotbed and focus of this.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
It is, Marty. It's the foundation when you think about
everything that it takes to make newer and better medicines,
and again for sometimes some of the most devastating diseases disorders,
it begins with academic research. And that's one of our
great advantages broadly in this country are our great research institutions,
and there are many here in Colorado. Obviously, the core
we were yesterday with at the Fitzsimmons Research Park. We're
(03:46):
at the Children's Hospital, and you look at the quality
of the science, what's coming out of the academic labs,
and that's typically the story of biotech, right It's a
couple of scientists who've been working for years toiling on projects,
who meet some entrepreneurs. We get a little bit of
early seed money, who then maybe hopefully get venture capital money.
There are thousands of these companies now in the United States.
(04:08):
Many of them don't succeed, most of them don't succeed,
But seventy percent of all new medicines today originate exactly
like that, coming out of academic labs into startup biotech companies.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
John, let's talk about the business aspect of this real quick.
Where does it still need to go? Does it need
more funding, does it need more personnel, does it need
more infrastructure? Where can we see biotech I don't know
decades from now.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
The answer is yes, it needs all of that to thrive.
We need workforce talent. We need education programs from our
community colleges for technician programs all the way to the
PhD level. Here, you need entrepreneurs. Biotech is a very
risky business. We take enormous risks to solve enormous problems.
(04:51):
And so it's capital, it's human capital, it's people, it's facilities.
And that's one of the great advantages here in Colorado.
When we were at the fifth Simmons Research Park yesterday,
that's a very special place and a great dedication, and
that's where policy is so important. Economic policy that supports
growth and entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I want to ask you this, and I don't want
to get down the rabbit hole of politics, but I
do want to ask that because with these investments a
lot of time, government is a big driver as well.
We've seen recently about pauses when it comes to certain research.
I don't know if that touches your space directly, but
does that give you pause when you see people saying
we're going to put a pause on some of this
research and slow it down.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
We shouldn't ever slow down research and nobody wants to.
And when I know, we're based in Washington, DC or organization,
so I spend a lot of time there in addition
to getting out to all of our states and meeting
with governors and legislators. And that's what we continually emphasize
so many times. This relies on public private partnerships. And
you think about again going back to the great academic research,
(05:48):
the research done at the NIH. NIH granted funds that
provide the core of research that's essential, and that's something
that we hammer home you as policy makers. Lawmakers need
to care about biotechnology, but the public health as an
engine of economic growth and for our national security vitally important.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
John, with a few minutes we have left you kind
of touched on it there, but your elevator pitch, why
should listeners care?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
I think that was it. That's you know, because when
you think about this, you know, take it back to
when when our kids were diagnosed. We didn't know. I
don't know, I didn't even know what the word biotechnology
really meant. But we were desperate and we needed that
hope and we needed answers. And so many times that
spark starts with a family or a family member going
(06:34):
to a doctor or a researcher with those words, we
have a problem, and the researchers starting with the those words,
we have an idea, and that's that spark that creates
that the research, the development. Again, so often it doesn't work.
This is a really hard business, right, No matter what
we do, how much money we raise, how smart the
people in research may be, almost everything we try it
(06:57):
doesn't work. And that's how hard drug development is making
new medicines. But it's that important to extend and enhance
human life.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
What is the next big breakthrough and what are we
close to if you want to say tackling or solving
maybe curing. Curing maybe a strong word, but saying of
being able to navigate or overcome.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
You know, in so many different areas. You look at
rare diseases the world that I came from, there are
more than ten thousand rare diseases Marty. The vast majority,
more than ninety percent, have no treatments today. But we're
finally seeing the tools and technologies an area like gene therapy,
understanding the basics of human genetics, gene editing, being able
to actually go in and precisely edit a human genome
(07:36):
to take out a defect in a child. You look
at what we've done in an area like cystic fibrosis,
a devastating lund disease that was also a death sentence
when I was growing up. We now have medicines that went,
particularly when treated early, help children to the point where
they live long, healthy, almost normal lives in many cases normal.
