June 30, 2025 • 56 mins
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On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Jennifer Hawks Bland, CEO of NewYorkBIO, shares insights on New York State's life sciences ecosystem while reflecting on her journey from Capitol Hill to biotech advocacy. Her experiences in politics, law, and biopharma government affairs uniquely positions her to navigate complex policy challenges while creating opportunities for biotech upstarts across New York and beyond. Jennifer also highlights key programs, capabilities, and funding on offer to early-stage biotech companies.
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Episode Transcript
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Ben Comer (00:00):
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Welcome back to the Business ofBiotech.
I'm your host, Ben Comer, ChiefEditor at Life Science Leader,
and today I'm excited to speakwith Jennifer Hawkes Bland, CEO
of New YorkBIO, the New YorkState Trade Organization, and
advocate for life sciencescompanies, universities and
research institutions in NewYork State.
Jennifer is an attorney who hasworked in government affairs at
(01:06):
Merck and GlaxoSmithKline andbefore she went to law school,
she spent some time on the Hillas a legislative assistant to
former US Senator Thad Cochran.
I'm excited to chat withJennifer today about what she's
hearing from her membershipduring a time of change in
political leadership leadershipto find out more about how
(01:26):
state-level organizations likeNew York Bio support life
sciences companies and help themgrow, and what her priorities
are for the second half of 2025.
Thanks so much for being here,Jennifer.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (01:38):
Oh hey, thanks, Ben.
I am thrilled to join you today, and just with that intro alone
I feel like just one or twopieces of that.
We can spend the whole timecovering it.
Ben Comer (01:49):
Yes, yes, you're absolutely right.
Well, let's get right back intoit.
I want to start out with yourbackground experience, as we do
here on the business of biotechI mentioned in the intro.
You went straight out ofundergrad into political work.
You worked on the Hill as alegislative assistant to Thad
Cochran.
(02:09):
I'm curious, you know, if youwere planning a career in
politics at that time.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (02:16):
Yeah, you know it was.
It was interesting.
And I think every kid has oneof those moments where they're
like this is what I'm going todo, right, like whether it's be
an astronaut or a firefighter orwhatever, it is right.
And I was one of those nerdykids who went to Washington,
right like and toured, and Iremember being like walking in
the Capitol and thinking this iswhat I'm going to do, I'm going
(02:37):
to work here one day, right,and that was my moment.
And so I also was lucky enoughin undergrad that I majored in
political science.
I did not change my major,unlike so many of my of my
colleagues in undergrad, whichmeant that my last semester was
glorious Tuesday, thursday,classes like nine to noon, but I
(02:59):
was able to really focus inpolitical science was what I
wanted to do.
I actually interned for SenatorCochran in his Jackson
Mississippi office after myjunior year, so between junior
and senior year it also happenedto be and Senator Cochran he's
passed away, but he was aRepublican and there also
(03:19):
happened to be the Republicanconvention happening that summer
and I also figured out thatSenator Cochran needed me as an
intern to assist at theconvention, which was an amazing
way that I got to also partakein something really kind of
exciting and fun, a piece ofthat truly political theater,
right, and it only sort ofsealed the deal that I wanted to
(03:40):
go to Washington after college.
And I did that for severalyears.
Yeah, for six years, is thatright?
Yep, and three of those.
Actually, I worked in SenatorCochran's Mississippi office
while I was in law school, so Iaffectionately refer to it as
the Thad Cochran Law SchoolScholarship for Jennifer Hawks
(04:01):
at the time, because I would goclerk at firms in the summer and
then come back and have my jobback in during the school year.
Ben Comer (04:08):
Oh, excellent.
Well, what made you decide toget a law degree?
I mean, at that point, were youstill on a path to go into
politics or had you alreadydecided that?
You know, maybe it wasn't foryou.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (04:19):
Yeah, so I love, I love the politics part.
I also love the policy part andthe advocacy right.
So just petitioning thegovernment, like those sorts of
things, and I realized that thatskill set could really also be
honed right with law school.
It also taught me to be abetter critical thinker.
It 100% taught me to be abetter writer.
(04:40):
It took all the flowery writingthat a political science
undergrad major may have usedand just redlined that down to
be more effective and moreconcise.
But it was interesting.
So my path sort of to the pharmayou know, biotech world started
when I was placed in my lawfirm and I was randomly assigned
(05:04):
to the pharmaceutical productsdefense litigation sort of
practice group, right as a firstyear associate.
Many times you're, you know,sort of assigned.
You have, you know you havecertain aptitudes or whatever,
and I knew I wanted to trylitigation.
Hence, right, that's that themeof advocacy Right Running
through.
And maybe I would have been inconstruction law and we wouldn't
(05:25):
have been having thisconversation today, but I wasn't
, and so our company is.
Our clients at the firm were.
In this case we were workingwith pharmaceutical companies,
right therapeutics companies,and in defending them against
claims from plaintiffs allegingright that their therapeutics
had injured the plaintiffs inthe course of their therapeutic
(05:48):
treatment.
Ben Comer (05:49):
Right, and so then you moved over to in-house and
worked in government affairs,regulatory kind of roles, first
at GSK and then at Merck.
I guess how would you describethat experience of working at?
You know large pharmaceuticalcompanies GSK and Merck and I'm
(06:10):
curious, you know what you mightsay about, you know, some of
the biggest policy or regulatoryissues that you had to contend
with during that time.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (06:19):
Yeah.
So, like any good story, it'scircuitous, right, rarely is
anything interesting and totallylinear.
And as I talked, I talked to alot of college students, you
know, these days, and gradstudents these days, and I tell
them to, you know, be wary ofwhat they think is going to be
this very straight, linear path,because that A is usually not
(06:41):
the way it happens, but B, if ithappens that way, you might be
missing out on some otheropportunities, right?
So there's my, there's my pieceof career advice for the
students.
But what happened is I practicedlaw, then moved back to
Washington DC, so second tourright in DC, and worked at the
(07:02):
Consumer Healthcare ProductsAssociation, which is the
national trade associationrepresenting over-the-counter
medicine makers, of which GSK,sharing Plow, which later became
Merck, were members of thattrade association.
So I was recruited to goin-house at GlaxoSmithKline
because they saw my work and Iworked with them at the trade
(07:27):
association.
And so it was interesting forme when I traded in right, I
traded in my jury that I was,you know, advocating in front of
, on behalf of my clients tomembers of Congress, members of
the state legislature, membersof an executive branch right in
the state, to talk about theimportance of policy issues to,
(07:47):
at that point, right, my company.
Right because I wasrepresenting an individual
company.
So it really isn't.
It wasn't different in a skillset, it was advocacy.
My audience was just different.
Ben Comer (07:59):
Yeah Well, are there any issues that particularly
stick out in your memory aseither challenging or just
interesting to work on, that youhad to go out and explain to
legislative bodies?
I mean some of these, you know.
You know these issues are verycomplicated.
They're not understood well bythe general public, including
(08:20):
many members of Congress.
Well, what's what stuck out?
You know from your time ofhaving to kind of educate and
advocate for Merck and GSK.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, how long do we have, Ben?
The list is lengthy, but I willtell you.
I'll tell you a couple ofscenarios.
One is, and this is one of myfavorite stories.
So I am originally fromMississippi.
For those of you who might haveknown Thad Cochran, you would
know that he is a Mississippisenator that we talked about
earlier, and I was working onpatent reform right for GSK
(08:55):
along with colleagues, and wewere looking, we were trying to
create a dear colleague letter,which meant a letter right for
some members of Congress to therest of Congress.
They were writing theircolleagues to talk about the
importance of an issue In thiscase it was patent reform and we
needed to craft a letter thathad patent holding signatories
(09:15):
from every state represented,right, so you had all the states
represented and obviously thereare some states where there
aren't pharma companies thatexist there that would have had,
you know, those types ofpatents.
And, however, in Mississippi,one thing that is very important
in the state is agriculture,and through my work, I did ag
(09:38):
work when I worked for SenatorCochran first, and you can take
what is it, you can take thegirl out of the farm, but you
can't, right, and so I knewsomeone that developed seeds and
so right, like to plant in theground and new strains and new,
and they held patents that way.
So my my, to take it back, Iwas like you, never
(09:59):
underestimate the work you doalong the way and the impact
that it can have later in yourcareer, right, and so that was a
good example of impact that itcan have later in your career,
right, and so that was a goodexample of something that you
would have never thought wouldhave ever sort of rolled back
around.
And yet pharma companies andseed companies value the IP
creates a lot of the value forthe therapeutic for that seed in
(10:21):
this case, and so we were ableto sort of combine forces and
really work together acrossindustries to have an impact
ultimately on patients.
Ben Comer (10:31):
And this was I'm thinking this was probably after
Ted Kennedy led the effort toget that.
You know, the 12 years ofexclusivity for biologics that
had already been passed at thattime.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (10:41):
Yes.
Ben Comer (10:42):
Not that that has to do with seeds, but I'm just
trying to put it into thetimeline here.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (10:46):
Exactly Right, yes, and then another
really kind of interesting thingwe worked on at the federal
level was it's called track andtrace right, Colloquially right.
So serialization right oftherapeutics as they work their
way through the supply chain,right of therapeutics as they
work their way through the rightthrough the supply chain, and
what we found ourselves in aposition where you had a number
(11:08):
of states California right, sortof on the leading edge of this
that were enacting differingrequirements for tracking and
tracing lots of therapeutics asthey went through, right, the
distribution process, and so wereally needed to craft federal
legislation, and some of youraudience might be surprised,
(11:31):
some will not be surprised thatit is an incredibly large lift
to start from scratch and askCongress to pass something novel
and new that doesn't exist, tocreate a framework, and so that
took a number of years and ittook an incredible cross section
of industry the supply chainright, Like all of the, all of
the companies that work in asupply chain, to get a
(11:53):
therapeutic from where thepharma company produces it to
where it is fulfilled in yourlocal pharmacy, Right and so,
and so that was something thatwas incredibly rewarding.
It took a long time, but justworking together across sort of
so many different entities,really shows you the power that
(12:15):
our industry can have when it iswhen everyone is sort of rowing
in the same direction in thesame direction.
Ben Comer (12:26):
Yeah, I mean, I got to.
It's got to be prettysatisfying to start out from,
you know, an educationalstandpoint of like what, what
even is this issue all the waythrough to getting you know a
new policy you know enacted.
I'm sure that that's, that's asatisfying job to be in.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (12:39):
And and and.
Some days it's more satisfying.
It doesn't always work out thatway, and some days it's more
sad.
It doesn't always work out thatway.
Ben Comer (12:46):
Right, let's talk about New York Bio.
You have large pharma corporatemembers, and so let me, before
I go into my little spiel aboutwhat New York Bio is, which I
should probably have you do Idid have a question.
I was just sort of flippingthrough the membership files and
I noticed some company namesthat I would kind of consider to
(13:10):
be California companies, andthey're like Amgen or Genentech
that are members of New York Bio.
Your membership also includes,of course, startups, smaller
companies, universities andresearchers, but I guess is it
sort of open to all comers or,if you have an affiliate in New
(13:31):
York, is that, is that how itworks?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (13:33):
No, so it's.
