Here’s Ovid Therapeutics CEO Jeremy Levin (middle) mixing it up with some attendees before the show.

And Flagship Pioneering executive partner David Epstein.

Attendees file in, network, and make new connections.

All smiles before the show.

The evening’s Blazer-award winner.

Alright let’s get the show started.

Early on, the panelists went through their New York ties. Decibel Therapeutics CEO Steve Holtzman, for instance, grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Both he and his father used to drive cabs in New York City. “I probably know where you live if you give me the address,” he said.

Levin hammered home a key point throughout the program. New York won’t succeed if it tries to recreate what Boston and San Francisco have become. “Ask what the strengths are here to be different,” he said.

New York is still in its early days of biotech startup creation. Jenna Foger noted that Alexandria, through the Alexandria Center and its Manhattan incubator, is trying to shepherd enough companies forward so New York hits “critical mass.” ”We’re trying to nucleate it here,” she says.

Flagship Pioneering executive partner David Epstein says he hears “more and more people talking about New York as a place to start and invest” than he ever has before. Flagship has formed a stealthy startup through its New York branch, but Epstein wouldn’t dish details.

One thing Levin believes New York can take advantage of: accessing the massive amounts of data within the city’s large medical centers, a treasure trove that will only get bigger amidst the evolution of sophisticated digital tools. If successful, New York “can create a fertile crossroads between drug development, drug discovery, and the digital world,” he said.

If you look in the major biotech clusters, what you see are earlier-generation companies---Genentech and Genzyme, for example---that have spawned new classes of fearless biotech entrepreneurs. What New York needs are more biotech experts who think entrepreneurially, who have faith that when they run off the cliff, they’re “the Roadrunner not Wile E. Coyote,” Holtzman said.

Perhaps many of those future entrepreneurs are working for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, currently the beacon of New York biotech. But would it actually help the city’s biotech ecosystem if it were acquired? Regeneron is “full of incredibly talented people,” Levin said. “Maybe, just maybe that would lead to a seeding” of new biotech companies.

Another thing for New York to focus on: alternative methods of company creation, Epstein said. Don’t fall into the “illusion that all great ideas come from academia.” Sometimes experienced entrepreneurs or investors can get the ball rolling instead.

Alright, who’s hungry?

Let the schmoozing begin.

Plenty of guests stuck around for food, drinks, and laughs.

And to talk New York biotech.

And swap business cards.

Our speakers stuck around to chat up attendees as well.

Thanks to everyone for a great event, we’ll see you again next time!