Show Me The Money: Current Trends in Venture Capital Investment in Life Sciences
9:45am – 11:00am

Who's getting funded and why? What business models are appealing to venture investors--and what is "yesterday's news"? A panel of experienced venture capitalists will discuss “what’s hot, what’s not” today in venture investment in life sciences companies, and where they predict investment money will be flowing over the next five years. The panel will discuss what lessons the venture community has learned from its life sciences investments over the past 10 years, where the public equity market , and M&A activity , appear to be headed, what typical key venture deal terms are today for various financing rounds, and how those terms are evolving as the industry matures. The panelists also will discuss generally their view of the current and projected state of the life sciences industry in Northern California, as we compete nationally and internationally for talent and finance.

Panel Moderator:

Bruce W. Jenett
Shareholder, Heller Ehrman LLP

Panel Speakers:

Simba Gill
Venture Partner and Entrepreneur in Residence, Texas Pacific Group Ventures

Ken Haas
Venture Partner, Abingworth Management Inc.

Mike Powell, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Sofinnova Ventures

Risa Stack
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Ilan Zipkin, Ph.D.
Partner, Prospect Venture Partners

Between a Rock & a Hard Place: Key Trends in Life Sciences Partnering and Deal-Making
11:15am – 12:30pm

Many biotechnology companies rely on licensing and corporate partnering strategies to finance late-stage clinical development in the short-term without losing the long-term opportunity to benefit from commercialization of the product.

Big Pharma is increasingly seeking partnerships with biotech to access innovative drugs to fill their pipelines. As evidenced by the pharma-bio deals during 2005, pharmaceutical companies more than ever before are willing to pay a significant premium for innovative early-stage development compounds.

The panelists, representing portfolio companies, publicly traded companies, and VC firms, will evaluate recent deal making trends; identify and examine successful collaborations; explore the status of pharma-bio and bio-bio partnerships, and address some of the most common deal-breakers pitfalls in partnering negotiations.

Panel Moderator:

Sergio Garcia
Partner, Co-Chair, Life Sciences Group, Fenwick & West LLP

Panel Speakers:

Jim Adair
Associate Director of Business Development, Genentech, Inc.

Nicola Campbell
Partner, Sofinnova Ventures

Charles Hutchinson
Chief Executive Officer, Glycofi

Rahul Singhvi
President and Chief Executive Officer, Novavax Inc.

Two-to-Tango: Managing Successful Alliance
2:00pm – 3:15pm

Managing business alliances is now as important as building a top-notch in-house research team. Last year alone, there were nearly 400 Big Pharma-Bio collaborations created. But while new collaborations continue to emerge, an estimated half of them fail to meet expectations mostly due to a critical need for improved alliance management. Many managers have difficulty working with partners to accomplish what were previously internal tasks. Project Management has become a key component in keeping alliances on track and rescuing others from the brink of collapse. This panel will take you through the nuts and bolts of Project Management for Alliances sharing best practices accumulated from dozens of leading organizations. The expert panelists will use real-world case studies to describe how they deployed Project Management in their respective organizations to resolve their most pressing challenges including conflict resolution, decision facilitation, communication, and relationship management.

Panel Moderator:

Steve Gignilliat, PMP, MBA
Manager, West Coast Operations, Integrated Project Management Co., Inc.

Panel Speakers:

Archie Campbell, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, Theravance

Suzanne Margerum
Vice President, Development, Cerus Corporation

Pamela Simonton, J.D. LLM.
Sr. Vice President Patents and Licensing, Exelixis

Anita Sy, Ph.D.
President, Cychem

Always Look for the Exit: Strategies from the Executives Who Chose Them
3:30pm – 4:45pm

The engine of life sciences innovation requires funding to get ideas out of the laboratory, through development and testing, and ultimately into people. The sources of this funding must be able to envision a clear exit strategy to allow them to invest. With greater regulation and increasing scrutiny, Wall Street is less inviting to some biotech companies ready for the next level. Maturing biotech companies increasingly explore a wider set of alternatives to initial public offering. This panel will discuss their assessments of their own exit options, how they chose their particular path, and the outcomes they experienced.

Panel Moderator:

Anthony Stolis
Clarkston Consulting

Panel Speakers:

Jill Fujisaki
Vice President, Investor Relations, Entelos

Ben Perkins
Managing Director, Pacific Growth Equities

Rick Srigley
Chief Executive Officer, Aragen Bioscience