It's really open to all comers,right, if your company is
interested and in it's either anR&D company, it may be a
patient advocacy organizationright, it could be an academic
medical institution.
And if you either have apresence in New York or you're
interested in work that's goingon in New York, whether and one
(13:58):
thing that we see with a lot ofvery early stage companies,
especially post-COVID, is theywill have employees, even small
companies maybe that have 10 or20 people that work there.
They'll be scattered right,because a lot of what they do
they can do virtually right,obviously, lab work is different
, and so maybe someone is in NewYork, maybe someone's in Ohio,
(14:20):
maybe someone's in Michigan orCalifornia.
And so if it makes sense forthose companies to join a trade
association in their differentplaces, right, because of the
networking and the opportunitiesthat that provides.
So we have a mix and you'reright, I think one of our member
companies, which is a biotechcompany based in California, new
(14:42):
York, bio, was the firstnon-California trade association
right that they joined becausethey were interested in the
advocacy work that we do inAlbany with the state
legislature and the governor'soffice.
Right, that was a reallyimportant piece for them,
because part of access forpatients depends on, you know,
(15:04):
medicaid coverage and otherright, other policy choices that
the state government makes asfar as access for patients.
So there's a lot of there's alot of intersection, no matter
where you're based.
If you have patients in NewYork, then it can be impactful,
and my apologies, because I amsitting in New York City right
(15:25):
now and it sounds like the firetrucks are right behind me.
Ben Comer (15:30):
Hey, that's part of the city, that's no problem, no
worries, I'm not even hearing iton my end.
I was just thinking about, youknow, companies that might be
partnered or collaborating withthe university or have partners
that are in New York, not tomention even remote employees
that live there.
So that makes sense.
I want to ask next aboutsmaller and earlier stage
(15:52):
organizations that you'reworking with, and my question is
how and I guess I'm puttingmyself in the shoes of you know
I'm giving myself a promotion,I'm putting myself in the shoes
of a CEO at a startup or someother member of the leadership
team.
In early stage biotech, there'sa huge focus on asset
(16:15):
development, progressing, acandidate getting to the next
milestone or catalyst, gettingthe data in.
You know, making sure every,all the T's are crossed and I's
are dotted it.
I imagine that, uh, governmentpolicy advocacy may end up
falling kind of down the list,at least at first, uh, until
there's an issue you know that'sdirectly affecting your company
(16:38):
.
But how do you you know what?
What would you say to smaller,either startups or early stage
organizations about how theyshould start thinking about
government affairs and advocacyand how they can make their
voices heard?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (16:54):
Yeah, and I will say even a step back,
further than that.
Right, they're worried aboutthe valley of death, their run
rate, right, all of the things.
Ben Comer (17:01):
Yeah, absolutely Right, all of the things.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (17:02):
Yeah, absolutely that's starting up a
new company, not to mention onethat you know has a nine and ten
chance of of not surviving orgetting a therapeutic to the
market.
They don't even know, right,they don't know that they need
to even worry about it.
And so if they happen on NewYork bio through, whether it's
(17:23):
through our network here whichis usually right so it's the
convenings that we do in NewYork across the state or whether
it's our LinkedIn presence orwhatever they realize they're
like, oh OK, this organizationis here.
So one thing we talk topotential new members about is
the advocacy piece, because, atthe end of the day, they are
less likely to get funded to dowhat they want to do right,
(17:48):
which is to bring a therapeutic,a device, you know, a digital
opportunity right to patients ifthere is not a regulatory
pathway to approval andreimbursement, and those are
almost always policy choices.
They are policy choices in thepublic sector, whether it's
Medicare, medicaid, right, orthey are policy choices right in
(18:11):
the private sector throughthrough private insurance and
coverage.
But there's often a lot ofoverlap right in those things,
in the way therapeutics aretreated.
Talk to them about what we'redoing on their behalf and on all
of our members' behalf, right,and we have a government affairs
(18:33):
committee of our members and itis primarily staffed by
companies with governmentaffairs professionals, but we do
have some of our members thatjoin that are interested, and so
maybe they're personallyinterested and then I'll take
member companies to Washingtonright a couple of times a year
at least.
It seems to be more importantand top of mind these days to
talk about Washington, buthaving the ability for someone,
(18:59):
a founder, particularly rightwho is building a business it
happens to be a biotech or atherapeutics company or a
digital device company buthaving them talk about hiring
people, building a business,growing the payroll, in New York
is really impactful.
And I talked to them abouttelling their story to
(19:22):
policymakers, because thatultimately moves the needle.
Ben Comer (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, right.
I mean that makes a lot ofsense, and I'm just thinking too
about the amount of news churnthat's happening right now and
sometimes even for me, who'ssomeone who reads the news every
day, I can't always make headsor tails of what is being
proposed versus what's beenenacted.
Do you get questions from yourearly stage members who may not
(19:52):
have a government affairsposition at the company just
saying, hey, I don't know whatto make of this.
Can you explain this to me orhelp me make my voice heard if
it's an issue that I need tospeak on?
I mean, do you have a lot ofcalls like that?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (20:04):
We do.
We have some calls like thatand then we provide sort of like
a monthly member-only briefingright, which covers a lot more
of the advocacy work we do andthat will go out to all of our
member companies, and so that'shelpful, right, because it sort
of lays out sort of what we'vebeen working on if the
legislature the New Yorklegislature is in session, like
sort of what we've been workingon in Albany, and then obviously
(20:24):
, what we're working on at thefederal level, and so that's
helpful.
But that does lead to some goodconversations, right.
And then we're always lookingfor people who want to express,
right, their concerns, theirsupport, right, because it's not
only concerns, although myfavorite thing and for those of
you who have known me a while,I've said this over and over
again usually when we're dealingwith a sort of a thorny or
(20:47):
complex policy issue, you knowour side, the pharma, biotech,
you know sort of side has awhite paper and the opponents
usually have a bumper stickerand so and look, I mean I'm a
lawyer by training, you think Iwould be succinct, training,
(21:08):
you'd think I would be succinct.
Our scientists write whitepapers, they do research, right,
they think really big picturethings and they really are
looking for ways to sort of movethe needle right for humankind
right and for the health of theworld, and it doesn't lend
itself to a bumper sticker typeadvocacy.
(21:29):
So part of the job of a tradeassociation is to try and take
those really sort of deepthoughts and those learnings and
help translate that intolayman's terms, if you will
right, so policymakers canunderstand the real impact on
patients, on economicdevelopment, right On health as
a whole.
So that's one of the roles thattrade associations, and in this
(21:54):
case New York Bio in particular, can play.
Ben Comer (21:56):
Right, that's one of the roles.
What would you say are, I guess, your primary objectives or
mission at New York Bio?
Is it advocacy in terms ofpolicy and advocating for the
policy that your members want?
Is that number one?
Or how would you, I guess,characterize the overall mission
?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (22:16):
Yeah.
So it's a great question and itreally depends on where you sit
.
So if you are a therapeuticscompany or a patient advocacy
group, then we're going toreally probably work really
closely right on the advocacyissues.
We also we do a patientengagement summit every year,
right, so we bring in hundredsof patient engagement patient
(22:39):
research foundations along,matching them with pharma
biotech executives and have, youknow, conversations about the
work we can do together.
We also, then, do a lot ofconvening.
So if you're an early stagefounder CEO and it's important
that you network with othersimilarly situated founders, you
want to find your community,and part of your community is
(23:03):
wherever you sit, whether we'rehosting something in New York
City or on Long Island or inRochester or Buffalo or Albany
right, we do all of those things.
It's about creatingopportunities for our members in
a whole bunch of ways.
So the convening is one right.
So networking education we do alot of.
(23:25):
Our networking events alsoinclude, let's say, panel
discussions or fireside chats,topics that are really hot and
top of mind.
Now, you were talking aboutreading the news every day.
Right, it's, whether it's in,you know, different national
publications or tradepublications right, it's a
really important way we gatherthat.
Yeah, so it's.
It depends on where you sit.
Our goal is to provide the mostvalue across the broadest group
(23:48):
of our members at any giventime.
Ben Comer (23:51):
Are you also you know to your point about convening?
Are you also sourcing thingsfor people like you know?
I wonder if you're gettingmembers who might say you know I
really need to find you know asmall manufacturer for you know
my IND submission, or you know Ireally am looking for you know
(24:11):
a CEO who has successfully, youknow, received approval,
commercialized a couple ofproducts to advise us.
I mean, are you able to kind ofcreate those linkages between
member works?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (24:23):
Yeah, we do a lot of matchmaking right.
For lack of a better term amongour members, among our sponsors,
right, and the programs we do.
You know we also host.
I've really leaned in right tosort of New York as a finance
hub, and so New York Bio I meanno one else offers, right, the
(24:45):
access, the exposure to thefinancial, certainly to the
financial markets, but really tothe financial infrastructure, I
would argue, of the world,right.
Then you have a New York, andso New York Bio has a whole
series of finance-focused eventsthroughout the year in two
weeks why we chose the weekafter Bio in Boston, I'm not
(25:08):
sure but in a couple of weeks wewill host the New York Bio
Finance Summit, and so that'sgoing to be a good opportunity
to really have some deepconversations.
The audience is going to beinvestors, early stage companies
, early stage CEOs, so they canmake those connections as well
as learn from some experts inthe field right now about topics
(25:30):
that are, you know, that arevery top of mind for everybody.
Ben Comer (25:33):
Yeah, and you know your point on funding is, it is
well taken, a critical aspect,particularly of a startup or
early stage biotech.
You know building that runwayto progressing your product and
I suspect you that you might bea little biased on the answer to
this question, but I'mwondering what you would say
about, you know, do you thinkthat being based in New York,
(25:55):
for all the reasons that youjust gave, gives you an edge in
terms of receiving funding?
Or, you know, are other, areyou so connected, kind of
nationally, that other companiesthat you know, if they have a,
you know great compellingscience and you know, if they
have a, you know greatcompelling science and you know
an interesting offering, thatyou know that you can help out
others as well.
Or I mean, would you?
(26:15):
I guess the root of my question, jennifer, is if you're you
know about to found a biotechand you're looking around at
places you know to land, do yougo to New York State because you
feel like you might have abetter opportunity for getting
some investment versus otherstates?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (26:36):
Well, ben, that seems like a layup.
Here's what I think.
I think the old adage is trueIf you can make it here, you can
make it anywhere, right?
So I think New York is anepicenter, but what I really
think is investment will follow.
Good science, right, and goodscience exists across the US.
(26:57):
So it would be foolhardy of meto say that, yes, you need to be
here, you don't?
Look, we have so many greatthings to offer in New York.
Of course, I think companiesshould start here and grow here.
However, we work with companiesreally across the US and across
the globe, right when you thinkabout New York.
Also, you know, another thingthat we haven't even touched on
(27:20):
is right, we have the UN here.
We have, you know, countrieshave their offices, certainly
for the UN, but many haveconsular offices right, which is
, their economic offices rightabroad, and so we work with a
lot of foreign entities as theythink about bringing their life
(27:40):
science companies to findinvestment in the US.
And, likewise, when we thinkabout, okay, opening up other
markets outside the USS fortherapeutic companies, what are
the countries that we're goingto go to?
What relationships can we buildand do we have?
