[June 17, 2015]

Day Three of the 2015 BIO International Convention to Feature a Keynote Luncheon with Dr. Eric Topol and Evening Keynote with Jazz Musician Wynton Marsalis

The 2015 BIO International Convention, the world's largest biotechnology event, started this week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and will run through Thursday, June 18. Hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, this year's event is expected to attract more than 3,000 biotechnology companies and more than 15,000 attendees from 48 states and 65 countries.

Wednesday Convention Highlights Include:

• Keynote Luncheon: Eric Topol, Cardiologist and Digital Health Expert, Wednesday, June 17
  Wednesday's Keynote Luncheon will feature Dr. Eric J. Topol, the Dean of Digital Medicine and preeminent speaker on the future of healthcare. He was voted the #1 Most Influential Physician Executive in the United States in a poll conducted by Modern Healthcare. Dr. Topol is widely recognized as the leading authority on digital medicine and its impact on every branch of healthcare.
  12:00 - 1:30 PM | Terrace Ballroom, Level 400
  
  PLEASE NOTE: Photography is permitted during the first 3 minutes of Topol's speech only. If you would like to send someone to the photography pool, please RSVP to [email protected], and meet at the back of the room, stage left, at 12:40 pm to be escorted to the photo staging area.

• Wednesday Evening Keynote: Wynton Marsalis, Internationally Acclaimed Jazz Musician, Wednesday, June 17
  Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of American culture. He is the world's first jazz artist to perform and compose across the full jazz spectrum from its New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz. By creating and performing an expansive range of brilliant new music for quartets to big bands, chamber music ensembles to symphony orchestras, tap dance to ballet, Wynton has expanded the vocabulary for jazz and created a vital body of work that places him among the world's finest musicians and composers. Marsalis will address the parallels of music and entrepreneurship and the challenges and opportunities of biotech. Corresponding themes include creating new ideas without capital, and the perseverance needed to bring an idea to fruition. He will also address art as a collaborative enterprise and how this can be applied to any organization. Marsalis's message of entrepreneurship, nurturing ideas from concept to reality and collaboration - as well as the overarching theme of innovation - are concepts that are also woven into each of our professional and personal lives.
  6:00 - 7:00 PM | Ballroom AB, Level 300

• Super Session: Investment Incentives to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Wednesday, June 17
  Globally, antimicrobial resistance has become one of the most significant public health issues, affecting all countries and causing increasing hospitalizations, extended illness, and escalating healthcare costs. Over the last few years numerous analyses have demonstrated the gaps and market failures that have slowed the development of novel products, especially antibiotics. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and industry are engaged in partnering models to stimulate investment in new modalities to best address this public health crisis. Panelists will discuss various global initiatives; the role and importance of antibiotics, antibodies, vaccines and diagnostics in global stewardship efforts; and what incentives will best encourage industry R&D.
  10:00 - 11:30 AM | Room 114

• Super Session: Accelerating Innovation in the 21st Century, Wednesday, June 17
  Recent scientific advancements mean that bioscience is on the cusp of delivering increasingly targeted, specialized, advanced treatments to patients. The promise of the science, however, demands investment, collaboraions, the support of regulatory authorities and government. The panel will convene US and European thought leaders to discuss and debate how to better ensure the promise is realized.
  
  
  
  
  2:00 - 3:30 PM | Room 114

• Personalized Medicine Plenary with Dr. Francis Collins, Wednesday, June 17
  With the announcement of President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative, more attention and focus has been placed on this bold new effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease. Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, will kick off the Personalized Medicine & Diagnostics track with a keynote addressing the potential of a more precise, personalized approach to medicine. He will describe NIH's efforts to foster research in precision medicine, discuss potential barriers to its advancement into the healthcare and consumer ecosystem, and highlight how we might best overcome those barriers to move medicine forward.
  9:00 - 10:00 AM | Room 105AB

