Capital Access

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Track 1
Thursday, March 8, 2012

Session 1
New Developments in VC Financings – Selling Your Soul?
10:00AM – 11:15AM

Funding of the life science sector declined in 2010 and 2011. The remaining funding is increasingly skewed toward follow-on and later stage deals, smaller increments, more strings attached and more risk sharing.

This panel will discuss some emerging new structures and trends in initial and follow-on VC financings, including collaborating with the venture arms of big Pharma which can provide additional funding leverage as well as on-going guidance in developing a program that will be of interest to a Pharma buyer, but at what cost? The panel will also discuss the pros and cons of this emerging structure as well as other recent models for VC financings.

Moderator

Michael J. O’Donnell
Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Panel Speakers

Gaurav Aggarwal, M.D.
Partner, Panorama Capital

Jonathan MacQuitty, Ph.D.
Partner, Abingworth LLP

James Sabry
VP Genentech Partnering, Genentech

Stephen B. Thau
Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Samuel S. Wu, M.D. Ph.D.
Managing Director, MedImmune Ventures

Session 2
Successful Collaborations with Passion Investors
11:45AM – 1:00PM

It’s no secret that non-profit foundations and patient advocacy groups represent a fast-growing source of funding for early stage life sciences companies developing novel technologies. This type of alternative funding has steadily climbed as traditional venture capital firms remain conservative in their funding of biotech innovation.

Working with foundations can be a rewarding experience as they can provide scientific expertise and access to faculty thought-leaders, and provide assistance in recruiting for clinical trials. Foundations, however, may have different development milestones in mind, and ultimately have different objectives from those of traditional funders. When applying for grants and seeking partnerships, biotechnology companies need to be aware of the differences between traditional funding and mission-based funding when it comes to goals and financial pay-offs. Among these differences are:

They are more willing to advance orphan drugs
They can speed clinical trial recruitment through access to patients
They are focused on innovation, rather than me-too drugs
They want to be directly involved in the research through affiliated faculty, patients or foundation representatives
They are focused on innovation that will lead to relevant treatment or cure
They need to be engaged early; they can help point research in the right direction
They have financial payback expectations that may be more modest than commercial funding sources

Moderator

Richard Kaufman
Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP

Panel Speakers

Sohini Chowdhury
Senior VP, Research Partnerships
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

Marco Giorgetti, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Neuroscience
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Paul Negulescu, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and San Diego Site Head
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

Melissa Stevens
Director of Strategic Initiatives
FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions

Elizabeth Thompson
President
Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Session 3
Before You Look for Loose Change: Alternative Funding Sources for Biotech and How to Secure Them
2:45PM – 4:00PM

The IPO window is rarely open for more than a heartbeat, and VCs are reluctant to open their pocketbooks. How, then, can an innovative company generate the cash needed to fund its innovative pipeline? This interactive panel will discuss how they’ve creatively approached this problem by tapping into sources of non-dilutive funding. This panel will specifically focus on how best to obtain government contracts as well as creative R&D financing, from option licensing to collaborative risk-sharing, that both incentivize and fund early stage clinical R&D. The panelists will outline how to tailor business models to suit these organizations and how approaching them differs from targeting VCs or doing traditional deals. A variety of perspectives both from the funders and deal makers will be presented.

Moderator

Steve Edelson
Executive Editor of SciBX
BioCentury

Speakers

Robin Jackman
President and CEO, Zacharon Pharmaceuticals

Jay Lichter
CEO, Affraxis

Axel Schleyer
VP of Business Development, Boehringer-Ingelheim Biopharma

Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Xencor

Session 4
Preparing for M&A: Engineering a Happy Marriage
4:15PM – 5:30PM

As the economic turbulence continues, an increasing number of biotech companies are capitalizing on the trend towards M&A. A company can’t just put on its finest suit and start the dating game, it must plan early to get it right and avoid the pitfalls that could hinder its walk to the altar. This dynamic session will feature CEOs and a banker who successfully planned for and engineered their M&A transaction. They started by anticipating a number of critical factors well before their first date, including the company’s equity structure and an unencumbered intellectual property portfolio. When they found their ideal acquirer, they took critical steps to run an effective transaction process. The panelists will describe the do’s and don’ts for presenting a compelling story to potential acquirers, executing on business development when M&A is the ultimate ring on the finger, creating and nurturing a competitive bidding environment (monogamy is overrated), and retaining as much upside as possible. They’ll dig deep into the enticing dual-track strategy of pursing an IPO or M&A, as well as insights into how to manage a long-distance courtship with international players.