And that helps our membercompanies right when they're
looking to expand XUS indifferent markets.
Ben Comer (28:01):
Yeah, well, I completely buy into the idea of
if you can make it there, youcan make it anywhere.
It's what I told myself when Imoved to New York City with no
prospects, right out of schooltrying to become a writer, so
that makes sense for me.
I wanted to ask New York is inthe midst of a mayoral election
(28:22):
right now, but that aside, bythe time this episode comes out,
I think the election willprobably have been announced, so
I won't ask you to make any.
Yeah, I won't ask you aboutwho's going to win or who you
want to work with, but I amcurious about how important you
know the office of the governoror the mayor of a city like New
(28:44):
York is in terms of the workthat you're doing.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (28:48):
Yeah, look anytime like when you're
building an ecosystem really ofanything, right.
But in this case we're talkingabout life sciences.
It takes a mini year investmentin public private dollars,
right, I mean you have to haveeveryone you know sort of in the
boat rowing in the samedirection right to be successful
(29:10):
.
And in this case we've seen thegovernor's office, and
certainly right now you know,sort of in the boat rowing in
the same direction right to besuccessful.
And in this case we've seen thegovernor's office and certainly
right now you know GovernorHochul announced last fall the
New York Biogenesis Park.
Right, that's going to be outon Long Island.
I think that's like about a$430 million investment in a
cell and gene therapy hub.
(29:30):
That follows on the heels of anannouncement at Roswell Park in
Buffalo that's also going to bea cell and gene.
That was the first cell andgene therapy hub and then the
one in Nassau County is going tobe coming out online in the
next several years.
So you have the state makingsignificant investments, you
have New York City state makingsignificant investments.
(29:52):
You have New York City In thiscase.
We are blessed in New York thatwe have a very robust state
economic development agency anda city economic development
agency right and they work handin hand to recruit, attract,
maintain businesses right in NewYork.
And life sciences has been areally key, important part of
that.
And New York City EconomicDevelopment Agency has been a
(30:15):
really key part of developingthe New York City economic
development of life sciences andthat's been in real estate,
that's been in direct investment.
You know New York Bio isworking right now on building a
resource hub.
It's giving you a sneak peek ofsomething that is still in
(30:35):
somewhat stealth mode.
So we're going to be coming outwith a resource hub for people
from I mean, for all over theworld.
It'll be website-based butit'll be gathering information
that everyone needs on our lifesciences community all in one
spot.
So stay tuned, there'll be moreto come on that.
Ben Comer (30:54):
Oh, interesting.
Well, that include things likeyou know the cost of lab space
and availability of differentkinds of you know manufacturing
capability, that sort of thing.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (31:03):
It'll have facilities, it'll have programs
, it'll have funding, it'll haveevents, it'll have jobs.
Yeah, so news reports, right.
Yeah, so it's going to be acomprehensive resource hub that
aims to connect the communitiesand the individuals with both
(31:24):
right, like what people arelooking for when they're coming
into New York, and then, forthose people who are here and
doing business in sort of thebiotech scene, what will enhance
their ability to do it faster,do it better, right and network
better so that they can bringtheir cures and treatments to
patients even faster and moreefficiently.
Ben Comer (31:44):
Yeah, on New York City, there's a lot to recommend
it.
I mean, I know from livingthere for almost 10 years that
it's a very tight knit ecosystemfor biopharma.
You have obviously largecompanies based in the city as
well as really interesting newand innovative biotechs.
(32:05):
But my question is, you know,is it affordable right now?
If you're, you know, let's say,a scientist-led biotech startup
, you have some intellectualproperties really interesting.
You want to turn it into aproduct.
Is it feasible, you know, toopen up an office with some
employees and do your work inthe city?
(32:27):
And if it isn't, you know whatare some of your other favorite?
I mean, I know I'm going onhere, but Regeneron, for example
, has been an extremelysuccessful company based in
Tarrytown, just a short ride,you know, on the train from New
York City.
But do you have a sense of, Iguess, the affordability
question?
(32:47):
For you know the example that Igave on a biotech startup that
maybe wants to be in the citybut is concerned about the
financial aspect.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (32:57):
Yeah, that's a great question and my
answer six years ago would havebeen very different, right?
So we have a fantastic array ofearly stage space, right, we
have a number of incubators.
We have accelerator programs,right, that may be virtual or
(33:17):
somewhat in-person and virtual,and then we have a lot of space
here and incubator spaces forearly stage companies and those
are in shared.
You know they either haveshared lab space or you know
space where you can rent a benchand then you have an office,
right.
So we have all differentiterations.
And the beautiful thing aboutNew York and when people ask me
about other, you know New Yorkcompared to insert, you know
(33:40):
insert name of other biotech,you know hub I say that we also
are.
It's different, right, new Yorkalways does its own thing, and
in biotech and how we're growingis no different.
And so you may be in, let's say, you're spinning your discovery
out of Columbia, right?
So you're up in, right, up onthe, in the Northwest part of
(34:02):
Manhattan, or you're in Harlemand there are, there are
incubators there, right, andthere are space.
There's Harlem Biospace, thereare some new buildings that have
come online, and then, if youare on the west side, right near
the Stem Cell Foundation, likethere is space that has been
built out there.
If you are on the east side,right in the academic centers
(34:25):
near Rockefeller University,rockefeller has a new incubator
that's on campus Ford IncubatorCenter.
And then, of course, alexandriareally led the way when they
built.
They have two towers right andthey have startup space as well
as build out space, then fullspace for larger companies, down
(34:47):
to where New York Bio islocated, at BioLabs at NYU
Langone, which is we are down inSoho I like to say Soho, but
really it's Hudson Square, andso we're right south of Houston
and so it really is all.
And then Long Island City hasInnoLabs and Hatch, and so it
(35:08):
really is across the city, ifyou're just talking about New
York City.
So it provides opportunitiesfor proximity to academic
centers, particularly if yourfounder is still has one foot in
academia Right, which is oftenthe case Right when they're
spending out in founding.
And then you have access to sortof the ease of public
transportation.
And then you talk about Reg,sort of the ease of, you know,
(35:29):
public transportation.
And then you talk aboutRegeneron in Westchester.
Westchester has a lot ofopportunities and they have
space.
You know that is coming online,and so I think that those are
great.
I live in Westchester right, soI take the train in in the
morning and it's an easy commute.
A reverse commute is easy too.
So I think we have a lot ofavailability and opportunities
(35:52):
for individuals that want tofound and grow companies here.
So I think six years ago Iwould have said, oh you know,
we're getting there, theseprojects are supposed to come
online.
And then you have otherinvestment firms, like Deerfield
, who has built out space thatincludes the Deerfield offices,
but also the Cure, which theyhave an incubator space, and
(36:13):
they have an event space.
And New York Bio will beholding our innovation summit on
September 30th at the Cureright.
They're one of our members andpartners, deerfield is, and so
it's really fun and interestingto go all across the city I mean
the state as well, but youwould ask about the city to see
(36:34):
the different areas that aregrowing and how they're growing
and how New York bio membercompanies and New York bio
activities fit into all of thosedifferent spaces.
Ben Comer (36:43):
What about other parts of the state that are
exciting or interesting to you?
There are clearly, you know,excellent universities in places
like Buffalo and Rochester.
There's activity in Albany, butare there other?
And maybe I just named them,but what are the?
What are the places you know,that that you're excited about,
or that you know strike you, asyou know, growing into an
(37:07):
impressive biotech ecosystem?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (37:10):
Yeah, absolutely, it really is
interesting.
And you know, in large part andthis is not, I mean, new York
is not dissimilar right fromother states.
When we talk about this earlystage ecosystem of any insert,
you know, type of industrygrowing up out of academia,
right, that's often right, youhave those.
You know students, PhD students, in our case right are often
interested in, in beingentrepreneurial and right and
(37:33):
sort of building a business, andso we see it from Stony Brook
right out on Long Island.
Think about Northwell Health,right, which is the largest
employer in New York.
Right, and that is, you know,also on Long Island, is where
they're headquartered.
That's where the BiogenesisPark is going to go, sort of
right next door, right to thefacilities.
(37:54):
Yeah, and then you mentionedRochester, buffalo, albany.
Certainly the Capital Regionhas some really interesting
opportunities there.
You know, regeneron atRensselaer has a pretty large
facility in the capital region,right across the river from
Albany, as well as Taconic,another of our member companies,
(38:15):
and so you see the work they'redoing there.
The Albany College of Sciencesthey've built out some training
space for students that want towork in biotech, pharma, but may
not want to do the whole PhDroute.
So we need all levels right ofthe workforce, and so they've
been doing some really good workthere.
And then when you look atacademic institutions that are
(38:37):
world class in Rochester and inBuffalo and their early stage
companies that they're doing,you know, empire Discovery
Institute is based in Rochesterbut it's a combination of the
partnership between theUniversity of Rochester, the
University at Buffalo andRoswell Park Comprehensive
(38:58):
Cancer Center right also atBuffalo, and so they're looking
at discoveries that are comingout of those three institutions
and Ron Newbold runs that anddoes a fantastic job of really
identifying right potential winsfor those three institutions as
they collaborate.
And then we are doing, you know,one thing that New York Bio
does.
We talked about a lot of thedifferent things.
(39:20):
One of the things we do is wehave a fellows program for early
stage companies.
Very specifically, early stagecompanies raised less less than
7.5 million to be eligible toparticipate, and one of the
programmatic pieces we do weprovide opportunities for them
to pitch, receive feedback ontheir pitches, and we do it in
(39:41):
different locations across thestate.
July 15th we will be inRochester for a pitch day and
they'll have a series of judgesthat will right, that will look
at the pitches, give themfeedback.
But even before that, we pairthem with mentors and they work
on their pitches withprofessionals in a nonjudgmental
(40:01):
setting, right to help them bebetter.
Refine the pitch, talk aboutyou know who the audience is and
what they want to get out of it, before they pitch in front of
a broader audience.
And those really I mean there'snot a ton of prize money
attached to it, right, it'sother opportunities to go to
have access to things, but it'sbeen really good right for our
companies.
Ben Comer (40:22):
Yeah, I mean that sounds like an excellent program
and you mentioned thatDeerfield is a member company.
Do you have other banks orinvestment groups that are part
of your membership and arepeople actually pitching to
those groups or how are theyinvolved in your membership?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (40:40):
Yeah, we do.
We work closely with a number ofinvestors.
You know Aisling is another oneof our members and I have
actually a board member fromAisling and a board member from
Deerfield right that sit on theNew York Bio board.
We're I'm grateful to have avery good cross section.
I have 30 board members on theNew York Bio board and so our my
goal, as we look at the boardsort of composition, is to
(41:03):
really create right a board thatis reflective of the ecosystem
and so it has ones for everybody.
But we also work closely with anumber of investors sort of
throughout the year and the goalof the mini pitch days is less
about them, you know, closing adeal right at that particular
pitch, and more about theability to improve their pitch
(41:26):
and then build relationships.
So we will have investors thatcome particularly for their
networking reception part.
They're not there to so muchjudge the pitch but they do get
exposure and then they get thechance to meet and talk to the
founders right in a networkingsetting which has proven right
beneficial for everybody.
