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Final Dispatch from Silicon Valley ... Ed Penhoet, Founder, Chiron/Matthew Bishop, The Economist - Larta 15th Annual Life Science Forum

Colleagues,

The Larta Life Science Venture Forum ended with a spirited conversation and Q&A session between the attendees, Ed Penhoet and Matthew Bishop about trends in life science investing, the healthcare crisis, and the prospects and limits of "venture philanthropy".

Ed Penhoet is member of the board of trustees of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and was Foundation President from 2004 - 2007. Prior to the Foundation, Ed served as dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1981, he co-founded Chiron Corporation and served as its chief executive officer until 1998.

Matthew Bishop is American Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief for The Economist magazine. He is also author of the 2008 book "Philanthrocapitalism" (available in the MedTech-IQ Recommended Reading Center) which has been described as the definitive guide to a new generation of philanthropists who understand innovation and risk-taking and will play a crucial role in addressing some of the biggest problems facing the world.

Ed and Matthew discussed the change that has taken place in philanthropy over the last decade. It has become much more business like, and has begun to appear more like investing than charity. Increasingly, philanthropists are requiring milestone metrics and transition expectations. Ed Penhoet, who was an advocate of these approaches while running one of the largest Foundations in the U.S., noted that we should expect more focus in this area going forward. Philanthropists are working more with patient advocacy groups and end users, and are looking for real world, measurable results.

Similarly, a parallel evolution is occurring in life science investment. Venture capital life science investing has become far more demanding. As Ed noted, no one is investing in the sizzle anymore, only the steak.

Though the discussants considered this evolution to be generally a positive development, they both noted that in the case of major global/national problems ... the environment, energy and healthcare ... foundations and investors will have to work with governments to tackle the challenges. These will require new models and approaches to civic society, academic, government and industry relations. Both seemed to indicate that a new discipline of innovation must emerge in which philanthropists, governments, academia and industry collaborate in more complex ways to address society's most complicated problems.


ENJOY!

CC

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