Plenary Sessions

The Life Sciences Summit 2011 will feature provocative and engaging plenary sessions throughout the conference.

November 16, 2011, Opening Plenary – 8:15 AM
The Power of Patients:  Their Role in Developing New Translational Research Models to Accelerate the Quest for Cures
A Newsweek article entitled “Desperately Seeking Cures” (May 14, 2010) reported that from “1996 to 1999, the U.S. food and Drug Administration approved 157 new drugs….from 2006 to 2009—the agency approved 74.”  This article further mentioned that not among them were any therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, lung or pancreatic cancer, Parkinson’s, or Huntington’s.  This information is disheartening but not surprising for patients afflicted with these and a myriad of other diseases for which there are no effective treatments despite the talents and efforts of hundreds of thousands researchers and drug developers  worldwide.   The panelists will share their views on therapeutic productivity from the perspective of those who have the greatest stake in the outcome - patients.  What can be done today and in five and ten years to establish and support models that will deliver on the promise faster?

Moderator:
Thomas A. Picone, PhD. Principal, Partners Unlimited

Panelists:
Deborah W. Brooks, Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
Louis J. DeGennaro, PhD, Chief Mission Officer, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Howard Fillit, MD, Executive Director, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
Robert H. Ring, PhD, Vice President of Translational Research, Autism Speaks
George Vradenburg, President, Vradenburg Foundation

November 16, 2011, End of Day Plenary – 4:15 PM
Working Together:  The Need is Mutual

In recent years, new industry-academic partnerships have started to emerge that align the depth of academic discovery and innovation with the expertise drug developers.   Many of these partnerships are characterized by new paradigms that address issues that used to get in the way of deeper and more productive collaborations on the part of academic investigators and their institutions and the biopharmaceutical industry.  These new models have the potential to make therapeutic development more efficient and productive, benefitting all stakeholders including patients.  This panel will discuss these new models, what makes them unique and lessons that have been learned as they venture into new territory.

Moderator:
Charles A. Weiss, Partner, Kenyon & Kenyon LLP

Panelists:
Karen Bernstein, PhD, Co-Founder & Chairman, BioCentury Publications
David Berry, MD PhD, Partner, Flagship Ventures
Ronald Newbold,PhD, Vice President, Strategic Research Partnerships, External R&D Innovations, Pfizer Inc
Greg Wiederrecht, PhD , Vice President, Worldwide Licensing & External Research, Merck & Co., Inc.

November 17, 2011, Morning Plenary – 8:15 AM
Evolution or Revolution? Transforming How Basic Research Discoveries Become Life Saving Therapies

The inefficiency of bringing new biomedical discoveries to market has been an issue of international debate.  Despite an NIH budget of $31B and increased investment by the pharmaceutical industry in research and development, the number of drug approvals has not improved in decades, and the gap between academic discovery and commercialization continues to widen.  A confluence of issues including the pharmaceutical industry's need to fill its pipeline, the crushing demands on our healthcare system to address the needs of an aging and growing population, and decreasing support for our basic research enterprise has set the stage for change.  Will our system simply evolve, or could something more “revolutionary” be in the making?  Our panelists will debate the needs, opportunities, challenges and priorities we face as we seek to transform how basic research discoveries become life-saving therapies.

Introduction:
John Cunningham, Senior VP – Regional Market Director & Strategic Ops., Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
Moderator:
Maria C. Freire, PhD, President, Lasker Foundation

Panelists:
James Sabry, MD, PhD, Vice President, Genentech Partnering, Genentech Inc.
George Scangos,PhD, CEO, Biogen Idec
Bruce W. Stillman, PhD, President and Professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, PhD, President, The Rockefeller University

November 17, 2011, Closing Plenary – 4:30 PM
Funding Innovative New Medicines:  Where is the money?

The development of new therapeutics has many stakeholders:  academic institutions that rely on revenue streams and furthering knowledge; biopharmaceutical companies that need to fill or expand their pipelines; investors that look for a return on the risk they take; patients who suffer from diseases for which there are no treatments; and, finally, friends and family of patients whose targeted philanthropic contributions support medical research.  Even with the unending need for new therapeutics, the funding environment for life sciences has gotten more and more difficult for many reasons.  Yet, despite that difficulty, a number of projects and companies are getting funded.  This panel will discuss the characteristics of fundable projects and companies and share their views on what will be fundable in the future.

Moderator:
Ellen B. Corenswet, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

Panelists:
Colin Goddard, PhD, Executive Chairman & acting CEO, Coferon, Inc.
Jennifer Friel Goldstein, BSE/MB/MBA , Director, Venture Capital, Pfizer Inc.
Shaun Grady, Vice President, Strategic Partnering and Corporate Business Development, AstraZeneca Plc
Joanna Horobin, MD, President & CEO, Syndax Pharmaceuticals
Scott M. Napolitano, Managing Director, Peter J. Solomon Company
Cary G. Pfeffer, MD, Partner, Third Rock Ventures