Ben Comer (41:43):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , I'm thinking about your
membership for everybody.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, I'mthinking about your membership.
What would you say are, I guess, some of the biggest needs that
they have right now, and Iguess I'm wondering if they're
the same kind of macroeconomicfunding issue needs that the
entire industry is up againstright now, or if there are other
(42:04):
things that are maybe unique toyour member groups in New York.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (42:12):
Look, I would love to sit here and tell
you that there was some weirdniche thing that only New York
bio could fill.
But I mean, but the reality is,if you were talking about
financial conditions, right, byand large they are driven by the
science.
How fast you're advancing thescience?
What is your next inflectionpoint?
Right, and that is only donewhen you have funding to do the
(42:33):
experiments and to go throughyour process.
And I will tell you that, by andlarge, macroeconomic conditions
in the industry are impactingeverybody, right, and you see
that with the public markets.
You see that with valuations,right for private companies, and
(42:54):
whether they're raising money,they're not raising money
necessarily at the samevaluation that they were right
in 2020 or 2020.
So you can't discount sort ofthe macroeconomic conditions.
With that said, I think whatNew York Bio has done and what
our member companies that aresuccessful have done is really
(43:16):
focus on what they can control,where they can get to next.
You have to tune out, right,some of the noise, whether it's
the noise from Washington,whether it's noise from the
markets, right, whatever that isand focus on what you can
control, where you can get tonext to make advances along your
(43:38):
path.
Ben Comer (43:40):
Right right, there's been a big push at the national
level to bring manufacturingback to the US.
I mean, I think that's a largepart of the strategy with
tariffs and I'm wondering if youhave sensed or noticed new
manufacturing coming into thestate or people asking questions
(44:04):
about that, whether it'scompanies wanting to build their
own manufacturing or CDMOs, youknow, wanting to build a new
factory in the state.
Are you seeing that happen atall?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (44:14):
Yeah, we definitely are.
We're seeing, and I'm certainlyseeing Empire State Development
right, which is the stateeconomic development agency,
also right being super focusedon if a company has made an
announcement right that they aregoing.
If it's a domestic company,they're going to own shore, or
if it's a, you know,international company that says
they're going to invest inmanufacturing capabilities Like
(44:35):
they, as do I would like forthem to locate here.
Of course, and look, it's abusiness decision and the best
case we make is just talkingabout all of the things right
that New York has to offer.
And for us, for New York Bio,it's how we can help connect the
dots right.
If you put a facility here andif you build a facility in New
(44:56):
York State, then we will have arole in helping you fold into
the community.
Make sure you're right, havingthe right people.
We can help with making thoseconnections right, making it
more seamless for your companyas you build out a business here
.
Look, I mean we had to reallylook at the supply chain.
After COVID, I think we saw thevulnerabilities right with the
(45:19):
supply chain.
I also think that you know thepharmaceutical market, both for
finished therapeutics, activepharmaceutical ingredients right
, it is a global supply chainand it has grown over.
I mean, it has taken decades tomake it into a global supply
chain and so, as they say, someof those decisions are way above
(45:42):
my pay grade.
But I think companies aretrying to be thoughtful and
understand.
At the end of the day, wherecan we address vulnerabilities
in the supply chain whilemaintaining their ability to
reach patients worldwide?
Still, we can't discount theneed to make sure patients are
taken care of wherever theyexist in the globe in the globe.
Ben Comer (46:10):
Are you hearing and maybe just anecdotally or maybe
not, but are you hearing aboutany impacts to your members in
response to or because of,changes at the NIH in terms of
funding cuts?
I'm just curious, you know, ifany of that is kind of making it
back to you at this point.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (46:26):
Yes, I mean anecdotally.
Yes, we have heard concernsabout whether NIH grants are
being paid or being paid in atimely manner.
Right, I do think, and I'veheard recently, is that as
things settle out a little bitmeaning there's not quite so
much flux right in news comingout of NIH or FDA, right, like I
(46:50):
think, as things hit moresteady state, companies are able
to navigate a little better.
You know, you had a lot ofpersonnel turnover and maybe
turmoil is the right word rightsort of earlier in the year, and
I think as that quiets downthrough various channels, then
we're seeing companies beingable to get back right a little
(47:14):
bit more to a steady state.
You know, and NIH, new York Bioand several of our colleague
trade associations across thecountry, new York Bio convened
on everyone's behalf a webinarrecently on NIH funding
opportunities.
There is a funding opportunity.
I think the deadline isactually June 10th so it will
(47:38):
have passed by the time thiscomes out.
But my point in bringing thatup is there are opportunities
for funding through NIH, throughtheir grant programs.
It's not like everything justshut down right, and trade
associations can help companiesfind the path to get right.
(47:59):
So find the right person totalk, to find a program officer
to have that conversation with,to try and figure out if it's
SBIR funding or STTR right forthe academic standpoint.
Like what is that?
How can I find the right avenueto not only figure out if
there's funding, but to then askthe right questions.
And so that's part of our jobis to make sure you can be
(48:19):
connected.
Ben Comer (48:20):
Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned the other state,
kind of state levelorganizations like yours I was
curious about how you work withthem.
And if it's kind of state levelorganizations like yours, I was
curious about how you work withthem and if it's kind of a
formalized thing or if it's sortof ad hoc based on, you know,
whatever a need is.
I mean, I don't think everystate has, you know, a trade
organization specificallyfocused on on biopharma.
(48:43):
Obviously a number of them do.
Some are, you know, bigger thanothers and smaller than others,
but I.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (48:59):
how would you describe that relationship
between?
New York Bio and other statelevel organizations.
It's totally valid.
So we have there is a, theCouncil of State Biotech
Associations, csba, right, andit is a federation of the
different state biotechassociations, of which I think
that there are 49 state biotech.
(49:20):
Some states have multiplesRight.
So California has multipleassociations, texas has several
associations, and so what we dois and then there is a board of
directors for the Council ofState Biotech Associations.
I sit on that board of directorsand so I get to work in that
formalized setting with mycolleagues from across the
(49:41):
country, and then I work in anad hoc.
You know, I work very closelywith my all of my colleagues in
the region, right From Maine,massachusetts, rhode Island,
connecticut, new Jersey,pennsylvania, right, and the
list goes on Delaware, the listgoes on.
Really, the entire regionreally works closely together
(50:01):
and we look for ways to supporteach other and our member
companies, which is fantasticBecause, you know, often we have
, you know, there may be NewYorkers that work in Connecticut
or Boston, and certainly thereare people that live in New York
and work in New Jersey and viceversa, right.
So we're always looking forways to be supportive and
(50:22):
collaborate and we do a prettygood job, I think of finding
ways to collaborate, certainlyat the advocacy level.
Ben Comer (50:30):
Yeah, what are your top priorities, jennifer, for, I
guess, the second half of 2025at New York, bio and you know
anything else that's kind of atop of mind or top priority for
you.
You know, forward looking,thinking about, you know what's
coming in the next year.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (50:51):
Yeah, Ben, very good question.
I like the forward leaningquestion.
Look, I think for me, for NewYork Bio, it is about making
sure our members understand weare staying the course
advocating on their behalf.
We tune out the noise when it'snoise, we pay attention when
(51:11):
it's going to be substantive andwe engage.
Whether it is at the federallevel on policy, whether it is
funding mechanisms right thatCongress is considering, or the
administration is considering,whether it's actual policies
that impact patient access inAlbany right, or the governor is
considering whether to veto orsign legislation, New York Bio
(51:33):
will be there and be engaged.
If it is creating opportunitiesfor networking and connection
building and ecosystemenhancement, New York Bio is
there.
We are the convener, we are theassistant, we are supporting
others that are convening groupsright across the state, and so
for me it's exciting to seeeverything that is we have
(51:56):
coming up in the second half ofthe year.
Bio, our website is easy tofind.
Check it out.
You can see all of those thingswhere you two individually can
engage and look.
My goal is to enhance theecosystem and, at the end of the
(52:16):
day, my ultimate goal is tomake sure more patients have
better access to therapeuticsthat are created here in the US,
and whatever little part I cando and New York Bio does, for
that is going to be a win.
Ben Comer (52:31):
Are there any specific policies, either at the
state level or federal level,that you're particularly focused
on right now?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (52:39):
Yeah, I mean we're always interested in
funding levels, right for ourearly stage research grants,
whether that's, you know, theSBIR program, right?
The Small Business InnovationResearch Grant program at the
federal level is up forreauthorization this year, and
so that's important.
So you have two things there,right?
You have appropriations, so youhave the money that is spent,
(53:01):
and then you have theauthorizing legislation, meaning
the program's existence.
You have to have both.
You have to have a program thatis put into existence and then
reauthorized every time itexpires, and then you have to
have the funds that areappropriated and therefore then
dispersed to those companies.
So you know we're going to beworking on that at the federal
level and then at the statelevel.
(53:24):
New York State is a quasipart-time legislature, right?
They will finish the majority ofthe work on their legislative
session in mid-June and then wesuspect this year that they may
be back.
Depending on what happens withfunding at the federal level,
new York may have to come backfor a special session in the
(53:46):
fall to adjust their budgetbecause they make certain
assumptions about how muchfederal funding will flow to the
state, and if those assumptionsprove to be incorrect because
things are changing at a rapidpace, then they'll come back and
so, yeah, so we work oneverything from whether it is,
you know, 340b drug pricing toprescription drug, importation,
(54:10):
patent settlement, legislationso very, very specific types of
policy issues to the biggerpieces of funding for centers of
excellence and centers foradvanced technology and funding
for things like we talked aboutearlier, right with the
Biogenesis Park and the cell andgene therapy hubs.
Like we talked about earlier,right with the Biogenesis Park
(54:30):
and the cell and gene therapyhubs.
We really engage on a broadcross-section of issues that
bubble up both at the state andthe federal, and sometimes both.
Ben Comer (54:37):
Yeah, and do you.
Is agriculture included too inyour organization?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (54:43):
Yeah, so we don't.
In New York in particular, wedon't have as many.
You know, my colleague, mycolleague, ceos in the Midwest
in particular have a lot more ofthe ag and environment
companies.
I have a soft spot rightbecause I grew up.
(55:11):
I grew up on a farm and then Ialso grew up early in my career
doing ag policy right, like Imentioned earlier.
And so yes, and so I also thinkthat when you're looking, if
you think about biotechnologyalso through a biosecurity lens,
you have to think about onehealth.
You have to think about howanimal health, human health,
right, plant health, really aregoing to all work together.
And I think it's a nationalsecurity issue that we really
need to pay attention to how howthe choices that we make at the
policy level whether it's ag,environment, human health they
(55:35):
really all do need to be madewith an idea of thinking about,
ultimately, how they all worktogether to both protect our
national security, but also howthis sort of one health umbrella
makes a difference.
Ben Comer (55:48):
Right, excellent.
Well, jennifer, we have come toour time pretty quickly here.
I really appreciate you comingon the show.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (55:55):
Oh, my gosh Ben, I had a great time.
Thank you so much.
This was fun.
Ben Comer (55:58):
Yeah, thank you.
We've been speaking withJennifer Hawks-Bland, ceo at New
York Bio.
I'm Ben Comer and you've justlistened to the Business of
Biotech.
