BioPharm America Unveils Preliminary Program Highlights

BioPharm America Unveils Preliminary Program Highlights

Carlsbad and Boston, MA, USA; July 28, 2009:EBD Group today announced that the second annual BioPharm America™ partnering event, September 16–18 at the San Francisco Marriott, will host some of the biggest names in biotech business who will tackle many of the key issues on the minds of industry executives around the world.
The conference program kicks-off with two all-star plenary panels:

After the Dust Settles: Does the Industry Need an Entirely New R&D Strategy?:
Led by Carolyn Buck Luce, Global Life Science Sector Leader, Ernst & Young, and featuring Dr. Corey Goodman, Chair of the Board, iPierian, Limerick and PhyloTech, and Vice Chair, Evotec; Dr George Scangos, President and CEO, Exelixis; and Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Executive VP, Research and CSO, Genentech, this session will examine the key issues for maintaining a robust biotech engine of innovation.

Past as Prologue: Industry Thought Leaders Discuss What Experiences of the Last 15 Years Imply for the Next Decade:
Moderator Vaughn Kailian, Managing Director, MPM Capital will probe the collective experiences of Samuel Colella, Managing Director, Versant Ventures; Dr. Louis Lange (MD and PhD), Senior Advisor, Gilead Sciences; and William Ringo, Senior VP, Strategy and Business Development, Pfizer, to determine the shape of things to come in the biotech industry.

Other BioPharm America 2009 program highlights include:

The Biotech Model: The End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End?: While hard economic times have clearly impacted biotech and pharmaceutical companies alike, there is more to our problems than just the global financial crisis. Led by moderator Jack Anthony, CEO, Osprey Pharmaceuticals USA, an experienced panel featuring Dr. Frank L. Douglas, Senior Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; George Golumbeski, Senior VP, Business Development, Celgene; Tamar Howson, Partner, JSB-Partners; Dennis Purcell, Senior Managing Director, Aisling Capital; Duane Roth, CEO, CONNECT; and Ed Saltzman, President, Defined Health will examine the underlying industry drivers and propose potential scenarios which may yet offer a robust continuation of pharmaceutical product innovation.

Commercialization Strategy When Money is Tight: Is Partnering the Only Answer?: Becoming a commercial company with its own products is still the stated goal of many or most biotech companies, even now when investors have little appetite for funding the commercial launch of almost any product without the backing or control of a big pharma/big biotech partner. Moderator Louis Scotti, VP, Marketing and Business Development, Arena Pharmaceuticals will be joined by Joe McCracken, VP, Business Development, Genentech; Gwen Melincoff, Senior VP, Business Development, Shire Pharmaceuticals and John Spitznagel, Chairman and CEO, Oceana Therapeutics will evaluate the strategic options biotechs have to consider.

The Benefits of Focus: Has the Industry's Focus on Specialty Products Helped to Drive Valuations Higher?:
There used to be a relatively strong distinction between the specialty companies that had a strong therapeutic area focus and the "big pharma" companies with a primary care focus and product development efforts in a number of different disease areas. For many years the specialty companies have enjoyed higher multiples than those for big pharma.

Recently, however, big pharma has been moving away from the primary care focus that has defined them. This has mixed implications for the specialty companies.
Moderated by Michael Fleming, Executive Advisory Group Member, Business Development Practice, Campbell Alliance a panel of experts featuring Christopher Seaton, Senior VP, Global Transactions, Bayer HealthCare; Anna Protopopas, Senior VP, Corporate Development, Millennium Pharmaceuticals; Fabrice Egros, Senior VP, Global Business Development, UCB; and Juergen Lasowski, Senior VP, Corporate Development, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, will provide a review of licensing trends in specialty therapeutic categories and consider the implications for these markets over the next 5-10 years.

Building Successful Alliances: How to Live Happily Ever After:
Moderator Diane Romza-Kutz, Partner, Troutman Sanders will be joined by Steve Damon, Senior VP, Business Development, Altea Therapeutics; Dr. Mary Haak-Frendscho, President and CSO, Takeda San Francisco; and Dr Art Tipton, VP, SurModics and President, SurModics Pharmaceuticals to discuss the issues which typically arise between the parties once the deal is signed.

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