OK, so maybe it didn’t boast two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who posed for selfies with visitors to the pavilion promoting biotech in Canada. Or the Boston Cream Pie push pops served by Bristol-Myers Squibb in what resembled tiny test tubes.
But Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, which this week occupied a modest 10-foot-by-10-foot booth at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, represented a large — if less glitzy — number of exhibitors at the annual BIO International Convention that ended Thursday. More than 16,000 people from 74 countries attended the four-day event.
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, a Washington, D.C., intellectual property law firm, was among the many businesses promoting the often invisible services they provide to biopharma — from lawyers who protect drug patents to consultants who help drug makers prevent contamination during manufacturing.
If you looked past the profusion of tulips at HollandBIO and the assortment of Bigelow teas at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. of Japan, there was much more to see on the convention center floor. Like about two dozen law firms, companies that test experimental drugs on animals, run clinical trials, make lab equipment, and manufacture medicines. There were also lots of consultants.
Sterne Kessler, as the law firm also is called, provided green and purple chocolate mints in small packets emblazoned with the motto: “Technical minds. Legal muscle.’’ It didn’t appear to be a big draw, and employees of the firm said they hadn’t picked up any new clients — yet.
“The point of being here is to reinforce the brand and be a touchpoint for existing clients,’’ said Kathryn Holmes Johnson, director of marketing and communications for the firm. “I don’t think we’re going to compete with one of these companies that have enormous booths or Italian espresso machines.’’
Sterne Kessler has been sending employees to BIO for at least 20 years, according to John M. Covert, an attorney for the 130-lawyer firm who helps oversee its biotech practice and was attending his fifth convention. BIO moves around the country each year and was last held in Boston in 2012.
This year, Sterne Kessler paid $5,100 to rent a space near a busy walkway. It has already reserved a similar space for BIO in Philadelphia next year at the same price.
Covert was among a handful of lawyers sent by the firm, some of whom took advantage of the trip to meet with local clients at the convention center or off site. The firm’s clients include Sarepta Therapeutics Inc., Seres Therapeutics Inc., and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a fully owned subsidiary of Takeda. All are located in Cambridge.
Covert couldn’t think of an instance when he came home from BIO with a new client. What he hopes is that a biotech executive whose company needs legal work down the road gets several recommendations, hears the name Sterne Kessler, and says, “Oh, yeah, the firm I saw at BIO.’’
The fact that Sterne Kessler is located in Washington might actually appeal to biotechs in Massachusetts; not infrequently, a local law firm has a conflict of interest because it represents another biotech involved in a legal dispute.
“You want to have a deep bench,’’ Johnson said of a biotech’s stable of lawyers.
Another exhibitor promoting its services to biopharma at BIO was the Almac Group, an Irish-based “contract development and manufacturing organization’’ that provides a wide range of services to drug makers, including helping them run clinical trials.
There are other conventions that are geared specifically for such companies, which make up a huge, if inconspicuous, industry. But Cara Young, director of business development for Almac, which employs about 5,000 people and has operations in Audubon, Pa., said attending BIO exposes her company to a diverse group of potential clients. Also, she loves visiting Boston.
“There’s lots of energy,’’ she said. “And everyone is brilliant.’’
BIO FUEL
Attendees at BIO weren’t counting calories during the four-day event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.
4,800
pounds of food overall
15,000
box lunches
3,750
slices of pizza
3,600
gallons of coffee
SOURCE: Levy Restaurants, which catered the convention.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.comic
