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- Address:
- 1225 Eye Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
- Phone:
- 202-962-9200
- Website:
- http://www.bio.org/
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- Company Information:
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BIO today performs many services for members, but none of them is more visible than the organization's annual convention and exhibition, the largest biotechnology event in the world. The event dates back to 1987, when the Association of Biotechnology Companies hosted an international conference in Washington, D.C., that exceeded expectations by attracting 155 attendees - the goal had been 100. Some of the session topics would become perennial themes: raising capital in the venture and public markets; FDA, USDA and EPA regulation; and patenting trends.
Since then, growth has been steady - attendance hit 1,400 in 1993, the year BIO was formed, and 17,000 in 2004, with representatives from 61 nations. Press coverage has exploded as well, from a smattering of trade press reporters in the early years - even as recently as 1997, the conference drew only 61 press registrants - to 540 media registrations in 2004.
Growth of the meeting, and of the organization, has paralleled that of the young, dynamic industry BIO represents. The number of approved biotechnology drug and vaccine products in the United States has soared from 22 in 1993 to 212 as of Dec. 31, 2004, while investment in the industry skyrocketed, from $3 billion in 1993 to $20.9 billion in 2004 (including a record $4.9 billion for venture-stage companies). Membership in BIO has more than doubled since the organization's founding, to 1,131 companies, academic institutions and biotechnology centers as of Dec. 3
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