Find us and subscribe anywhereyou listen to podcasts and be
sure to check out our new weeklyvideocasts of these
conversations every Monday underthe Business of Biotech tab at
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We'll see you next week andthanks for listening you.
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(00:44):
Welcome back to the Business ofBiotech.
I'm your host, Ben Comer, ChiefEditor at Life Science Leader,
and today I'm excited to speakwith Jennifer Hawkes Bland, CEO
of New YorkBIO, the New YorkState Trade Organization, and
advocate for life sciencescompanies, universities and
research institutions in NewYork State.
Jennifer is an attorney who hasworked in government affairs at
(01:06):
Merck and GlaxoSmithKline andbefore she went to law school,
she spent some time on the Hillas a legislative assistant to
former US Senator Thad Cochran.
I'm excited to chat withJennifer today about what she's
hearing from her membershipduring a time of change in
political leadership leadershipto find out more about how
(01:26):
state-level organizations likeNew York Bio support life
sciences companies and help themgrow, and what her priorities
are for the second half of 2025.
Thanks so much for being here,Jennifer.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (01:38):
Oh hey, thanks, Ben.
I am thrilled to join you today, and just with that intro alone
I feel like just one or twopieces of that.
We can spend the whole timecovering it.
Ben Comer (01:49):
Yes, yes, you're absolutely right.
Well, let's get right back intoit.
I want to start out with yourbackground experience, as we do
here on the business of biotechI mentioned in the intro.
You went straight out ofundergrad into political work.
You worked on the Hill as alegislative assistant to Thad
Cochran.
(02:09):
I'm curious, you know, if youwere planning a career in
politics at that time.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (02:16):
Yeah, you know it was.
It was interesting.
And I think every kid has oneof those moments where they're
like this is what I'm going todo, right, like whether it's be
an astronaut or a firefighter orwhatever, it is right.
And I was one of those nerdykids who went to Washington,
right like and toured, and Iremember being like walking in
the Capitol and thinking this iswhat I'm going to do, I'm going
(02:37):
to work here one day, right,and that was my moment.
And so I also was lucky enoughin undergrad that I majored in
political science.
I did not change my major,unlike so many of my of my
colleagues in undergrad, whichmeant that my last semester was
glorious Tuesday, thursday,classes like nine to noon, but I
(02:59):
was able to really focus inpolitical science was what I
wanted to do.
I actually interned for SenatorCochran in his Jackson
Mississippi office after myjunior year, so between junior
and senior year it also happenedto be and Senator Cochran he's
passed away, but he was aRepublican and there also
(03:19):
happened to be the Republicanconvention happening that summer
and I also figured out thatSenator Cochran needed me as an
intern to assist at theconvention, which was an amazing
way that I got to also partakein something really kind of
exciting and fun, a piece ofthat truly political theater,
right, and it only sort ofsealed the deal that I wanted to
(03:40):
go to Washington after college.
And I did that for severalyears.
Yeah, for six years, is thatright?
Yep, and three of those.
Actually, I worked in SenatorCochran's Mississippi office
while I was in law school, so Iaffectionately refer to it as
the Thad Cochran Law SchoolScholarship for Jennifer Hawks
(04:01):
at the time, because I would goclerk at firms in the summer and
then come back and have my jobback in during the school year.
Ben Comer (04:08):
Oh, excellent.
Well, what made you decide toget a law degree?
I mean, at that point, were youstill on a path to go into
politics or had you alreadydecided that?
You know, maybe it wasn't foryou.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (04:19):
Yeah, so I love, I love the politics part.
I also love the policy part andthe advocacy right.
So just petitioning thegovernment, like those sorts of
things, and I realized that thatskill set could really also be
honed right with law school.
It also taught me to be abetter critical thinker.
It 100% taught me to be abetter writer.
(04:40):
It took all the flowery writingthat a political science
undergrad major may have usedand just redlined that down to
be more effective and moreconcise.
But it was interesting.
So my path sort of to the pharmayou know, biotech world started
when I was placed in my lawfirm and I was randomly assigned
(05:04):
to the pharmaceutical productsdefense litigation sort of
practice group, right as a firstyear associate.
Many times you're, you know,sort of assigned.
You have, you know you havecertain aptitudes or whatever,
and I knew I wanted to trylitigation.
Hence, right, that's that themeof advocacy Right Running
through.
And maybe I would have been inconstruction law and we wouldn't
(05:25):
have been having thisconversation today, but I wasn't
, and so our company is.
Our clients at the firm were.
In this case we were workingwith pharmaceutical companies,
right therapeutics companies,and in defending them against
claims from plaintiffs allegingright that their therapeutics
had injured the plaintiffs inthe course of their therapeutic
(05:48):
treatment.
Ben Comer (05:49):
Right, and so then you moved over to in-house and
worked in government affairs,regulatory kind of roles, first
at GSK and then at Merck.
I guess how would you describethat experience of working at?
You know large pharmaceuticalcompanies GSK and Merck and I'm
(06:10):
curious, you know what you mightsay about, you know, some of
the biggest policy or regulatoryissues that you had to contend
with during that time.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (06:19):
Yeah.
So, like any good story, it'scircuitous, right, rarely is
anything interesting and totallylinear.
And as I talked, I talked to alot of college students, you
know, these days, and gradstudents these days, and I tell
them to, you know, be wary ofwhat they think is going to be
this very straight, linear path,because that A is usually not
(06:41):
the way it happens, but B, if ithappens that way, you might be
missing out on some otheropportunities, right?
So there's my, there's my pieceof career advice for the
students.
But what happened is I practicedlaw, then moved back to
Washington DC, so second tourright in DC, and worked at the
(07:02):
Consumer Healthcare ProductsAssociation, which is the
national trade associationrepresenting over-the-counter
medicine makers, of which GSK,sharing Plow, which later became
Merck, were members of thattrade association.
So I was recruited to goin-house at GlaxoSmithKline
because they saw my work and Iworked with them at the trade
(07:27):
association.
And so it was interesting forme when I traded in right, I
traded in my jury that I was,you know, advocating in front of
, on behalf of my clients tomembers of Congress, members of
the state legislature, membersof an executive branch right in
the state, to talk about theimportance of policy issues to,
(07:47):
at that point, right, my company.
Right because I wasrepresenting an individual
company.
So it really isn't.
It wasn't different in a skillset, it was advocacy.
My audience was just different.
Ben Comer (07:59):
Yeah Well, are there any issues that particularly
stick out in your memory aseither challenging or just
interesting to work on, that youhad to go out and explain to
legislative bodies?
I mean some of these, you know.
You know these issues are verycomplicated.
They're not understood well bythe general public, including
(08:20):
many members of Congress.
Well, what's what stuck out?
You know from your time ofhaving to kind of educate and
advocate for Merck and GSK.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, how long do we have, Ben?
The list is lengthy, but I willtell you.
I'll tell you a couple ofscenarios.
One is, and this is one of myfavorite stories.
So I am originally fromMississippi.
For those of you who might haveknown Thad Cochran, you would
know that he is a Mississippisenator that we talked about
earlier, and I was working onpatent reform right for GSK
(08:55):
along with colleagues, and wewere looking, we were trying to
create a dear colleague letter,which meant a letter right for
some members of Congress to therest of Congress.
They were writing theircolleagues to talk about the
importance of an issue In thiscase it was patent reform and we
needed to craft a letter thathad patent holding signatories
(09:15):
from every state represented,right, so you had all the states
represented and obviously thereare some states where there
aren't pharma companies thatexist there that would have had,
you know, those types ofpatents.
And, however, in Mississippi,one thing that is very important
in the state is agriculture,and through my work, I did ag
(09:38):
work when I worked for SenatorCochran first, and you can take
what is it, you can take thegirl out of the farm, but you
can't, right, and so I knewsomeone that developed seeds and
so right, like to plant in theground and new strains and new,
and they held patents that way.
So my my, to take it back, Iwas like you, never
(09:59):
underestimate the work you doalong the way and the impact
that it can have later in yourcareer, right, and so that was a
good example of impact that itcan have later in your career,
right, and so that was a goodexample of something that you
would have never thought wouldhave ever sort of rolled back
around.
And yet pharma companies andseed companies value the IP
creates a lot of the value forthe therapeutic for that seed in
(10:21):
this case, and so we were ableto sort of combine forces and
really work together acrossindustries to have an impact
ultimately on patients.
Ben Comer (10:31):
And this was I'm thinking this was probably after
Ted Kennedy led the effort toget that.
You know, the 12 years ofexclusivity for biologics that
had already been passed at thattime.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (10:41):
Yes.
Ben Comer (10:42):
Not that that has to do with seeds, but I'm just
trying to put it into thetimeline here.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (10:46):
Exactly Right, yes, and then another
really kind of interesting thingwe worked on at the federal
level was it's called track andtrace right, Colloquially right.
So serialization right oftherapeutics as they work their
way through the supply chain,right of therapeutics as they
work their way through the rightthrough the supply chain, and
what we found ourselves in aposition where you had a number
(11:08):
of states California right, sortof on the leading edge of this
that were enacting differingrequirements for tracking and
tracing lots of therapeutics asthey went through, right, the
distribution process, and so wereally needed to craft federal
legislation, and some of youraudience might be surprised,
(11:31):
some will not be surprised thatit is an incredibly large lift
to start from scratch and askCongress to pass something novel
and new that doesn't exist, tocreate a framework, and so that
took a number of years and ittook an incredible cross section
of industry the supply chainright, Like all of the, all of
the companies that work in asupply chain, to get a
(11:53):
therapeutic from where thepharma company produces it to
where it is fulfilled in yourlocal pharmacy, Right and so,
and so that was something thatwas incredibly rewarding.
It took a long time, but justworking together across sort of
so many different entities,really shows you the power that
(12:15):
our industry can have when it iswhen everyone is sort of rowing
in the same direction in thesame direction.
Ben Comer (12:26):
Yeah, I mean, I got to.
It's got to be prettysatisfying to start out from,
you know, an educationalstandpoint of like what, what
even is this issue all the waythrough to getting you know a
new policy you know enacted.
I'm sure that that's, that's asatisfying job to be in.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (12:39):
And and and.
Some days it's more satisfying.
It doesn't always work out thatway, and some days it's more
sad.
It doesn't always work out thatway.
Ben Comer (12:46):
Right, let's talk about New York Bio.
You have large pharma corporatemembers, and so let me, before
I go into my little spiel aboutwhat New York Bio is, which I
should probably have you do Idid have a question.
I was just sort of flippingthrough the membership files and
I noticed some company namesthat I would kind of consider to
(13:10):
be California companies, andthey're like Amgen or Genentech
that are members of New York Bio.
Your membership also includes,of course, startups, smaller
companies, universities andresearchers, but I guess is it
sort of open to all comers or,if you have an affiliate in New
(13:31):
York, is that, is that how itworks?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (13:33):
No, so it's.
It's really open to all comers,right, if your company is
interested and in it's either anR&D company, it may be a
patient advocacy organizationright, it could be an academic
medical institution.
And if you either have apresence in New York or you're
interested in work that's goingon in New York, whether and one
(13:58):
thing that we see with a lot ofvery early stage companies,
especially post-COVID, is theywill have employees, even small
companies maybe that have 10 or20 people that work there.
