New technologies ranging from software programs to whole drug platforms headlined the partnering session of this year's Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference in San Francisco, February 21. The annual meeting gives young companies a chance to explain, briefly, their value to would-be investors and then have an opportunity to meet with them. More than 40 companies participated this year. (To see a list of these companies, visit this link.)

"Don't ever let anyone say there is no capital for you," advised biotechnology guru G. Steven Burrill, who opened the meeting. "And when they are passing it around, reach for it." The terms have gotten tougher, but for young companies, such capital is the difference between an idea and a product. Burrill also warned that "Biotechs need to think globally from day one." That doesn't just mean thinking of new overseas markets but also of new overseas competitors. "The Chinese will quickly be major global players," he said.

In terms of investments, Burrill said his own top interests now are areas including nutriceuticals, personalized medicine, "boomer"-related conditions such as memory loss, and pandemic diseases. Companies representing a much wider range of technologies, however, were showcased at the meeting.

While small molecules are still the most popular target for drug developers, a number of companies are trying to spearhead completely new drug platforms.

ProNAi, for example, is using DNAi to develop a totally new class of drugs. The company's nucleic-acid-based interfering technology "solves a non-trivial problem," said Neal Goodwin, chief scientific officer at the company. "We do not use toxic nucleic acids." Targeting of DNA and RNA have both been problematic, but ProNAi claims it has a "bold new nucleic acid therapeutic approach" that has "great bioavailability" and that the company will soon have large-scale manufacturing capacity. That is critical because the company aims to launch a clinical trial of its lead candidate in 2006.

Another company with a new approach to drug making is Catalyst Biosciences, which is developing Alterases — engineered proteases. "Proteases have a very focused activity, but we believe we can expand this and bring catalysis to address unmet needs," said David O'Reilly, the company president. While small molecules act in a stoichiometric (or one-to-one) manner, proteases act in a catalytic fashion, so one molecule can affect hundreds or even thousands of targets.

The explosion of research on protease inhibitors over the last decade or so has been a boon to groups such as Catalyst, which is interested in now using actual proteases as drugs. Several proteases are also already on the market. "The benefits of these products are very apparent," said O'Reilly. Another side benefit of these compounds is that they create "direct, detectable biomarkers of unique activity," he said.

Helios Bioscience, meanwhile, is using pathways informatics to help companies select, classify, and validate drug targets. Building dynamic models is still "very challenging," said Jean Baptiste Dumas, Helios's CEO. However, the company is getting excellent results comparable to those of other methods. In a recent study using its Immuno-dyn model, the company identified 27 molecules with the desired immune properties out of 350 candidates. Data were already available on 18 of those compounds, and the company was able to confirm that 70% of these compounds were indeed known to have those immune properties. Four of the molecules were novel targets that could be further investigated.

All of these companies are at relatively early stages in their development, but they are also reaching for major milestones, such as first clinical trials and partnerships, that will help them get the cash and momentum they need to stay in the game.