Milan, Italy and Zurich, Switzerland, March 24, 2009: Close to 1,550 leaders from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry gathered last week for the 3rd annual BIO-Europe Spring® partnering conference, which saw an impressive 7,104 one-to-one partnering meetings between industry dealmakers. BIO-Europe Spring, in only its third year has become the second largest dedicated partnering event in the biotechnology industry in Europe. More complete coverage of the event can be found at www.partneringnews.com.

The conference drew over 955 companies from 44 countries around the world. Delegates engaged in partnering meetings featuring 1,500 licensing opportunities. In addition, there were 16 workshops and panel sessions, and 150 focused presentations by biotech companies seeking financing, licensing opportunities or partners for advancing their product development.

Where the first day of BIO-Europe Spring was dedicated to panel discussions and workshops on hot topics like personalized medicine, current market conditions, or regulatory updates, the second and third days of the conference were divided into timeslots of 30 minutes during which participants got down to the main business of organized one-to-one partnering, supported by EBD Group's partneringONE™ software.

While participation at this year’s event was up 15 percent over BIO-Europe Spring 2008 in Madrid, the level of partnering activity between life science executives was up by an astounding 21 percent in Milan. This spike in meetings indicates a superb quality of licensing opportunities, and partnerships providing a vital route to securing corporate funding.

The success of BIO-Europe Spring 2009 sets the stage for the remainder of EBD Group's 2009 program: EuroMedtech™ (Duesseldorf, June 3–4); BioEquity Europe (June 9–10); ChinaBio® Partnering Forum (June 23–24); BioPharm America™ (September 16–18); and, BIO-Europe (November 2–4).

The 4th annual BIO-Europe Spring event will take place in Barcelona, Spain, March 8–10, 2010.

About EBD Group
EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Since 1993, biotech, pharma and medical device companies have leveraged EBD Group’s partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships essential to their success.

EBD Group’s conferences are run with the support of leading corporations and international trade associations and include:

• BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring®, the world's largest stand-alone life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
• BioPharm America™, EBD Group’s North American partnering event
• EuroMedtech™, EBD Group’s new partnering event for the innovative medical technology industry
• BioEquity Europe, the investor conference co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO

EBD Group’s sophisticated web-based partnering service, partneringONE™, is used as the partnering engine at numerous third-party events around the world. Outside of the conference format, EBD Group’s consultants provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies. EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.

For more information please visit www.ebdgroup.com.

Contact:
Constantine Theodoropulos
EBD Group
+1 617 292 7319
ctheodoropulos@ebdgroup.com

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