They'll be scattered right,because a lot of what they do
they can do virtually right,obviously, lab work is different
, and so maybe someone is in NewYork, maybe someone's in Ohio,
(14:20):
maybe someone's in Michigan orCalifornia.
And so if it makes sense forthose companies to join a trade
association in their differentplaces, right, because of the
networking and the opportunitiesthat that provides.
So we have a mix and you'reright, I think one of our member
companies, which is a biotechcompany based in California, new
(14:42):
York, bio, was the firstnon-California trade association
right that they joined becausethey were interested in the
advocacy work that we do inAlbany with the state
legislature and the governor'soffice.
Right, that was a reallyimportant piece for them,
because part of access forpatients depends on, you know,
(15:04):
medicaid coverage and otherright, other policy choices that
the state government makes asfar as access for patients.
So there's a lot of there's alot of intersection, no matter
where you're based.
If you have patients in NewYork, then it can be impactful,
and my apologies, because I amsitting in New York City right
(15:25):
now and it sounds like the firetrucks are right behind me.
Ben Comer (15:30):
Hey, that's part of the city, that's no problem, no
worries, I'm not even hearing iton my end.
I was just thinking about, youknow, companies that might be
partnered or collaborating withthe university or have partners
that are in New York, not tomention even remote employees
that live there.
So that makes sense.
I want to ask next aboutsmaller and earlier stage
(15:52):
organizations that you'reworking with, and my question is
how and I guess I'm puttingmyself in the shoes of you know
I'm giving myself a promotion,I'm putting myself in the shoes
of a CEO at a startup or someother member of the leadership
team.
In early stage biotech, there'sa huge focus on asset
(16:15):
development, progressing, acandidate getting to the next
milestone or catalyst, gettingthe data in.
You know, making sure every,all the T's are crossed and I's
are dotted it.
I imagine that, uh, governmentpolicy advocacy may end up
falling kind of down the list,at least at first, uh, until
there's an issue you know that'sdirectly affecting your company
(16:38):
.
But how do you you know what?
What would you say to smaller,either startups or early stage
organizations about how theyshould start thinking about
government affairs and advocacyand how they can make their
voices heard?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (16:54):
Yeah, and I will say even a step back,
further than that.
Right, they're worried aboutthe valley of death, their run
rate, right, all of the things.
Ben Comer (17:01):
Yeah, absolutely Right, all of the things.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (17:02):
Yeah, absolutely that's starting up a
new company, not to mention onethat you know has a nine and ten
chance of of not surviving orgetting a therapeutic to the
market.
They don't even know, right,they don't know that they need
to even worry about it.
And so if they happen on NewYork bio through, whether it's
(17:23):
through our network here whichis usually right so it's the
convenings that we do in NewYork across the state or whether
it's our LinkedIn presence orwhatever they realize they're
like, oh OK, this organizationis here.
So one thing we talk topotential new members about is
the advocacy piece, because, atthe end of the day, they are
less likely to get funded to dowhat they want to do right,
(17:48):
which is to bring a therapeutic,a device, you know, a digital
opportunity right to patients ifthere is not a regulatory
pathway to approval andreimbursement, and those are
almost always policy choices.
They are policy choices in thepublic sector, whether it's
Medicare, medicaid, right, orthey are policy choices right in
(18:11):
the private sector throughthrough private insurance and
coverage.
But there's often a lot ofoverlap right in those things,
in the way therapeutics aretreated.
Talk to them about what we'redoing on their behalf and on all
of our members' behalf, right,and we have a government affairs
(18:33):
committee of our members and itis primarily staffed by
companies with governmentaffairs professionals, but we do
have some of our members thatjoin that are interested, and so
maybe they're personallyinterested and then I'll take
member companies to Washingtonright a couple of times a year
at least.
It seems to be more importantand top of mind these days to
talk about Washington, buthaving the ability for someone,
(18:59):
a founder, particularly rightwho is building a business it
happens to be a biotech or atherapeutics company or a
digital device company buthaving them talk about hiring
people, building a business,growing the payroll, in New York
is really impactful.
And I talked to them abouttelling their story to
(19:22):
policymakers, because thatultimately moves the needle.
Ben Comer (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, right.
I mean that makes a lot ofsense, and I'm just thinking too
about the amount of news churnthat's happening right now and
sometimes even for me, who'ssomeone who reads the news every
day, I can't always make headsor tails of what is being
proposed versus what's beenenacted.
Do you get questions from yourearly stage members who may not
(19:52):
have a government affairsposition at the company just
saying, hey, I don't know whatto make of this.
Can you explain this to me orhelp me make my voice heard if
it's an issue that I need tospeak on?
I mean, do you have a lot ofcalls like that?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (20:04):
We do.
We have some calls like thatand then we provide sort of like
a monthly member-only briefingright, which covers a lot more
of the advocacy work we do andthat will go out to all of our
member companies, and so that'shelpful, right, because it sort
of lays out sort of what we'vebeen working on if the
legislature the New Yorklegislature is in session, like
sort of what we've been workingon in Albany, and then obviously
(20:24):
, what we're working on at thefederal level, and so that's
helpful.
But that does lead to some goodconversations, right.
And then we're always lookingfor people who want to express,
right, their concerns, theirsupport, right, because it's not
only concerns, although myfavorite thing and for those of
you who have known me a while,I've said this over and over
again usually when we're dealingwith a sort of a thorny or
(20:47):
complex policy issue, you knowour side, the pharma, biotech,
you know sort of side has awhite paper and the opponents
usually have a bumper stickerand so and look, I mean I'm a
lawyer by training, you think Iwould be succinct, training,
(21:08):
you'd think I would be succinct.
Our scientists write whitepapers, they do research, right,
they think really big picturethings and they really are
looking for ways to sort of movethe needle right for humankind
right and for the health of theworld, and it doesn't lend
itself to a bumper sticker typeadvocacy.
(21:29):
So part of the job of a tradeassociation is to try and take
those really sort of deepthoughts and those learnings and
help translate that intolayman's terms, if you will
right, so policymakers canunderstand the real impact on
patients, on economicdevelopment, right On health as
a whole.
So that's one of the roles thattrade associations, and in this
(21:54):
case New York Bio in particular, can play.
Ben Comer (21:56):
Right, that's one of the roles.
What would you say are, I guess, your primary objectives or
mission at New York Bio?
Is it advocacy in terms ofpolicy and advocating for the
policy that your members want?
Is that number one?
Or how would you, I guess,characterize the overall mission
?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (22:16):
Yeah.
So it's a great question and itreally depends on where you sit
.
So if you are a therapeuticscompany or a patient advocacy
group, then we're going toreally probably work really
closely right on the advocacyissues.
We also we do a patientengagement summit every year,
right, so we bring in hundredsof patient engagement patient
(22:39):
research foundations along,matching them with pharma
biotech executives and have, youknow, conversations about the
work we can do together.
We also, then, do a lot ofconvening.
So if you're an early stagefounder CEO and it's important
that you network with othersimilarly situated founders, you
want to find your community,and part of your community is
(23:03):
wherever you sit, whether we'rehosting something in New York
City or on Long Island or inRochester or Buffalo or Albany
right, we do all of those things.
It's about creatingopportunities for our members in
a whole bunch of ways.
So the convening is one right.
So networking education we do alot of.
(23:25):
Our networking events alsoinclude, let's say, panel
discussions or fireside chats,topics that are really hot and
top of mind.
Now, you were talking aboutreading the news every day.
Right, it's, whether it's in,you know, different national
publications or tradepublications right, it's a
really important way we gatherthat.
Yeah, so it's.
It depends on where you sit.
Our goal is to provide the mostvalue across the broadest group
(23:48):
of our members at any giventime.
Ben Comer (23:51):
Are you also you know to your point about convening?
Are you also sourcing thingsfor people like you know?
I wonder if you're gettingmembers who might say you know I
really need to find you know asmall manufacturer for you know
my IND submission, or you know Ireally am looking for you know
(24:11):
a CEO who has successfully, youknow, received approval,
commercialized a couple ofproducts to advise us.
I mean, are you able to kind ofcreate those linkages between
member works?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (24:23):
Yeah, we do a lot of matchmaking right.
For lack of a better term amongour members, among our sponsors,
right, and the programs we do.
You know we also host.
I've really leaned in right tosort of New York as a finance
hub, and so New York Bio I meanno one else offers, right, the
(24:45):
access, the exposure to thefinancial, certainly to the
financial markets, but really tothe financial infrastructure, I
would argue, of the world,right.
Then you have a New York, andso New York Bio has a whole
series of finance-focused eventsthroughout the year in two
weeks why we chose the weekafter Bio in Boston, I'm not
(25:08):
sure but in a couple of weeks wewill host the New York Bio
Finance Summit, and so that'sgoing to be a good opportunity
to really have some deepconversations.
The audience is going to beinvestors, early stage companies
, early stage CEOs, so they canmake those connections as well
as learn from some experts inthe field right now about topics
(25:30):
that are, you know, that arevery top of mind for everybody.
Ben Comer (25:33):
Yeah, and you know your point on funding is, it is
well taken, a critical aspect,particularly of a startup or
early stage biotech.
You know building that runwayto progressing your product and
I suspect you that you might bea little biased on the answer to
this question, but I'mwondering what you would say
about, you know, do you thinkthat being based in New York,
(25:55):
for all the reasons that youjust gave, gives you an edge in
terms of receiving funding?
Or, you know, are other, areyou so connected, kind of
nationally, that other companiesthat you know, if they have a,
you know great compellingscience and you know, if they
have a, you know greatcompelling science and you know
an interesting offering, thatyou know that you can help out
others as well.
Or I mean, would you?
(26:15):
I guess the root of my question, jennifer, is if you're you
know about to found a biotechand you're looking around at
places you know to land, do yougo to New York State because you
feel like you might have abetter opportunity for getting
some investment versus otherstates?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (26:36):
Well, ben, that seems like a layup.
Here's what I think.
I think the old adage is trueIf you can make it here, you can
make it anywhere, right?
So I think New York is anepicenter, but what I really
think is investment will follow.
Good science, right, and goodscience exists across the US.
(26:57):
So it would be foolhardy of meto say that, yes, you need to be
here, you don't?
Look, we have so many greatthings to offer in New York.
Of course, I think companiesshould start here and grow here.
However, we work with companiesreally across the US and across
the globe, right when you thinkabout New York.
Also, you know, another thingthat we haven't even touched on
(27:20):
is right, we have the UN here.
We have, you know, countrieshave their offices, certainly
for the UN, but many haveconsular offices right, which is
, their economic offices rightabroad, and so we work with a
lot of foreign entities as theythink about bringing their life
(27:40):
science companies to findinvestment in the US.
And, likewise, when we thinkabout, okay, opening up other
markets outside the USS fortherapeutic companies, what are
the countries that we're goingto go to?
What relationships can we buildand do we have?
And that helps our membercompanies right when they're
looking to expand XUS indifferent markets.
Ben Comer (28:01):
Yeah, well, I completely buy into the idea of
if you can make it there, youcan make it anywhere.
It's what I told myself when Imoved to New York City with no
prospects, right out of schooltrying to become a writer, so
that makes sense for me.
