Current track and session postings reflect confirmed speakers only.
Session information and speakers are updated on daily basis and are subject to change.


Track Sponsors:

Running on Empty: How to Survive the Global Economic Crisis
9:45am – 11:00am

This session will explore how Boards and management teams can best assess and optimize limited resources in order to do more with less, and to continue to create company value in the current highly challenging economic environment. Life sciences companies, both private and public, will need to adopt a proactive, creative crisis-management mentality that enables executives to identify and promptly handle all of the many difficulties that they will face on the road ahead, including the shrinking availability of traditional private and public financing, tightening of credit availability, ever-increasing costs for clinical trials, an uncertain M&A environment, longer regulatory cycles, and reimbursement pressures. This panel of experts will discuss, in a candid and practical way, key topics such as resource optimization, program re-prioritization, restructuring and resizing, creative partnering, M&A strategies and opportunities, potential financing resources unique to our new reality, and other practical ways to “stretch the dollar and lengthen the runway.”

Panel Moderator:

Bruce W. Jenett
Co-Chair, Global Life Sciences Sector, DLA Piper LLP (US)

Panel Speakers:

Ken Haas
Partner, Abingworth Management, Inc.

David Kabakoff
Executive in Residence, Sofinnova Ventures, Inc.

Nancy E. Pecota
Chief Financial Officer, Aradigm Corporation

George A. Scangos
President and Chief Executive Officer, Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Strategies to Creatively Monetize Your IP Portfolio
11:30am – 12:45pm

In the current economic climate companies will have to carefully evaluate their R&D portfolios. Not all projects can be supported – only those that support the company's core mission. Many projects will need to be shelved until better times. However some companies follow alternative routes. Rather than shelving these projects they have sold or are considering selling such IP in order to finance core projects, or they leverage IP to attract partners and finance further development of such products. A panel of experts will examine several case studies and will provide practical recommendations to companies considering this route.

Panel Moderator:

Narinder S. Banait, PhD
Partner, Fenwick & West

Panel Speakers:

Tom Anderton
Associate General Counsel, IP, Monogram Biosciences

David Earp
Chief Patent Counsel, Geron Corporation

Phillip Haworth
Chief Executive Officer, Intradigm

Facing the Storm – Leading with Your Business Partners
2:15pm – 3:30pm

As the current economic landscape shifts, funding dollars are tightening, M&A is ramping up, and risk-tolerance is plunging. In this tumultuous environment, how you work with your current partners to explore new strategies and execute tactics that will calm their jitters and secure their confidence is critical. Leading these collaborations is key to helping prevent investor flight or an unwanted fire sale. This session will cover what you can do to work successfully with all business partners: how to align expectations, facilitate effective communication, implement the plan, and meet business goals. By identifying what skills are needed and how to integrate these skills throughout your organization, you will successfully work with your business and investment partners to deliver results. The moderator and panel will share personal experiences and case studies to illustrate winning (and losing) strategies.

Panel Moderator:

Harry Georgiades, PMP, SSBB
Director, Regional Operations, Integrated Project Management Company, Inc.

Panel Speakers:

Grace E. Colón, PhD
Senior Director, Alliance Management, Gilead Sciences

Douglass Given, MD, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Vivaldi Biosciences
Partner, Bay City Capital

Juergen Lasowski, PhD
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Onyx Pharmaceuticals

Unconventional Capital: Alternative Financing Options
3:45pm – 5:00pm

With public capital markets frozen and venture capital becoming increasingly scarce, life sciences companies are increasingly turning to alternative sources of capital. Project-based financing can monetize a revenue stream to fund other programs. Government grants and private foundations can also support innovative work with non-dilutive capital, while also providing scientific validation and peer review. A panel of experts will discuss the pros, cons and how tos of alternative financing options.

Panel Moderator:

Stephen Thau
Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Panel Speakers:

Michael J. Eichberg
Associate Director, Business Development, Achaogen, Inc.

Guy Miller, MD, PhD
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Edison Pharmaceuticals

Patricia Olson
Director of Scientific Activities, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Michael S. Ostrach
Chief Business Officer and General Counsel, Dynavax Technologies Corporation