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Tuesday
25 January 2005
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| 07:30
- 08:45 |
Registration |
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| 08:45
- 10:10 |
Opening
Plenary Session |
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Welcome
introduction |
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- Herve
de Kergrohen, Chairman
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Official
Opening Address
- Carlo
Lamprecht, Minister of Economic Affairs, State of Geneva
- Philippe
Sordet, President, BioAlps
- Roger
Vioud, Chairman, International Commission
of the Regional Council of Rhone
Alpes
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| 09:00
- 09:30 |
Key
Note
“Partnering
for Success"
Pfizer is a global leader
amongst research-based pharmaceutical
companies. According to recent estimates (October 2004),
it is ranked top of the industry for
new drug applications (NDAs) and has made dramatic progress by nurturing
the largest R&D organization in the industry. What
have been the reasons for this success? First, Pfizer believes that
scale, properly managed, can solve the productivity challenges of
the pharmaceutical industry by feeding early- and later-stage development.
Second, the company has made
considerable investments in early clinical development to ensure
that only the best drug candidates reach clinical testing (the “fail
fast, fail early” dictum). Thirdly,
in a dramatic turnaround of company thinking, Pfizer has adopted
an extensive in-licensing program of preclinical and phase I compounds.
Behind this ambitious approach is the financial strength to amortize
investments across multiple, promising projects.
This
session takes a detailed inside-look at the strategies behind the
success of Pfizer’s USD 7 billion R&D program. |
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| 09:30 -
10:10 |
Panel
discussion |
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“How
soon will Asia become a major player in the development of generic
and other innovative and devices drugs?”
Increasingly, Asia
is gathering momentum as an engine for growth of the pharma and
biotech sectors. For the past 18 months, Indian companies have dominated
drug filings to the FDA for bulk actives, the raw material used
to produce generic drugs. Drug Master File (DMF) filings from China
are also notably on the rise. Asia is also quickly building capabilities
to bring novel chemical and biological entities to the market. Singapore
is attracting some of the best names in biotechnology from around
the world. India’s main scientific institutes have strength, produce
high quality graduates and make critical contributions to economic
growth. China itself has the fastest growing economy worldwide.
What are the repercussions of these sweeping changes to the global
healthcare industry?
Moderator
- Gilles
Amsallem, COO, Avesthagen
Panellists
- Kim
Bill, Vice President Business Development and Licensing, Debiopharm
- Giampiero
de Luca, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Serono International
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Villoo Morawala-Patell, Founder and CEO, Avesthagen
- Michel
Venanzi, Fund Manager Life Sciences, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch
- Marc
Vollenweider, CEO, Evalueserve
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| 10:10
- 10:30 |
Coffee
Break |
| 10:30
- 12:10 |
Company
Presentations |
| 12:15
- 13:45 |
Lunch |
| 13:45
- 15:20 |
Company
Presentations |
| 15:20
- 15:45 |
Coffee
Break |
| 15:45
- 17:30 |
Plenary
BioAlps session |
| 15:45
- 16:15 |
Key
Note
“Biomaterials:
the convergence of biotechnology and medical devices"
- Jeffrey
Hubbell, Professor in the Integrative Biosciences Institute and
the Institute for Chemical Sciences and Technology, Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL)
The
convergence of biotechnology and medical devices is offering a host
of exciting new opportunities for the production of new biomaterials.
Novel materials produced in this way are finding applications in
areas as diverse as surgery, drug delivery and tissue regeneration
and reconstruction. This session looks at the latest develpments
in this area and offers a personal perspective on some of the most
promising biomaterials for clinical use in the coming years. |
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| 16:15
- 17:00 |
Panel
Discussion
“Degenerative
diseases and neurological disorders in perspective: market size,
key players, novel approaches, research breakthroughs, new upcoming
treatments and financial expectations”
Healthcare must urgently
address unmet medical needs and the effects of demographic changes.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the areas of degenerative disease
and neurological disorders. Multiple sclerosis affects nearly 2
million people worldwide, including about 450,000 Europeans and
400,000 North Americans. In the US alone, 4.5 million people suffer
from Alzheimer’s disease and this is projected to reach 6 million
by 2020. At the same time, more than 1 billion people worldwide
will be over 60 years old by 2025 (World Health Organization). The
healthcare challenges posed by degenerative diseases are immense.