I wanted to ask New York is inthe midst of a mayoral election
(28:22):
right now, but that aside, bythe time this episode comes out,
I think the election willprobably have been announced, so
I won't ask you to make any.
Yeah, I won't ask you aboutwho's going to win or who you
want to work with, but I amcurious about how important you
know the office of the governoror the mayor of a city like New
(28:44):
York is in terms of the workthat you're doing.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (28:48):
Yeah, look anytime like when you're
building an ecosystem really ofanything, right.
But in this case we're talkingabout life sciences.
It takes a mini year investmentin public private dollars,
right, I mean you have to haveeveryone you know sort of in the
boat rowing in the samedirection right to be successful
(29:10):
.
And in this case we've seen thegovernor's office, and
certainly right now you know,sort of in the boat rowing in
the same direction right to besuccessful.
And in this case we've seen thegovernor's office and certainly
right now you know GovernorHochul announced last fall the
New York Biogenesis Park.
Right, that's going to be outon Long Island.
I think that's like about a$430 million investment in a
cell and gene therapy hub.
(29:30):
That follows on the heels of anannouncement at Roswell Park in
Buffalo that's also going to bea cell and gene.
That was the first cell andgene therapy hub and then the
one in Nassau County is going tobe coming out online in the
next several years.
So you have the state makingsignificant investments, you
have New York City state makingsignificant investments.
(29:52):
You have New York City In thiscase.
We are blessed in New York thatwe have a very robust state
economic development agency anda city economic development
agency right and they work handin hand to recruit, attract,
maintain businesses right in NewYork.
And life sciences has been areally key, important part of
that.
And New York City EconomicDevelopment Agency has been a
(30:15):
really key part of developingthe New York City economic
development of life sciences andthat's been in real estate,
that's been in direct investment.
You know New York Bio isworking right now on building a
resource hub.
It's giving you a sneak peek ofsomething that is still in
(30:35):
somewhat stealth mode.
So we're going to be coming outwith a resource hub for people
from I mean, for all over theworld.
It'll be website-based butit'll be gathering information
that everyone needs on our lifesciences community all in one
spot.
So stay tuned, there'll be moreto come on that.
Ben Comer (30:54):
Oh, interesting.
Well, that include things likeyou know the cost of lab space
and availability of differentkinds of you know manufacturing
capability, that sort of thing.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (31:03):
It'll have facilities, it'll have programs
, it'll have funding, it'll haveevents, it'll have jobs.
Yeah, so news reports, right.
Yeah, so it's going to be acomprehensive resource hub that
aims to connect the communitiesand the individuals with both
(31:24):
right, like what people arelooking for when they're coming
into New York, and then, forthose people who are here and
doing business in sort of thebiotech scene, what will enhance
their ability to do it faster,do it better, right and network
better so that they can bringtheir cures and treatments to
patients even faster and moreefficiently.
Ben Comer (31:44):
Yeah, on New York City, there's a lot to recommend
it.
I mean, I know from livingthere for almost 10 years that
it's a very tight knit ecosystemfor biopharma.
You have obviously largecompanies based in the city as
well as really interesting newand innovative biotechs.
(32:05):
But my question is, you know,is it affordable right now?
If you're, you know, let's say,a scientist-led biotech startup
, you have some intellectualproperties really interesting.
You want to turn it into aproduct.
Is it feasible, you know, toopen up an office with some
employees and do your work inthe city?
(32:27):
And if it isn't, you know whatare some of your other favorite?
I mean, I know I'm going onhere, but Regeneron, for example
, has been an extremelysuccessful company based in
Tarrytown, just a short ride,you know, on the train from New
York City.
But do you have a sense of, Iguess, the affordability
question?
(32:47):
For you know the example that Igave on a biotech startup that
maybe wants to be in the citybut is concerned about the
financial aspect.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (32:57):
Yeah, that's a great question and my
answer six years ago would havebeen very different, right?
So we have a fantastic array ofearly stage space, right, we
have a number of incubators.
We have accelerator programs,right, that may be virtual or
(33:17):
somewhat in-person and virtual,and then we have a lot of space
here and incubator spaces forearly stage companies and those
are in shared.
You know they either haveshared lab space or you know
space where you can rent a benchand then you have an office,
right.
So we have all differentiterations.
And the beautiful thing aboutNew York and when people ask me
about other, you know New Yorkcompared to insert, you know
(33:40):
insert name of other biotech,you know hub I say that we also
are.
It's different, right, new Yorkalways does its own thing, and
in biotech and how we're growingis no different.
And so you may be in, let's say, you're spinning your discovery
out of Columbia, right?
So you're up in, right, up onthe, in the Northwest part of
(34:02):
Manhattan, or you're in Harlemand there are, there are
incubators there, right, andthere are space.
There's Harlem Biospace, thereare some new buildings that have
come online, and then, if youare on the west side, right near
the Stem Cell Foundation, likethere is space that has been
built out there.
If you are on the east side,right in the academic centers
(34:25):
near Rockefeller University,rockefeller has a new incubator
that's on campus Ford IncubatorCenter.
And then, of course, alexandriareally led the way when they
built.
They have two towers right andthey have startup space as well
as build out space, then fullspace for larger companies, down
(34:47):
to where New York Bio islocated, at BioLabs at NYU
Langone, which is we are down inSoho I like to say Soho, but
really it's Hudson Square, andso we're right south of Houston
and so it really is all.
And then Long Island City hasInnoLabs and Hatch, and so it
(35:08):
really is across the city, ifyou're just talking about New
York City.
So it provides opportunitiesfor proximity to academic
centers, particularly if yourfounder is still has one foot in
academia Right, which is oftenthe case Right when they're
spending out in founding.
And then you have access to sortof the ease of public
transportation.
And then you talk about Reg,sort of the ease of, you know,
(35:29):
public transportation.
And then you talk aboutRegeneron in Westchester.
Westchester has a lot ofopportunities and they have
space.
You know that is coming online,and so I think that those are
great.
I live in Westchester right, soI take the train in in the
morning and it's an easy commute.
A reverse commute is easy too.
So I think we have a lot ofavailability and opportunities
(35:52):
for individuals that want tofound and grow companies here.
So I think six years ago Iwould have said, oh you know,
we're getting there, theseprojects are supposed to come
online.
And then you have otherinvestment firms, like Deerfield
, who has built out space thatincludes the Deerfield offices,
but also the Cure, which theyhave an incubator space, and
(36:13):
they have an event space.
And New York Bio will beholding our innovation summit on
September 30th at the Cureright.
They're one of our members andpartners, deerfield is, and so
it's really fun and interestingto go all across the city I mean
the state as well, but youwould ask about the city to see
(36:34):
the different areas that aregrowing and how they're growing
and how New York bio membercompanies and New York bio
activities fit into all of thosedifferent spaces.
Ben Comer (36:43):
What about other parts of the state that are
exciting or interesting to you?
There are clearly, you know,excellent universities in places
like Buffalo and Rochester.
There's activity in Albany, butare there other?
And maybe I just named them,but what are the?
What are the places you know,that that you're excited about,
or that you know strike you, asyou know, growing into an
(37:07):
impressive biotech ecosystem?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (37:10):
Yeah, absolutely, it really is
interesting.
And you know, in large part andthis is not, I mean, new York
is not dissimilar right fromother states.
When we talk about this earlystage ecosystem of any insert,
you know, type of industrygrowing up out of academia,
right, that's often right, youhave those.
You know students, PhD students, in our case right are often
interested in, in beingentrepreneurial and right and
(37:33):
sort of building a business, andso we see it from Stony Brook
right out on Long Island.
Think about Northwell Health,right, which is the largest
employer in New York.
Right, and that is, you know,also on Long Island, is where
they're headquartered.
That's where the BiogenesisPark is going to go, sort of
right next door, right to thefacilities.
(37:54):
Yeah, and then you mentionedRochester, buffalo, albany.
Certainly the Capital Regionhas some really interesting
opportunities there.
You know, regeneron atRensselaer has a pretty large
facility in the capital region,right across the river from
Albany, as well as Taconic,another of our member companies,
(38:15):
and so you see the work they'redoing there.
The Albany College of Sciencesthey've built out some training
space for students that want towork in biotech, pharma, but may
not want to do the whole PhDroute.
So we need all levels right ofthe workforce, and so they've
been doing some really good workthere.
And then when you look atacademic institutions that are
(38:37):
world class in Rochester and inBuffalo and their early stage
companies that they're doing,you know, empire Discovery
Institute is based in Rochesterbut it's a combination of the
partnership between theUniversity of Rochester, the
University at Buffalo andRoswell Park Comprehensive
(38:58):
Cancer Center right also atBuffalo, and so they're looking
at discoveries that are comingout of those three institutions
and Ron Newbold runs that anddoes a fantastic job of really
identifying right potential winsfor those three institutions as
they collaborate.
And then we are doing, you know,one thing that New York Bio
does.
We talked about a lot of thedifferent things.
(39:20):
One of the things we do is wehave a fellows program for early
stage companies.
Very specifically, early stagecompanies raised less less than
7.5 million to be eligible toparticipate, and one of the
programmatic pieces we do weprovide opportunities for them
to pitch, receive feedback ontheir pitches, and we do it in
(39:41):
different locations across thestate.
July 15th we will be inRochester for a pitch day and
they'll have a series of judgesthat will right, that will look
at the pitches, give themfeedback.
But even before that, we pairthem with mentors and they work
on their pitches withprofessionals in a nonjudgmental
(40:01):
setting, right to help them bebetter.
Refine the pitch, talk aboutyou know who the audience is and
what they want to get out of it, before they pitch in front of
a broader audience.
And those really I mean there'snot a ton of prize money
attached to it, right, it'sother opportunities to go to
have access to things, but it'sbeen really good right for our
companies.
Ben Comer (40:22):
Yeah, I mean that sounds like an excellent program
and you mentioned thatDeerfield is a member company.
Do you have other banks orinvestment groups that are part
of your membership and arepeople actually pitching to
those groups or how are theyinvolved in your membership?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (40:40):
Yeah, we do.
We work closely with a number ofinvestors.
You know Aisling is another oneof our members and I have
actually a board member fromAisling and a board member from
Deerfield right that sit on theNew York Bio board.
We're I'm grateful to have avery good cross section.
I have 30 board members on theNew York Bio board and so our my
goal, as we look at the boardsort of composition, is to
(41:03):
really create right a board thatis reflective of the ecosystem
and so it has ones for everybody.
But we also work closely with anumber of investors sort of
throughout the year and the goalof the mini pitch days is less
about them, you know, closing adeal right at that particular
pitch, and more about theability to improve their pitch
(41:26):
and then build relationships.
So we will have investors thatcome particularly for their
networking reception part.
They're not there to so muchjudge the pitch but they do get
exposure and then they get thechance to meet and talk to the
founders right in a networkingsetting which has proven right
beneficial for everybody.
Ben Comer (41:43):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , I'm thinking about your
membership for everybody.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, I'mthinking about your membership.
What would you say are, I guess, some of the biggest needs that
they have right now, and Iguess I'm wondering if they're
the same kind of macroeconomicfunding issue needs that the
entire industry is up againstright now, or if there are other
(42:04):
things that are maybe unique toyour member groups in New York.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (42:12):
Look, I would love to sit here and tell
you that there was some weirdniche thing that only New York
bio could fill.
