Staff Writer

CHICAGO - Beneath the surface of the BIO 2010 conference, away from the panel sessions, the company presentations, the keynote lunches and the bustling exhibit hall, there's an inner circle of activity - one in which C-level biotech execs race between meetings with potential partners, investors, service providers and other industry players.

What happens at these closed-door meetings? Mike Kamdar, president and chief business officer of VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., let BioWorld Today tag along to find out.

6:30 a.m. - Rise and shine. Kamdar skipped his morning run, given that it's still just 4:30 a.m. California time. [Note - I'm reporting this part of the day second-hand; Kamdar understandably preferred to get up and dressed before we met].

7:15 a.m. - Meeting with a big pharma company that - like many pharmas these days - is selling rather than buying. They were out-licensing a Phase I compound, and Kamdar noted that while many pharmas are looking for someone else to pay for development until they can option the compound back later, this group seemed genuinely interested in handing over the asset. [Note - this part is also reported second-hand, as the pharma didn't want a reporter sitting in.]

8:05 a.m. - I'm waiting in Kamdar's suite in the Hyatt when there's a knock on the door. Since I'm the only person there, I open it . . . to find two gentlemen from an Indian contract research organization. I play hostess, offering coffee and explaining that Kamdar is running late.

8:07 a.m. - Another knock. I open it, but once again it isn't Kamdar. It's Peter Colabuono, an associate with Frazier Healthcare Ventures, one of VentiRx's investors who's planning to sit in on some of the day's meetings. Although Frazier doesn't usually get this hands-on with its portfolio companies, Colabuono has some expertise in dealing with Indian CROs. He also thinks VentiRx's virtual model is "the future of this industry" and wants to learn more about it.

8:10 a.m. - Kamdar breezes in, explaining that his previous meeting ran late. As everyone moves to swap business cards, he launches into a story about how his pen exploded on the plane, soaking his business cards and his shirt pocket with ink.

8:11 a.m. - We get down to business. Kamdar introduces VentiRx, a San Diego biotech founded in 2006 to focus on Toll-like receptors. With $54 million in Series A funding, VentiRx licensed a portfolio of preclinical TLR8 agonists from Array BioPharma Inc., selected a lead and moved it into Phase II trials for allergy, completed Phase I trials in cancer, and created its own preclinical portfolio of TLR7 and TLR8 antagonists. (See BioWorld Today, March 6, 2007, and March 14, 2007.)

As VentiRx moves its cancer program into Phase II, the virtual company is looking to maximize efficiencies. Kamdar envisions funding and conducting the first Phase II trial in the U.S. and finding an Indian CRO to run a second Phase II trial for a different tumor type.

And he is "looking beyond fee-for-service" - Kamdar wants an Indian CRO who will take a risk-sharing approach, perhaps funding the trial in exchange for milestone payments or regional rights. Similarly, he'd like to find a CRO to pay for the preclinical work on the TLR antagonist program in exchange for a portion of the payout when the program is sold.

The CRO we're meeting with is receptive to these ideas, and the president says they do risk-sharing deals at the preclinical stage. Colabuono, the venture capitalist, grills them on the financials of such deals. The CRO also talks about the benefits of doing the second Phase II trial in India, noting that costs can be at least one-third lower and recruitment can be sped up dramatically. Everyone agrees to a follow-up call between the clinical teams.

9:30 a.m. - Kamdar picks up his replacement business cards, which have been rushed from San Diego via FedEx.

10 a.m. - Our second Indian CRO meeting. Kamdar gives the introduction, and once again the CRO says they are interested in both fee-for-service and risk-sharing deals. The CRO does a lot of big pharma work, so Kamdar tries to get a sense of whether a 12-person biotech like VentiRx will get mindshare. One of the CRO higher-ups comes to the meeting 10 minutes late, works on his computer for 10 minutes, and then leaves early - which doesn't seem like a good sign, but Kamdar says it's an occupational hazard of scheduling meetings at BIO.

