Technology Vision Group LLC is pleased to announce that as BPE
entered its 14th year, it continued to stand out as the top European
Biotech conference for partnering and business opportunities. Over
1200 international delegates converged on the Queen Elizabeth II
Conference Centre in Westminster, London last week to take part in the
lively and up-beat conference which offered a range of opportunities
for biotechnology companies looking for new partners and funding. This
year there were well over 2500 meetings scheduled via the
biopartnering.com software, with numerous other ad hoc meetings over
the course of the two days.
"BioPartnering Europe was well worth the effort. There was a very
high density of quality contacts in a short amount of time," stated
Dr. Jeff Wiseman, VP of Technology and Informatics with Locus
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a US-based company from Pennsylvania. "This
conference was well organized with more than the usual amount of
technical assistance for setting up presentations."
Dr Ulf Boberg, CEO of Affibody, commented, "Presenting Affibody in
an Open House session proved to be a very effective platform for us to
showcase our business enabling us to develop a range of promising
discussions with leading players in the life science industry."
As usual the BioPartnering Leadership sessions provided some
interesting and lively discussion and insights into the current issues
facing the biotech industry. One of these sessions entitled,
"Strategic Deals That Create Value" saw an expert panel analyze and
discuss several interesting structures that have been used by
bioscience companies to achieve successful strategic deals that retain
value, including indication-splitting deals, partnering by
territories, "reverse-partnering" (pharma outlicensing), and spin-out
transactions.
The panel also discussed changes to the traditional collaboration
structure whereby big pharma companies have to compete with larger
biotech firms for licensing opportunities, giving biotech companies
more negotiating power and better deals in the process.
In connection with the Conference, Mr. Barclay Kamb, Partner at
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP (one of the sponsors of the Conference),
presented the results of an online survey of 124 biotech and pharma
companies attending BPE. The survey revealed that access to
non-dilutive financing and the strengths and capabilities of the
partner are the key drivers of biotech companies' partnerships with
pharmaceutical and large biopharmaceutical companies. Nearly half of
the biotech companies surveyed said their company's main objective in
a corporate partnering deal is to obtain non-dilutive financing. Only
seven percent said their main objective is to access technology or
products and six percent partner to access necessary infrastructure.
BioForecaster
One of the highlights of BPE was BIOFORECASTER 2006 - Autumn
Market Report. It presented a review of the Life and Health Sciences
sector across Europe from leading members of the professional
investment community. The panelists debated new trends in investor
strategy, particularly looking at challenges to the traditional VC
model, the growing importance of hedge funds and the rise of companies
like bioFusion and IP2IPO who commercialize university IP. The panel
predicted a rise in the number of US companies listing on AIM, an
increasing number of early stage pharma deals, and highlighted niche
disease areas and antibody technologies as key areas of activity over
the next year.
The sister conference of BPE, the 5th Annual BioPartnering North
America will take place February 4-6, 2007 in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada and the 15th Annual BioPartnering Europe will be held
on October 7-9, 2007 again in London.
Full details about BioPartnering Europe and BioPartnering North
America can be found online at: http://www.techvision.com
Conference Sponsors and Supporters
Producer: Technology Vision Group LLC
Platinum Sponsors: AstraZeneca and Taylor Wessing
Gold Sponsors: Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, Deloitte, Ferghana
Partners Group, and Wyeth
Silver Sponsors: Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Genentech,
GlaxoSmithKline plc, International Business Wales, Johnson & Johnson,
Merck & Co., Inc., Novartis, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Roche, and TAP
Pharmaceutical Products Inc.
Conference Sponsors: BioQuebec, Farris, Vaughan, Wills, & Murphy
LLP, Genzyme, Life Science Analytics, Inc., NovaQuest, and
Solomon-Page Group LLC
Conference Supporters: BayBio, BioCentury, Business Wire,
Citigate, European Biopharmaceutical Review, Global Bioscience
Partnership, Nature Biotechnology, Red Herring, and the U.S.
Commercial Service
Official Carrier: British Airways
Emerging Company Presenters: Adnexus Therapeutics, Alchemia
Limited, Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd., Antibe Therapeutics Inc.,
Athenagen, Inc., Avexa, BioXell SpA, Borean Pharma A/S, BT Pharma,
Celldex Therapeutics, Clera Inc., Complex Biosystems, CrystalGenomics,
Inc., EcoBiotics Ltd, GammaCan Int. Inc, Haptogen Ltd, hemoCORM Ltd,
Karus Therapeutics, Lymphosign Inc., Merrion Pharmaceuticals Limited,
Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals, MNLpharma Ltd., ODC Therapy, PolyMedix
Inc., ProtAffin Biotechnologie AG, Psynova Ltd, Rincon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., SantoSolve, Senexis Limited, Syntaxin, Y's
Thera, and Zyentia Limited
Open House Presenters: ACE BioSciences A/S, Aegera Therapeutics
Inc., AerovectRx Corporation, Affibody AB, Algeta ASA, AlgoNomics NV,
Alligator Bioscience, amaxa GmbH, Ambit Biosciences, AmpliMed
Corporation, Antisoma, Array BioPharma Inc., Arrow Therapeutics Ltd.,
Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics Ltd., Avax Technologies,
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, Avecia Biotechnology, Avid
Bioservices, Inc., Avidex, Banner Pharmacaps, BioFocus DPI /
Galapagos, Biolex Therapeutics, Biota Holdings Limited, Boston Life
Sciences, Inc., Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Cell Genesys, Inc., Chemeq
Limited, Chemokine Therapeutics Corp., CombinatoRx, CovX, Curis, Inc.,
Cygenics Ltd, Cylene Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cytokinetics, Inc., Dako
North America, Digilab BioVisioN GmbH, Dimera Incorporated, Direvo
Biotech AG, Dyax Corp., Evolutec Group Plc, Evotec, ExonHit
Therapeutics, Faust Pharmaceuticals, Favrille, Inc., Gala Biotech, a
business unit of Cardinal Health, GangaGen Inc., Health Protection
Agency, Icagen, Inc., ImmuPharma PLC, INC Research, Indevus
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ingenium Pharmaceuticals AG, Intendis GmbH,
Intermune, Inc., Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Jurilab Ltd., Liponex
Inc., Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., MaxCyte, Inc., MedPharm Ltd,
Miltenyi Bioprocess, MolMed SpA, MorphoSys AG, Nektar Therapeutics,
NeoMPS SA, Nerites Corporation, Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Novation
Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novozymes A/S, NuPathe Inc., OctoPlus, Orient
Europharma Co., Ltd., Oxford Genome Sciences, Oxxon Therapeutics Ltd,
Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd, Perceptronix Medical Inc., Phylogica Ltd,
PLx Pharma Inc., PTC Therapeutics, Inc., RNTECH/DNAVision, Scottish
Biomedical, SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Simcere Pharmaceutical
Incorporation, SR Pharma plc. / Atugen AG, Stem Cell Therapeutics,
Symphogen A/S, Synta Phamaceuticals Corp., Threshold Pharmaceuticals,
TiGenix NV, TopoTarget UK Ltd, Transgene S.A., Tranzyme Pharma, Trigen
Holdings AG, Tripos Discovery Research Ltd., UCB Celltech, Warwick
Effect Polymers Ltd., Welichem Biotech Inc., XOMA Ltd., and ZIOPHARM
Oncology, Inc.
