Spotlight

Bob Wallis

Interview with Bob Wallis BioWales 2008, conference organiser.

What's the theme of BioWales 2008?

We have a number of themes this year which reflect the major interests in Wales. These are: pharmaceuticals, industrial biotechnology and medical devices. In addition we are trying a new idea for a panel discussion on trading with the UK, to be chaired by Harriett Fear of UKTI

Pharmaceuticals is always of huge interest since it is the largest subsector of the industry and absolutely dependent on new product introductions. In spite of their huge research capability, pharmaceutical companies are finding in increasingly difficult to fill their development pipelines from their own resources so deal making has increased rapidly as the larger companies identify and trial new ideas, new technologies and part developed products. Proving that pharmaceuticals work and are of benefit to patients is taking more and more sophisticated technology and even the agents used are becoming more complex often requiring fermentation for production or even involving nanotechnology. We aim to review all this at BioWales 2008 with some extremely experienced drug developers. So: “where will the next generation of medicines come from?” to quote our first speaker, John Patterson, of AstraZeneca

Industrial Biotechnology is a large industry and well represented in Wales. The speakers will review where it is now, what the issues are and hopefully project us forward into future developments.

The largest sub sector in biosciences in Wales is Medical Devices in its entirety, from wheelchairs to artificial joints and from wound care treatments to tele-healthcare and electronic diagnostics. It represents wide utilisation of different technologies ranging from engineering, electronics and physics to ICT as well as biosciences and it has definitely found a niche or, perhaps we should say, a whole lot of valleys, in Wales where all these skills abound! I am looking forward to sitting in on this session to find out the needs as it continues to evolve.

What are your expectations for the event?

BioWales 2007 was the biggest yet with nearly 400 registrants and an equal number of meetings set up through the brokerage event. I am sure that this makes it the largest such event outside London and it has become the place to go to meet with potential collaborators. Very few participants have only come once to a BioWales, they keep coming back because it’s such a useful meeting! Deal making is the life blood of the bio industry and I and my colleagues are continuing to hear about deals that were initiated through the 2007 event. We are in a larger venue in 2008, and in brand new facilities, so I suspect that it will grow again and I know that more and more collaborations will be set up as a result.

What are you most looking forward to?

For me, it’s a great motivation to walk into BioWales and hear the buzz of conversation and tremendous enthusiasm shared by everyone who has attended. In fact I don’t feel that people just “attend” but that they really “participate” in making BioWales a great event.

The brokerage event is a great way of networking with others in the industry, what can businesses expect to get out of this?

This year, it's at the Vale of Glamorgan's new conference suite. I have seen the plans for the new facilities and they look eminently suitable because we can keep the speaker programme, the brokerage event and the exhibition all on one level and right next to each other. Yet there is ample space for informal networking in the break out areas in what is now a very large venue.

Biographical notes:
Bob joined the WDA in 2003 to develop the bioscience sector in Wales. He is doing this by creating more opportunities for Welsh companies to co-operate, to grow and to develop their worldwide markets. Access to the right technologies, the best people, appropriate finance and ideal premises is key to this strategy. Bob has more than 30 years experience in pharmaceutical R & D and has been involved in the last 10 years in small biotechnology businesses.

After a PhD in biochemistry, he joined Ciba-Geigy (UK)’s Research Centre working in drug discovery research. This was first of all in inflammation research and then started developing new treatments for thrombosis. Having seen three projects through to the clinic, he is most proud of the biotech product, hirudin, an anticoagulant which was originally identified in a species of blood-sucking leech. Over his 23 years at Ciba-Geigy, Bob progressed to become Head of Biology Research in the UK, a post he held for 7 years before joining a small Welsh company, Biopharm, as its director of R & D. In 1997, with two other founders, he set up and became Managing Director of, a new company, Bio-Discovery Ltd near Swansea. Bio-Discovery invented a number of naturally occurring proteins as therapeutic agents. He has authored or co-authored over 50 publications and been an inventor on numerous patent applications.

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