Formed in 1993, the Biotechnology Industry Organization today includes some 1,100 companies from all facets of the industry, representing all 50 states and 30 nations. They hail from healthcare, agriculture, industry, environmental systems and academia, among others. About 65 percent are laboratory-based companies involved in research and development, says Heebink.

One of the biggest challenges for young biotechnology companies is finding the capital needed to keep going during the research phase. BIO can help by facilitating meetings between members and potential investors and venture capitalists worldwide. Together they can form strategic licensing and marketing deals. On the capital preservation side, the group maintains a number of "bio-business" offerings. Its portfolio of national contracts is available to all members, including 42 state affiliates that handle policy advocacy and business-development issues on a state or regional level. Last year, Heebink says, members spent around $250m on contracts, which dealt with such key processes as procurement, risk management, investor relations and insurance.

BIO partners with leading suppliers and service providers, leveraging the collective purchasing power of its members and affiliates. In all, the program covers some 7,000 companies in the laboratory-supply sector, offering individual buyers prices "that they could never afford on their own," Heebink says.

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