(07:57):
And when you look at cancer and you look at
where we are with cancer, we finally have the tools
and technology and talent over the next decade where we
can render many cancer's long term manageable chronic conditions, exactly
like we did with HIV and AIDS. So it's an
exciting We really are in the dawn of a golden
age of medicine. We just need to make sure we
don't get in our own way.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Denver the first stop on the Bio on the American
Road tour, aiming to engage with local biotechnology stakeholders throughout
the country.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Biotech entrepreneur, Rare.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Disease advocate and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, It's
John F.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Crowley. John, thank you so much for coming in the
studio this morning. We were preaching Shre.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Thank you, Thank you. Martin
In the Denver Boulder region rapidly emerging as a significant
hub for the life sciences industry. A report from Biotechnology
Innovation Organization states Colorado's bioscience sector employed over forty thousand
people since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And if you've seen the movie Extraordinary Measures, you may
be familiar with this story. BIO President and CEO John F.
Crowley is here in Denver on the first stop of
the BIO on the American Road Tour and joining us
live in the KWA Common Spirit Health Studio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
John, thank you so much for coming in this morning.
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Morning. Thank you for having me. Great to be back
in Denver.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We're going to start with a very simple question, because
I think we need to what is biotechnology.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Sure, biotechnology is science and it's medicine and its research.
But ultimately, I think you can think of biotechnology as
a great big word that for so many people just
means hope, hope that when their child is diagnosed with
a rare disease, or their parent with Alzheimer's, or a
wife with breast cancer, that there is science, there is research,
(00:58):
and there are newer and better medicines constantly to address
these ailments and these challenges in life, much as there
were many years ago for our family when we thought
there was no hope. So it's a vibrant industry. It's
only a forty nine year old industry here in the
United States, and it's one particularly marty, as you indicated
in Denver and Boulder and broadly in Colorado, that's thriving
(01:19):
and needs to thrive in this ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
How far has BioMed biotech come in those forty nine years, Oh,
incredibly far.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
You know, those are the real early days of just
starting to understand how do we manipulate cells and proteins
in different ways, to think about medicines. To give you
some idea to put it in human perspective. Back in
nineteen eighty a child diagnosed with leukemia that ninety five
percent did not survive. It was an absolute death sentence,
just horrible. Today, about ninety five percent of children diagnosed
(01:50):
with blood cancer survived their illness because of the miracles
of medicine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You mentioned it a little bit there, but this is
personal to you.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's very personal. You know, I grew up in New Jersey.
My dad was a cop and New other New Jersey.
I was a Navy officer and was able to go
to some good grad schools, and we had our children,
and then we found out many years ago that our
then fifteen month old daughter, Megan was diagnosed with this
rare form of muscular dystrophy called Pompei disease. There's no
history in our family, one of many thousands of human
(02:20):
genetic diseases, and up until the first year of life,
Megan seemed to be healthy, but you know, wasn't pulling
up in the crib, wasn't taking those first steps. And
so you go through the diagnostic odyssey and doctored a
doctor and test to test until they told us that
she had this disease and wouldn't live to be a
couple of years old, and that our then seven day
old son Patrick had a twenty five percent chance of
(02:41):
having the disease as well, in fact, did have the disease.
It launched us into the whole world of science and
medicine to try to develop a treatment and a cure,
and thankfully, with incredible help and science, entrepreneurship, faith, everything
that comes together, we were able to develop a medicine
that saved our children's lives.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
You have to have the right conditions, the right environment
to be successful in this. Why is Colorado unique to this?
And I briefly asked you off here about the importance
of university and academic research in this. We've got cuc issues,
two of the finest institutes when it comes to science.
How important is that academic research? And is that part
of the reason why Colorado is, if you want to say,
a hotbed and focus of this.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
It is, Marty. It's the foundation when you think about
everything that it takes to make newer and better medicines,
and again for sometimes some of the most devastating diseases disorders,
it begins with academic research. And that's one of our
great advantages broadly in this country are our great research institutions,
and there are many here in Colorado. Obviously, the core
we were yesterday with at the Fitzsimmons Research Park. We're
(03:46):
at the Children's Hospital, and you look at the quality
of the science, what's coming out of the academic labs,
and that's typically the story of biotech, right It's a
couple of scientists who've been working for years toiling on projects,
who meet some entrepreneurs. We get a little bit of
early seed money, who then maybe hopefully get venture capital money.
