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In the face of what has developed into the world's most challenging economic crisis in decades, the world's elite bio-pharmaceutical community needs to not only find and locate potential key collaborators, but also to drive new products to market foster innovation and, in turn, deliver that all-important competitive advantage. London will therefore play host to Europe's foremost gathering of C-level and Senior VP executives to address how the industry can thrive in a post-recession climate.

An intimate gathering of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotech firms, including Pfizer, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb and Biotie, will be meeting in London in January 2011 to identify potential partners in optimising R&D efforts and driving innovation.

Taking place on the 19th-20th January, BioBusiness 2011 will comprise industry debates, keynote addresses, informal networking and peer-to-peer roundtable discussions. It will also feature a dynamic one-to-one meetings model that will enable all attendees to preview the profiles of all delegates and strategically pinpoint those with whom they would like to meet onsite during the event.

A Focus On Partnering

"Having hosted this meeting now for ten years, we have witnessed the growing strategic importance attached towards innovation as a key competitive differentiator", commented Costas Perkas, Director at Worldwide Business Research. "With pharmaceutical businesses under more pressure to innovate than ever before, now is a critical time for biotechs and pharma players to come together and collaborate to bring new products to market". With this in mind, the BioBusiness 2011 meeting has been meticulously developed to facilitate a dialogue-driven and partnering-focused environment, with one-to-one meetings taking place constantly throughout the entire two days and peer-to-peer interactive discussions designed to facilitate strategic meetings and accelerate the deal-making process.

Driving the debate will be a carefully-appointed expert panel of speakers and contributors, revealing their latest strategies and thoughts on the current climate surrounding partnering opportunities, as well as best practice in alliance management with collaborators - something which is on the mind of Anthony Hörning, Head of Global Business Development and Licensing, Novartis. Hörning will deliver a keynote address at the meeting, offering his thoughts on the now all-important question of what makes a successful, long-term alliance in today's climate. "I like to make sure we continue to be externally focussed in our business development and alliance management activities". "Licensing executives sometimes focus on 'doing deals' - I would like to remind them that 'implementation matters' and what they can do to contribute to excellence in managing the collaborations that are set up".

Also playing a key role in driving the discussion over the course of the two days will be the likes of Roger Hill, Executive Director, Global Licensing and Business Development, Boehringer Ingelheim; Christian Kanstrup, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Novo Nordisk; Monika Vluk, Senior Director, Business Development, Pfizer and Janette Dean, Senior Director, Business Development, Bristol Myers Squibb. The result is a thought-leading, strategic agenda which hits hard on the issues that matter most to the industry, ensuring attendees go back to the office with new perspectives and ideas, as well as new contacts.

A Focus On Intimacy

BioBusiness deliberately limits the number of attendees at the meeting to 300 delegates, which differentiates it from other meetings on the calendar since it enables those in attendance to meet and, importantly, spend quality time in discussions with peers and potential partners. "We recognise that it can be challenging for all pharma players and biotechs to meet each other in more populated meeting environments", asserts Perkas, referring to the difficulties of securing face-to-face time in heavily-crowded meetings. "That's specifically why we enforce a cut-off point to the number of attendees, ensuring that delegates have the opportunity to spend valuable time talking to one another, rather than simply exchanging business cards".

The result is a close gathering of only the most senior and relevant people across the pharma and biotech space, actively seeking alliances - which makes it an ideal partnership-driven environment.

A Focus On Innovative Drug Discovery

BioBusiness gathering remains committed to attracting the most interesting and innovative biotechs across Europe and beyond. Bringing together the likes of Santaris, Biotie, Alligator BioScience, Heptares and Apeiron Biologics, BioBusiness 2011 will deliver a platform whereby biotech firms will showcase their discoveries to the wider industry, ensuring attendees remain completely up-to-date on the latest research and findings affecting the sector.

Complementing the spotlight on the biotechs will be an extremely timely and relevant focus on the emerging role of universities and, specifically, Technology Transfer Offices. The likes of Merck & Co, Edinburgh University and Heptares will be debating how the industry can make the most out of relationships with Academia , in turn bridging the gap between biotechs, pharmaceutical firms and universities.

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