11 a.m. - Business development meeting with a scout from a big biotech firm. This guy comes from big pharma and has been involved in some very large deals. He seems weary of getting pitches from little biotechs and sets the stage by saying he is doing more selling than buying at this conference.

"Well," Kamdar says, "It's like when people ask us if we are raising money. We're always raising money, even when we're not raising money. And I'd imagine you're always looking, even when you're not looking." The scout smiles grudgingly.

Kamdar starts to flip through the VentiRx slide deck, explaining why TLR8 is different than TLR7 and TLR9, which have been the focus of most biotech effort thus far. The scout leans forward, clearly intrigued. He also is impressed by the fact that MedImmune Ventures led the second tranche of VentiRx's Series A. But he is skeptical of stimulating immune responses to fight cancer, an approach that has struggled despite Dendreon Corp.'s recent FDA approval.

"We want to avoid late-stage failures," the scout explains, citing numerous recent oncology programs that have flamed out due to a lack of efficacy. He wants to see data that make VentiRx's programs less risky.

He is impressed by the Phase I correlation between pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, but he suggests that the pharmacodynamic data should also correlate with efficacy. Kamdar quips that if they had those data, they'd be selling the company rather than starting another trial.

They continue through the slides. Kamdar says VentiRx is open to feedback regarding what type of data the big biotech would like to see, and the scout indicates his company would be open to those discussions. He acknowledges that VentiRx has more data than many companies at their stage.

"So is the company for sale?" the scout asks.

If Kamdar is excited, it doesn't show. "We're keeping our options open," he says casually.

12 p.m. - We run out for a quick lunch.

1 p.m. - Our third Indian CRO meeting. They are late; apparently there was some confusion regarding the meeting time. After a few calls back to the home office, a breathless CRO representative arrives. Kamdar gives his spiel. This group isn't as interested in investing their own capital, but they do risk-sharing through a pay-for-performance model and they boast an impressive Indian investigator network.

2 p.m. - Our fourth Indian CRO meeting. Much of the same, except this group is an oncology specialist, so there is more drilling down into whether certain cancers in the U.S. are similar to certain cancers in India, and how well data can be expected to translate. They also discuss complications such as the fact that trial sponsors must pay for concomitant study medications in India, while in the U.S. they are usually covered by insurance.

3:45 p.m. - Our fifth Indian CRO meeting. Afterward, I ask Kamdar if these meetings are useful or if it wouldn't be easier to have these introductions over the phone. He said meeting face-to-face is important because it gives you a sense for how hungry the CRO is, and how they will treat you once you're in a relationship. Doing this many meetings in India would take a week, but at BIO he can do them all in a day.

5 p.m. - The team from MedImmune Ventures, which led VentiRx's second tranche of the Series A round, stops by. Kamdar gives them an update on the day of CRO meetings, and they share some CRO recommendations from other portfolio companies.

6:30 p.m. - With the meetings done for the day, Kamdar, Colabuono and I head out to a reception being hosted by law firm DLA Piper, audit firm KPMG, bank Oxford Finance Corp. and business behemoth Sumitomo Corp. Kamdar sips sangria and chats up some corporate venture folks and crossover investors.

7:30 p.m. - We grab a cab to another reception being hosted by law firm Cooley Godward Kronish. Their parties are always heavily attended by the San Diego biotech clique, so Kamdar spends most of his time socializing with other local CEOs.

9 p.m. - Our entourage has grown, and we all walk to another reception.

10 p.m. - We move on to yet another reception, this one hosted by BIO's business development team. Unfortunately, we are not on the guest list for this invitation-only event. Kamdar and Colabuono hand over their business cards, which are whisked inside so that someone can judge their worthiness. A few minutes later, we are ushered into the crowded club.

11 p.m. - Kamdar is schmoozing with the business development folks from several large pharma firms. I'm exhausted; I never realized how much stamina it takes to be a biotech CEO. And it's only the second day of a week-long event.