There are thousands of these companies now in the United States.
(04:08):
Many of them don't succeed, most of them don't succeed,
But seventy percent of all new medicines today originate exactly
like that, coming out of academic labs into startup biotech companies.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
John, let's talk about the business aspect of this real quick.
Where does it still need to go? Does it need
more funding, does it need more personnel, does it need
more infrastructure? Where can we see biotech I don't know
decades from now.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
The answer is yes, it needs all of that to thrive.
We need workforce talent. We need education programs from our
community colleges for technician programs all the way to the
PhD level. Here, you need entrepreneurs. Biotech is a very
risky business. We take enormous risks to solve enormous problems.
(04:51):
And so it's capital, it's human capital, it's people, it's facilities.
And that's one of the great advantages here in Colorado.
When we were at the fifth Simmons Research Park yesterday,
that's a very special place and a great dedication, and
that's where policy is so important. Economic policy that supports
growth and entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I want to ask you this, and I don't want
to get down the rabbit hole of politics, but I
do want to ask that because with these investments a
lot of time, government is a big driver as well.
We've seen recently about pauses when it comes to certain research.
I don't know if that touches your space directly, but
does that give you pause when you see people saying
we're going to put a pause on some of this
research and slow it down.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
We shouldn't ever slow down research and nobody wants to.
And when I know, we're based in Washington, DC or organization,
so I spend a lot of time there in addition
to getting out to all of our states and meeting
with governors and legislators. And that's what we continually emphasize
so many times. This relies on public private partnerships. And
you think about again going back to the great academic research,
(05:48):
the research done at the NIH. NIH granted funds that
provide the core of research that's essential, and that's something
that we hammer home you as policy makers. Lawmakers need
to care about biotechnology, but the public health as an
engine of economic growth and for our national security vitally important.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
John, with a few minutes we have left you kind
of touched on it there, but your elevator pitch, why
should listeners care?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
I think that was it. That's you know, because when
you think about this, you know, take it back to
when when our kids were diagnosed. We didn't know. I
don't know, I didn't even know what the word biotechnology
really meant. But we were desperate and we needed that
hope and we needed answers. And so many times that
spark starts with a family or a family member going
(06:34):
to a doctor or a researcher with those words, we
have a problem, and the researchers starting with the those words,
we have an idea, and that's that spark that creates
that the research, the development. Again, so often it doesn't work.
This is a really hard business, right, No matter what
we do, how much money we raise, how smart the
people in research may be, almost everything we try it
(06:57):
doesn't work. And that's how hard drug development is making
new medicines. But it's that important to extend and enhance
human life.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
What is the next big breakthrough and what are we
close to if you want to say tackling or solving
maybe curing. Curing maybe a strong word, but saying of
being able to navigate or overcome.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
You know, in so many different areas. You look at
rare diseases the world that I came from, there are
more than ten thousand rare diseases Marty. The vast majority,
more than ninety percent, have no treatments today. But we're
finally seeing the tools and technologies an area like gene therapy,
understanding the basics of human genetics, gene editing, being able
to actually go in and precisely edit a human genome
(07:36):
to take out a defect in a child. You look
at what we've done in an area like cystic fibrosis,
a devastating lund disease that was also a death sentence
when I was growing up. We now have medicines that went,
particularly when treated early, help children to the point where
they live long, healthy, almost normal lives in many cases normal.
(07:57):
And when you look at cancer and you look at
where we are with cancer, we finally have the tools
and technology and talent over the next decade where we
can render many cancer's long term manageable chronic conditions, exactly
like we did with HIV and AIDS. So it's an
exciting We really are in the dawn of a golden
age of medicine. We just need to make sure we
don't get in our own way.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Denver the first stop on the Bio on the American
Road tour, aiming to engage with local biotechnology stakeholders throughout
the country.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Biotech entrepreneur, Rare.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Disease advocate and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, It's
John F.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Crowley. John, thank you so much for coming in the
studio this morning. We were preaching Shre.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Thank you, Thank you. Martin
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