By Michael J. Harris

Contributing Writer

NEW YORK - Judah Folkman, regarded as the pioneer of angiogenesis research, delivered the keynote address Wednesday to an attentive crowd at the second annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference here.

Folkman, director of the Surgical Research Laboratory at Children's Hospital in Boston, outlined the promising progress made in the field of angiogenesis research and stressed the importance of finding a non-toxic form of cancer therapy sooner rather than later. Angiogenesis involves the development of blood vessels. Inhibiting that development is being investigated as a way to stop the growth of cancer cells by taking away their blood supply.

"Many companies are to be applauded for their commitment to advancing angiogenesis inhibitor research despite the intense pressure associated with public expectations to cure cancer now," Folkman said.

"EntreMed, specifically, deserves credit for forging ahead with persistence in the face of naysayers to remain on target with their clinical trials for Endostatin," he added, pointing out that he has no financial or other involvement with the company.

EntreMed Inc., a company engaged in angiogenesis inhibitor research, took Endostatin into the clinic last year. It had shown promising results in cancer tests involving mice.

After an attendee asking a question identified himself as a competitor in the race to develop an angiogenesis inhibitor, Folkman pointed out that he regarded none of his colleagues in that manner, due to the importance of the research and the devastating toll cancer is wreaking in millions of lives.

"If all the angiogenesis inhibitor products in clinical trials reached fruition today, the approximately 5 million Americans diagnosed with various forms of the disease would be grateful, but the demand would still exceed the available cure," he said. "Our goal must be to develop the therapy as quickly and as reliably as possible."

Folkman said the goal of angiogenesis inhibition is to replace conventional toxic cancer treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy, and make cancer a malady without disease - much like chickenpox harbors a latent form of herpes that does not infect the body of the host.

Folkman said some strategies for angiogenesis research currently receiving attention are the search to find angiogenic functions in existing drugs and attempts to discover a protein in the body to produce angiogenesis inhibitors.

In other news from the conference, Nasdaq-AMEX Stock Exchange executive John Tognino moderated a discussion comprised of biotechnology CEOs who have suffered through and survived brushes with rejection and failure.

The panel offered advice to a crowded room of executives on how to persevere when small and mid-sized biotechnology companies are faced with situations such as FDA rejections, downgraded stocks and deserting employees.

"You need to recognize that you cannot afford not to succeed, inasmuch as smaller companies rarely have a product like Viagra to fall back on" said Robert Chess, CEO of Inhale Therapeutic Systems Inc.

He said it often turns out to be an advantage for smaller companies to be put in the position of having to take calculated risks and extra steps in pushing drugs to market.

"A lot of our products, quite frankly, would not get approved if they belonged to a giant company, because they wouldn't be considered as crucial to the survival of a large business," he said.

Vaughn Kailian, CEO of COR Therapeutics Inc., said it is wise to use the FDA to your advantage and not to view the agency as the enemy, adding that it is important to believe in the integrity of the FDA process.

"The FDA can be used as a barrier to your competition if you know how to navigate through the approval process and your competitor doesn't," Kailian said. "They can stop your competition dead in their tracks, giving you a distinct advantage."

The two-day conference concluded Wednesday. Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, proclaimed it a success that met all expectations.

"The number of registrations keep rising and we have over 1,400 attendees as of [Wednesday] morning," Feldbaum said, noting that he was also encouraged by the upbeat tone and amount of dialogue between investors and executives.