Italian Delegation at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2009 in New York

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the first time the Italian Trade Commission is leading a delegation of Italian biotech companies at this year’s BIO CEO & Investor Conference taking place in New York (Waldorf-Astoria, February 9-10), during which it will highlight the world-class accomplishments of the Italian biotech sector. The Italian delegation includes 3 very prominent firms in the Italian biotech industry: MolMed, Newron Pharmaceuticals and Siena Biotech.

The Trade Commission will seek to draw the attention of investors and industry analysts to investment opportunities in Italy and to spur US biotech firms to develop collaborations with Italian counterparts. The publicly-traded companies in the delegation, namely MolMed and Newron Pharmaceuticals, have also been selected to present at the conference their recent accomplishments and upcoming milestones to an audience of investors and business development executives of big pharmaceutical companies.

• MolMed (MLM: Milan Stock Exchange), a medical biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer, is one of the most high profile spin-offs of the renowned San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park and is the latest Italian biotech enterprise to go public with a very successful IPO in 2008.
• Newron Pharmaceuticals (NWRN: SIX Swiss Exchange) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies for diseases of the Central Nervous System and pain.
• Siena Biotech is a private drug discovery company whose research activities focus on brain diseases, including Alzheimer, Huntington diseases and brain tumors.

The Italian biotechnology sector has made huge strides in the last few years, growing at rapid pace and currently generating over $6.2 billion in yearly revenues. It comprises 228 companies - of which more than 168 are focused on the health care segment - with an R&D spending reaching $1.7 billion in 2007. They are exceptionally strong in product development, with 84 compounds in clinical trials and 63 at the preclinical phase last year. The largest number of firms (36) are focused on Oncology, a field in which Italy is ranked second only to the United States. Other fields such as Vaccines, Gene Therapy, Neurosciences and Cardiovascular Diseases have also been a longtime focus of leading-edge applied medical research. This vibrant segment of the Italian economy exhibits a growing capacity to attract resources and offers copious investment and collaboration opportunities to foreign groups. Find out why major international corporations have already chosen Italy as a location where to conduct research and what opportunities exist for US biotech investors on the new website www.biotechinitaly.com.

To obtain a full picture of the Italian biotech sector you can download the Biotechnology in Italy Report 2008 – prepared by the consulting firm Blossom Associati on behalf of Assobiotec, the Industry Association, and the Italian Trade Commission.

About the Italian Trade Commission

The Italian Trade Commission, also known as the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade, is the government agency entrusted with promoting trade, business opportunities, inward investment and industrial cooperation between Italian and foreign companies. It operates through 115 branch offices in 86 countries. In the United States, the Italian Trade Commission is present in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and Miami and it manages two Investments Desks in Los Angeles and New York. These Desks serve as a reference point for U.S. technology sector investors seeking to establish or expand business in Italy.