• The Impact of USPTO Inter Partes Review Proceedings on (Bio)Pharma, Wednesday, June 17
  Inter Partes Review Proceedings (IPRs) before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-with a lower burden of proof, lower costs and speedier resolution than district court proceedings-have become a preferred tactic for challenging U.S. patents. Some 77.2 percent of cases have gone to trial. Final written decisions issued in 120 proceedings have led to cancellation of 76.2 percent of the challenged claims. This session will focus on the fairness of IPRs and how generic, brand and non-practicing entities are using IPRs strategically to force settlements, achieve licensing objectives and secure freedom to operate. Also discussed will be the impact on raising capital, partnering and patent portfolio development.
  2:00 - 3:15 PM | Room 109AB

Upcoming Convention Highlights Include:

• Super Session: Riding the Bull Market: What's in Store for Biotech Dealmakers in 2015?, Thursday, June 18
  Campbell Alliance and BIO are pleased to present updated findings from two unique forward-looking measures of deal-making in the industry - the Campbell Alliance Dealmakers' Intentions Study and the BIO One-on-One Partnering Forecast. Based on a survey of more than 150 industry executives and business development professionals, Dealmakers' Intentions provides insight into what will likely drive the industry's partnering and M&A efforts moving forward, and the implications for deal-making over the next year or more. Now in its seventh year, analysis in 2015 will include year-over-year trends, additional deal metrics, and broader M&A data.
  10:00 - 11:30 AM | Room 114

• Super Session: The Next Step: How Companies Build Successful Therapeutic Franchises from the Ground Up, Thursday, June 18
  Whether you're an established commercial entity or an emerging biotech company that is commercializing for the first time, building a franchise in a new therapeutic area from the ground up raises a host of questions: how much risk should be accepted, how quickly, and how large, should a salesforce be built, what capabilities are needed, and is a partner needed to fully leverage the opportunity. It is known that your first moves into a new therapeutic area are critical and that your first year on the market will likely dictate the product's success. Panelists will provide real life examples of what it takes to build a therapeutic franchise through a moderated panel discussion.
  12:00 - 1:30 PM | Room 114

• Super Session: Scientific American Worldview - Biotech: The Many Spheres of Influence, Thursday, June 18
  Progress, policies and people drive life science innovation. Which ones are the most noteworthy? And which ones exert the most global influence? This year's Worldview, the annual collaborative edition from Scientific American, showcases the 100 most influential people in biotechnology. Come to the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Worldview super session to hear a dynamic panel of international luminaries opine on the future of innovation in a lively conversation, and perhaps even debate the very meaning of the word "influence." Moderated by television and radio journalist, David Brancaccio, host of Marketplace Morning Report, this event will explore key themes from the edition and offer fresh perspectives on international life science development.
  2:00 - 3:30 PM | Room 114

Follow the 2015 Convention @BIOConvention, and join the conversation and @IAmBIOtech.

Media registration is open from 8:00am - 5:30pm at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The majority of attendees, 70 percent, are c-level executives. They split evenly from large companies of 500 or more employees and small companies of 50 employees or less.

The BIO International Convention is the largest global event for the biotechnology industry and attracts the biggest names in biotech, offers key networking and partnering opportunities, and provides insights and inspiration on major trends affecting the industry. The Convention will highlight the latest trends and the newest opportunities for executives, investors, scientists, policy leaders, and media from around the world. Speakers at the sessions will share breakthroughs in medicine, diagnostics, the environment, energy production, business operations, financing, partnerships, policy issues and food and agriculture. Visit http://convention.bio.org/program/ for the most up-to-date program and speaker information.

Upcoming BIO Events

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology
July 19-22, 2015
Montréal, Canada

BIO Latin America Conference
October 14-16, 2015
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

BIO Investor Forum
October 20-21, 2015
San Francisco, CA (News - Alert)

About BIO

BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling "innovations transforming our world" and the BIO Newsletter is the organization's bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.

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