Sara Jane Demy

Sara Jane Demy

Founder & CEO, Demy-Colton

Sara Jane Demy is Founder and CEO of Demy-Colton, which she started in 2008 to build the investor and business-development conferences where the life-sciences and TechBio industries meet. Its portfolio includes Biotech Showcase, BioFuture, the Biotech CEO Summit, Executive Clinics and the Demy-Colton Virtual Salons.

Before founding the company she was Vice President for Business Development and Investor Relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, where she launched the BIO CEO & Investor Conference, the BIO Investor Forum and BIO Asia, expanded BIO-Europe, and led the team that built the partnering system now standard across biopharma business development. Earlier she was Director for Foreign Investment at the Empire State Development Corporation, where a project with Beecham Pharmaceuticals first brought her into the biopharma industry.

She is a co-founder of Biotech Showcase, and holds a BA in international relations from Albany University.

On Open Door Salon

“Sara Jane Demy and Jeremy Levin on Where Biotech Money Goes When Venture Capital Stops”
Sara Jane Demy & Jeremy Levin · August 19, 2026

Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon

“That model just does not seem to be there right now”Sara Jane Demy, on Open Door Salon (on the conventional A, B, C venture round path)

“there is a belief that the science is good and a demonstration that the science and the information that comes out of China is good and reproducible”Sara Jane Demy, on Open Door Salon (on how CEOs now view Chinese clinical data)

“a lot of that includes grant money, some of it from the federal government, other grant money or collaboration money with patient advocacy groups”Sara Jane Demy, on Open Door Salon (on the non-traditional capital her CEO summit discussed)

“There's no other industry like this industry, no other industry that I can think of where so many people are so dedicated to achieving good.”Sara Jane Demy, on Open Door Salon (on the people who build life-sciences companies)

In this episode

There's no other industry like this
Introduction
The troops without supplies
What the war does to the industry
Hormuz: plastics, fertilizer and food security
Is China gaining from the war?
Why CEOs now trust Chinese clinical data
The question isn't if China leads, it's when
What disruption did to the US innovation engine
Innovation won't stop, it will migrate
What gets repaired and what doesn't
The A-B-C round model isn't there anymore
Back to basics: be fearless
Advice for people still inside government
Is the foundation still standing?
The hardest decision of your career
The resignation written on a napkin

Topics

Biotech FundingInvestor ConferencesBusiness DevelopmentPartneringLife Sciences Capital

Watch on Open Door Salon

Where Biotech Money Goes When Venture Capital Stops | Sara Jane Demy & Jeremy Levin

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