Persistence Paying Off

Erno Duda, founder and president of the Hungarian Biotechnology Association, does not seek the limelight. He is audibly hesitant when the conversation turns to his personal history. But "Hungarian" and "biotechnology" might not be two words comfortable together without the rocket power of Duda, whose quest for biotechnology has been, literally at times, a one-man show.

It was 9:00 p.m., Budapest time, when Duda's call came in from his cell phone. "I'm still working," were his first words.

Duda would not describe himself as a patient man, but determination and creativity he has in spades. In 2003, the biotechnology industry in Hungary was nearly nonexistent. Duda, then 35, was president and founder of Solvo Biotechnology, a privately held biopharmaceutical company he formed in 1999. Solvo survived hard times before cornering the world market in transporter proteins. Finding support for biotechnology in the Hungarian government, however, was still a tough sell.

"When I turned to government," Duda says, "they told me 'Well, you are running a company, and you are representing a company, and that makes it inappropriate for us to talk to you.'" He adds, "For many years when I went to BIO conferences, I was the only guy from Hungary among 20,000 people—I was the Hungarian delegation."

In Boston in 2003, Duda recalls, "I was at a drug discovery conference with two other Hungarian CEOs at an evening reception. They were complaining about the same [government obstacles]. So I said, 'Guys, why don't we form an association, then suddenly we're a nonprofit and maybe the government will speak to us.'"

It took six months for Duda to find ten Hungarian companies that, as he says, "could be considered even borderline biotech." From those, Duda created the Hungarian Biotechnology Association. "It worked perfectly. I was immediately asked to fly to the U.S. and speak to investors about opportunities in Hungary."

In 2004, Hungary passed the Research and Technology Innovation Fund Act, based on the Bayh-Dole Act. "Until 2005, Hungarian universities did not have control over their own intellectual property," explains Duda, "so basically it was impossible to legally start a biotech company if you were in academia. This 2004 Act changed that, and our association played an important role in lobbying for it."

Hungary now boasts 55 core biotechnology companies, all concentrated in the university centers of Budapest, Debrecen, Pecs and Szeged. According to Duda, the sector has enjoyed 40 to 50 percent growth in recent years.

Under Hungary's new Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, "the government is communicating that biotech is a high priority," says Duda.

One thing seems clear: the Hungarian Biotechnology Association, under Duda's leadership, will not slow down. "There are certain people who never, ever, ever give up," says Duda. "I'm one of those guys."