Zurich, Switzerland and Barcelona, Spain – February 11, 2010: The fourth annual BIO-Europe Spring^® partnering event is less than four weeks away, taking place on March 8–10, at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), Spain. Despite the turbulent economy, the event has seen a steady stream of registrations since BIO-Europe in November of last year. To date there are 1,311 delegates registered from 806 companies in 42 countries. EBD Group, the producer of BIO-Europe Spring, expects over 1,600 decision makers to attend.
 
In addition to navigating the peaks and valleys of a tenuous economic recovery, on the minds of many attendees this year are the strategic implications of big pharma’s current restructuring for players across the life science value chain.

BIO-Europe Spring’s plenary session, Collaboration in the Next Decade: Will 25 Years of Partnering Experience Lead to Greater Productivity? Regina Hodits, Partner at Atlas Venture, will moderate a panel featuring Ignacio Faus, CEO, Palau Pharma S.A. and Shelagh Wilson, VP, Head of European CEEDD, GlaxoSmithKline,, among others, to help answer the question.

“One of the biggest challenges over the next decade will be how the biotech and pharma industries adjust to their new roles either as commercial organizations or drug developers, with fewer doing both. It is clear by now that many of the old models for building fully integrated drug companies no longer work,” notes Hodits.

“The question is how do we capture and reward true innovation and progress along the drug development continuum so companies can specialize without being tempted to try to do it all. This will place a huge significance on partnerships,” she adds.

Other panels delving into pertinent strategic issues include:

Can Mid-cap Companies Succeed with Targeted Regional Strategies?
Moderator Jeff Conroy, Adjuvant Global Advisors, and speakers Helmut Kessmann, Santhera Pharmaceuticals, Jukka Muhonen, Orion Corporation, and, Carlos de Sousa, Nycomed, examine strategies related to specific territories and disease areas that lend themselves to specialization, and smaller more nimble marketing and drug development operations.

Does Every Drug Idea Really Need a Company Behind it?
Moderator Jack M. Anthony, Osprey Pharmaceuticals USA, together with Anton Gueth, Burrill LLC, Wendy Johnson, Palkion, Inc., Dennis Purcell, Aisling Capital, and Robert Wills, Johnson & Johnson, will explore the myth that biotech will be the salvation of the drug industry by supplying novel drug opportunities. Can it possibly be that the biotech universe can no longer support every drug concept and the company behind it? How do we better match supply and demand? Or do we simply let Darwinian laws prevail? Don’t miss these five industry veterans, buy side and sell side, square off to try and bring clarity to a very fuzzy future.

Partnering and Financing Opportunities for Assets that Survived the Shake-out
Ben Bonifant, Campbell Alliance, moderates a panel featuring Christoph Hüls, Merck Serono and Tom Needham, Advent Healthcare Ventures, that seeks to identify the next wave of partnering and financing opportunities, ones that require a moderate level of investment, but could yield a disproportionate increase in value.

Corporate Venture in Drug Development: Is it Really Strategic or Merely Business Development Deal Sourcing by Another Name? Moderator John Carroll, FierceBiotech, and Roel Bulthuis, Merck Serono Ventures, Anja König, Novartis Venture Fund, and Malcom Weir, Heptares Therapeutics, look into the effectiveness of corporate venture funds. Given the growing importance of corporate venture in financing early stage programs, this panel will answer key questions related to effectiveness of corporate venture arms in selecting early stage programs that could eventually be pulled in-house.