But I mean, but the reality is,if you were talking about
financial conditions, right, byand large they are driven by the
science.
How fast you're advancing thescience?
What is your next inflectionpoint?
Right, and that is only donewhen you have funding to do the
(42:33):
experiments and to go throughyour process.
And I will tell you that, by andlarge, macroeconomic conditions
in the industry are impactingeverybody, right, and you see
that with the public markets.
You see that with valuations,right for private companies, and
(42:54):
whether they're raising money,they're not raising money
necessarily at the samevaluation that they were right
in 2020 or 2020.
So you can't discount sort ofthe macroeconomic conditions.
With that said, I think whatNew York Bio has done and what
our member companies that aresuccessful have done is really
(43:16):
focus on what they can control,where they can get to next.
You have to tune out, right,some of the noise, whether it's
the noise from Washington,whether it's noise from the
markets, right, whatever that isand focus on what you can
control, where you can get tonext to make advances along your
(43:38):
path.
Ben Comer (43:40):
Right right, there's been a big push at the national
level to bring manufacturingback to the US.
I mean, I think that's a largepart of the strategy with
tariffs and I'm wondering if youhave sensed or noticed new
manufacturing coming into thestate or people asking questions
(44:04):
about that, whether it'scompanies wanting to build their
own manufacturing or CDMOs, youknow, wanting to build a new
factory in the state.
Are you seeing that happen atall?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (44:14):
Yeah, we definitely are.
We're seeing, and I'm certainlyseeing Empire State Development
right, which is the stateeconomic development agency,
also right being super focusedon if a company has made an
announcement right that they aregoing.
If it's a domestic company,they're going to own shore, or
if it's a, you know,international company that says
they're going to invest inmanufacturing capabilities Like
(44:35):
they, as do I would like forthem to locate here.
Of course, and look, it's abusiness decision and the best
case we make is just talkingabout all of the things right
that New York has to offer.
And for us, for New York Bio,it's how we can help connect the
dots right.
If you put a facility here andif you build a facility in New
(44:56):
York State, then we will have arole in helping you fold into
the community.
Make sure you're right, havingthe right people.
We can help with making thoseconnections right, making it
more seamless for your companyas you build out a business here
.
Look, I mean we had to reallylook at the supply chain.
After COVID, I think we saw thevulnerabilities right with the
(45:19):
supply chain.
I also think that you know thepharmaceutical market, both for
finished therapeutics, activepharmaceutical ingredients right
, it is a global supply chainand it has grown over.
I mean, it has taken decades tomake it into a global supply
chain and so, as they say, someof those decisions are way above
(45:42):
my pay grade.
But I think companies aretrying to be thoughtful and
understand.
At the end of the day, wherecan we address vulnerabilities
in the supply chain whilemaintaining their ability to
reach patients worldwide?
Still, we can't discount theneed to make sure patients are
taken care of wherever theyexist in the globe in the globe.
Ben Comer (46:10):
Are you hearing and maybe just anecdotally or maybe
not, but are you hearing aboutany impacts to your members in
response to or because of,changes at the NIH in terms of
funding cuts?
I'm just curious, you know, ifany of that is kind of making it
back to you at this point.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (46:26):
Yes, I mean anecdotally.
Yes, we have heard concernsabout whether NIH grants are
being paid or being paid in atimely manner.
Right, I do think, and I'veheard recently, is that as
things settle out a little bitmeaning there's not quite so
much flux right in news comingout of NIH or FDA, right, like I
(46:50):
think, as things hit moresteady state, companies are able
to navigate a little better.
You know, you had a lot ofpersonnel turnover and maybe
turmoil is the right word rightsort of earlier in the year, and
I think as that quiets downthrough various channels, then
we're seeing companies beingable to get back right a little
(47:14):
bit more to a steady state.
You know, and NIH, new York Bioand several of our colleague
trade associations across thecountry, new York Bio convened
on everyone's behalf a webinarrecently on NIH funding
opportunities.
There is a funding opportunity.
I think the deadline isactually June 10th so it will
(47:38):
have passed by the time thiscomes out.
But my point in bringing thatup is there are opportunities
for funding through NIH, throughtheir grant programs.
It's not like everything justshut down right, and trade
associations can help companiesfind the path to get right.
(47:59):
So find the right person totalk, to find a program officer
to have that conversation with,to try and figure out if it's
SBIR funding or STTR right forthe academic standpoint.
Like what is that?
How can I find the right avenueto not only figure out if
there's funding, but to then askthe right questions.
And so that's part of our jobis to make sure you can be
(48:19):
connected.
Ben Comer (48:20):
Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned the other state,
kind of state levelorganizations like yours I was
curious about how you work withthem.
And if it's kind of state levelorganizations like yours, I was
curious about how you work withthem and if it's kind of a
formalized thing or if it's sortof ad hoc based on, you know,
whatever a need is.
I mean, I don't think everystate has, you know, a trade
organization specificallyfocused on on biopharma.
(48:43):
Obviously a number of them do.
Some are, you know, bigger thanothers and smaller than others,
but I.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (48:59):
how would you describe that relationship
between?
New York Bio and other statelevel organizations.
It's totally valid.
So we have there is a, theCouncil of State Biotech
Associations, csba, right, andit is a federation of the
different state biotechassociations, of which I think
that there are 49 state biotech.
(49:20):
Some states have multiplesRight.
So California has multipleassociations, texas has several
associations, and so what we dois and then there is a board of
directors for the Council ofState Biotech Associations.
I sit on that board of directorsand so I get to work in that
formalized setting with mycolleagues from across the
(49:41):
country, and then I work in anad hoc.
You know, I work very closelywith my all of my colleagues in
the region, right From Maine,massachusetts, rhode Island,
connecticut, new Jersey,pennsylvania, right, and the
list goes on Delaware, the listgoes on.
Really, the entire regionreally works closely together
(50:01):
and we look for ways to supporteach other and our member
companies, which is fantasticBecause, you know, often we have
, you know, there may be NewYorkers that work in Connecticut
or Boston, and certainly thereare people that live in New York
and work in New Jersey and viceversa, right.
So we're always looking forways to be supportive and
(50:22):
collaborate and we do a prettygood job, I think of finding
ways to collaborate, certainlyat the advocacy level.
Ben Comer (50:30):
Yeah, what are your top priorities, jennifer, for, I
guess, the second half of 2025at New York, bio and you know
anything else that's kind of atop of mind or top priority for
you.
You know, forward looking,thinking about, you know what's
coming in the next year.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (50:51):
Yeah, Ben, very good question.
I like the forward leaningquestion.
Look, I think for me, for NewYork Bio, it is about making
sure our members understand weare staying the course
advocating on their behalf.
We tune out the noise when it'snoise, we pay attention when
(51:11):
it's going to be substantive andwe engage.
Whether it is at the federallevel on policy, whether it is
funding mechanisms right thatCongress is considering, or the
administration is considering,whether it's actual policies
that impact patient access inAlbany right, or the governor is
considering whether to veto orsign legislation, New York Bio
(51:33):
will be there and be engaged.
If it is creating opportunitiesfor networking and connection
building and ecosystemenhancement, New York Bio is
there.
We are the convener, we are theassistant, we are supporting
others that are convening groupsright across the state, and so
for me it's exciting to seeeverything that is we have
(51:56):
coming up in the second half ofthe year.
Bio, our website is easy tofind.
Check it out.
You can see all of those thingswhere you two individually can
engage and look.
My goal is to enhance theecosystem and, at the end of the
(52:16):
day, my ultimate goal is tomake sure more patients have
better access to therapeuticsthat are created here in the US,
and whatever little part I cando and New York Bio does, for
that is going to be a win.
Ben Comer (52:31):
Are there any specific policies, either at the
state level or federal level,that you're particularly focused
on right now?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (52:39):
Yeah, I mean we're always interested in
funding levels, right for ourearly stage research grants,
whether that's, you know, theSBIR program, right?
The Small Business InnovationResearch Grant program at the
federal level is up forreauthorization this year, and
so that's important.
So you have two things there,right?
You have appropriations, so youhave the money that is spent,
(53:01):
and then you have theauthorizing legislation, meaning
the program's existence.
You have to have both.
You have to have a program thatis put into existence and then
reauthorized every time itexpires, and then you have to
have the funds that areappropriated and therefore then
dispersed to those companies.
So you know we're going to beworking on that at the federal
level and then at the statelevel.
(53:24):
New York State is a quasipart-time legislature, right?
They will finish the majority ofthe work on their legislative
session in mid-June and then wesuspect this year that they may
be back.
Depending on what happens withfunding at the federal level,
new York may have to come backfor a special session in the
(53:46):
fall to adjust their budgetbecause they make certain
assumptions about how muchfederal funding will flow to the
state, and if those assumptionsprove to be incorrect because
things are changing at a rapidpace, then they'll come back and
so, yeah, so we work oneverything from whether it is,
you know, 340b drug pricing toprescription drug, importation,
(54:10):
patent settlement, legislationso very, very specific types of
policy issues to the biggerpieces of funding for centers of
excellence and centers foradvanced technology and funding
for things like we talked aboutearlier, right with the
Biogenesis Park and the cell andgene therapy hubs.
Like we talked about earlier,right with the Biogenesis Park
(54:30):
and the cell and gene therapyhubs.
We really engage on a broadcross-section of issues that
bubble up both at the state andthe federal, and sometimes both.
Ben Comer (54:37):
Yeah, and do you.
Is agriculture included too inyour organization?
Jennifer Hawks Bland (54:43):
Yeah, so we don't.
In New York in particular, wedon't have as many.
You know, my colleague, mycolleague, ceos in the Midwest
in particular have a lot more ofthe ag and environment
companies.
I have a soft spot rightbecause I grew up.
(55:11):
I grew up on a farm and then Ialso grew up early in my career
doing ag policy right, like Imentioned earlier.
And so yes, and so I also thinkthat when you're looking, if
you think about biotechnologyalso through a biosecurity lens,
you have to think about onehealth.
You have to think about howanimal health, human health,
right, plant health, really aregoing to all work together.
And I think it's a nationalsecurity issue that we really
need to pay attention to how howthe choices that we make at the
policy level whether it's ag,environment, human health they
(55:35):
really all do need to be madewith an idea of thinking about,
ultimately, how they all worktogether to both protect our
national security, but also howthis sort of one health umbrella
makes a difference.
Ben Comer (55:48):
Right, excellent.
Well, jennifer, we have come toour time pretty quickly here.
I really appreciate you comingon the show.
Jennifer Hawks Bland (55:55):
Oh, my gosh Ben, I had a great time.
Thank you so much.
This was fun.
Ben Comer (55:58):
Yeah, thank you.
We've been speaking withJennifer Hawks-Bland, ceo at New
York Bio.
I'm Ben Comer and you've justlistened to the Business of
Biotech.
Find us and subscribe anywhereyou listen to podcasts and be
sure to check out our new weeklyvideocasts of these
conversations every Monday underthe Business of Biotech tab at
Life Science Leader.
We'll see you next week andthanks for listening you.
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