This session looks at some of the recent strategies for addressing
this diverse group of diseases and what the latest advances in drug
development have to offer.
Moderator
- Patrick
Aebischer, President EPFL
Panellists
- Alim
L. Benabid, Professor, INSERM, Grenoble University
- Joël
Besse, Senior Partner, Atlas Ventures
- Ann
Kato, Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Geneva
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Jay Kranzler, CEO, Cypress Bioscience
-
Arthur Roach, Head of Neurobiology, Serono Pharmaceutical Research
Institute
- Werner
Tschollar, CEO, Xytis
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| 17:00
- 17:30 |
Key
Note
"Increasing
the productivity of life science research"
- Dominique
Gillot, Life Science manager Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA),
Hewlett-Packard
The
complexity of the problems faced by researchers in the life sciences
calls for drastic improvements in the way the IT industry provides
solutions to shorten discovery times. These improvements can come
from new computing architectures taking advantage of the very latest
processor technologies. They can also come from the way the huge
amount of data being generated is channeled and how applications
are designed and optimised. Hewlett-Packard has decided to team
up with key partners like Intel and Oracle to work on this problem.This
talk will describe how very strong productivity tools can help in
the discovery process, not only in computing but also in file transfer
and file access using global file systems like LUSTRE. This presentation
will also refer to the VITAL-IT project which is the subject of
a key note lecture also outlined in this program. |
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| Wednesday
26 January |
07:30
- 08:30 |
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08:30
- 10:10 |
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08:30
- 08:50 |
Key Note I
“Key
trends and drivers of the pharma and biotech industry”
In
an increasingly competitive environment, many believe pharma must
concentrate on its real strengths such as advancing later stage
clinical trials, bringing new chemical entities to the market
and marketing safe drugs. The seven largest biotechnology companies
are growing at rates faster than the average of the pharma industry.
More and more, biotechnology products are making a substantial
contribution to biopharmaceutical sales. The top ten biotechnology
product revenues are set to clear the USD 20 billion mark in 2004.
With only a few exceptions, pharma companies are becoming increasingly
reliant on their biotechnology partners for innovative new biopharmaceuticals.
What are the key trends and drivers that will shape the biotech-pharma
panorama in the coming years?
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08:50
- 09:20 |
Key Note II
“New
Medicines looking to the Future"
Currently drug discovery is at challenging
environment - an intersection between the exciting new discoveries
of the genome era, and the increasing demands of our customers.
Biotech
products are continuing to supply the market with NCEs, and organisationally,
the highly focused world of biotech is much more conducive to
identifying and progressing new molecules. I will discuss the
future trends in science, our culture and why new medicines will
continue to come forwards. Given the high price of development,
we need to work continually in Research to increase the future
success rate in Clinical Phase II - and technologies such as genetics,
experimental medicine and human pharmacology are developing at
a high speed. Based on the lessons we have learned from
the successes of the past, I will discuss how Serono has positioned
its research to make the most of a bright future.
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| 09.20
- 10:30 |
Analyst
Panel Discussion
“Will
2005 mark the beginning of a positive cycle for the biotech and
med tech industry? Companies to watch and follow in 2005 and beyond”
The
start of 2004 showed renewed interest from investors in the biotechnology
and medical technology sectors worldwide. However, this has failed
to materialize into a full-blown recovery on either side of the
Atlantic.
An
initial flurry of public listings, predominantly in the United
States, has seen a lukewarm reception from investors and financial
markets alike. Will 2005 mark a change in sentiment? Will the
phenomenal success of Google’s IPO carry over to the healthcare
sector? Switzerland has shown itself to be an exception to the
European landscape. Medical technology companies are attracting
attention as witnessed by the successful public listing of Ypsomed
on the SWX Swiss Exchange. Other companies are preparing for IPOs.
There is clear evidence that the successes of Serono and Actelion
are encouraging entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to take
a close look at the Swiss market. Which companies should we watch
in 2005 and beyond?
