“I always think there's a band, kid.” Harold Hill The Music Man

Bill Stenger had a press event the other day for his Newport AnC/Bio project. In an effort to boost confidence (and continued foreign investment) in the fledgling EB-5 financed biotech project, he was accompanied by Dr. Ike Lee, CEO of AnC/Bio of Vermont. Dr. Lee sounded a hopeful note about the future success of his biotech firm and also explained that unlike the failed AnC/ Bio business in South Korea, he’ll get it right this time.

“We established a beautiful facility in Korea expecting that we would have the products to produce for the global market. That didn't happen.”

AnC/Bio South Korea failed to meet payments on their building and it was sold out from under them. This shouldn’t happen here as the Newport property is owned by GSI Dade Miami, a Stenger/Quiros company. Interestingly GSI Dade is currently listed as commercial cooking and restaurant equipment wholesaler by one online business service listing.

He [Dr. Lee] says federal Food and Drug Administration review of these new biotechnologies has been slow, but now the timing is perfect for a facility that provides production space, marketing and research for fledgling companies near the end of the approval process. “And now as we are getting many green lights from the government we are really excited to push it forward,” Lee said.

According to Stenger roughly three quarters of the debt free (in his view) EB-5 financing is now in hand for the Newport plant. However final FDA permitting for their products is still pending, and meanwhile, investment analysts speculate about a biotech industry bubble. Their concern is a speculative bubble driven, they say, by multibillion-dollar market valuations for biotech companies that don’t yet have a single product for sale.

But hope springs easily to Stenger and Quiros Vermont’s EB-5 supported entrepreneurs — there’s always a band.