Southeast BIO (SEBIO), a regional nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the growth of the Southeast’s life sciences industry, announced the selection of four finalists in its third annual BIO/Plan Competition. The final four competitors are: EpiEP (University of Virginia); NeuroScience Pharmaceuticals (Duke University); Restorative Physiology Group (Medical University of South Carolina); and Compliant Therapeutics (Vanderbilt University).

The BIO/Plan Competition is a year-long program developed to promote the creation of new, fundable life science companies based in the Southeast. Working closely with technology transfer offices and entrepreneurs throughout the region, the competition brings forward opportunities from leading Southeastern research universities and research centers. The BIO/Plan Competition received over fifty applications earlier this year. The applicant pool included applications from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

“BIO/Plan is helping create a more fertile environment for life sciences venture investment in the Southeast by pulling forward technologies to build the pipeline and encouraging entrepreneurialism,” said Aaron Davidson, Managing Director, H.I.G. Ventures. “The program is of the highest value to each of its participants, regardless of the competition results.”

The final four competitors were selected from nine semifinalists who completed a rigorous mentoring process to develop an executable business strategy and associated written plan. The mentoring teams included three or four experienced professionals from active venture funds or angel groups, biotech entrepreneurs and managers, and service providers with relevant start-up expertise. Each mentoring team worked together for six months. The resulting business plans were judged by a panel of experts who selected the four finalists.

“This year’s BIO/Plan Competition has been incredibly successful and we thank all of the mentors for their time and effort to develop these plans,” said Garheng Kong, Chairman of SEBIO. “Again this year, it has been very obvious that the selected semifinalists took advantage of the skills and expertise of their assigned mentors and, over the past six months, they jointly produced commercialization strategies that are well conceived and genuinely executable,” added Frank Hunt, BIO/Plan Competition Co-Chair. “The end products of their efforts were business plans that should go a long way towards securing the funding they need to launch their new enterprise and a significant level of exposure to the venture community.”

The finalists will present at the Eleventh Annual SEBIO Investor Forum, December 3-4, 2009 at the Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. They will present to the full conference audience, which includes approximately 400 industry leaders from across the region, and investors from the Southeast and around the world. One BIO/Plan Competition winner will be announced and recognized in a special ceremony at the Forum. The winner will be awarded a substantial prize valued at $100,000.00 in cash and services with which to implement its winning plan.

To learn more about the SEBIO Investor Forum and to register, please visit:
http://www.sebio.org/investorforum/2009/default.aspx