Moderator
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Frederic
Desdouits, Managing Partner, Bionest Partners
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Christoph
Gretler, Director Equity Research, Credit Suisse First Boston
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Bob
Pooler, Senior Research Analyst - Pharmaceuticals, Lombard Odier
Darier Hentsch
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Robin
Young, Managing Director, HealthpointCapital
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Olav
Zilian, Research Analyst – Pharma & Biotech, Helvea
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| 10:30
- 10:50 |
Coffee
Break |
| 10:50
- 12:30 |
Company
Presentations |
| 12:30
- 14:00 |
Lunch |
| 14:00
- 15:40 |
Company
Presentations |
| 15:40
- 16:00 |
Coffee
Break |
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| 16:00
- 18:00 |
FIRST
TUESDAY
BioAlps
Plenary session |
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| 16:00
- 16:25 |
Key Note
I
“Vital-IT:
developing the life science computing tools of the future”
- Victor
Jongeneel, Director, Vital-IT Centre, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Founded
in April 2004, Vital-IT is a new Swiss computing centre designed
to deliver the computing infrastructure necessary to support research
in the life sciences. A collaborative project between the Swiss
Institute of Bioinformatics, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research,
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the Universities
of Geneva, Lausanne and Basel, Hewlett-Packard Company and Intel
Corporation, Vital-IT provides large-scale computational resources
to support the latest developments in fundamental and applied research.
Increasingly, researchers are generating large volumes of data through
multidisciplinary research projects. This session takes a first-hand
look at what bioinformatics has to offer life science researchers
in the years ahead. It examines closely the likely impact of Vital-IT's
computing power, software development capabilities, and other expertise
on both life science research in Switzerland and worldwide. What
can we realistically expect from high-performance computing resources
in terms of transforming biologically relevant knowledge into new
technologies, applications and, ultimately, new therapeutics?
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| 16:25
- 16:50 |
Key Note
II
"
The criteria for successful in-licensing
at Novartis"
- Jennifer
Griffiths, Director, Global Business Development, Novartis Pharmaceuticals
The Novartis product pipeline is one
of the broadest in the industry and currently comprises a total
total of 67 projects in clinical
development. To develop new products, acquire platform technologies,
and to access new markets, Novartis forms strategic alliances and
collaborations with other partners in the industry and with academic
institutions. In the course of its history, in-licensing has played
an increasingly important role at the company. Across
the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology products now represent
a large portion of drug pipelines. Currently, the strategic alliance
arm of Novartis manages over 250 collaborations in 17 countries,
over 170 of which are with leading academic centres and over 80
of which are with major biotechnology companies. In 2004 alone,
the Novartis research arm has completed more than 90 pre-clinical
deals. Evaluation methods and rigorously applied investment criteria
are key to review technologies and to select the best pre-clinical
candidates from established biotechnology companies. At
Novartis, products and compounds reviewed
for in-licensing are selected
and rigorously evaluated by the same
criteria as in-house discoveries.
This talk takes a close look at these
criteria as well as how
they may evolve in the coming years. What
can start-up companies expect in the
future for a successful partnership
with
the pharmaceutical
industry?
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| 16:50
- 18:00 |
Panel
Discussion:
“ Switzerland : a biotechnology
or medical technology country?”
The BioAlps region
is home to more than 200 medical technology
and biotechnology companies. For many years, the medical technology
sector has been an integral part of
this landscape and is increasingly attracting the attention of the
investment community. How do medical
technology companies compare to biotechnology companies from an
investor’s perspective? What are the current and future avenues
of innovation that offer the most potential for delivering marketable
products in the medical technology sector? If the
convergence of biotechnology
and medical devices is inevitable, when will it become a reality?
This panel discussion looks at the impact of recent developments
in the medical technology sector and examines the outlook for academic
institutions, start-up companies and larger corporations.
Moderator
- Jacques
Essinger, Executive Chairman, Symetis
Panellists
- Philippe
Dro, CEO, Endoart
- Ivor
Elrifi, co-chair of the Intellectual Property Section, Mintz Levin
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Stephane Lavallee, CEO, Praxim
- Andre
J. Mueller, Member of the Board of Directors, former CFO, Actelion
- Antoine
Papiernik, Managing Partner, Sofinnova
- Markus
Ochs, Director, Stryker
- Robin
Young, Medtech Analyst, HealthpointCapital
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| 18:00
- 19:00 |
Networking
Cocktail |
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