Fireside chats feature candid discussions between biopharma CEOs, Wall Street analysts, and other industry experts. Hear about recent company successes, what keeps the C-suite up at night, and where the industry’s leading companies are headed in 2015.

Robert T. Nelsen

Co-Founder and Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners

Wednesday, October 21 | 12:30-1:25 PM | Cyril Magnin Ballroom
Moderator: Matthew Rossiter, Partner, Fenwick & West

Robert Nelsen is a co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than thirty companies, including fifteen which have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion. His seed and early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN); Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY); Juno Therapeutics (JUNO); Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO); Sage Therapeutics (SAGE); Ikaria (acquired by Madison Dearborn, then Mallinckrodt); Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH), Receptos (RCPT); Aviron (AVIR, acquired by Medimmune-MEDI); Denali Therapeutics; NetBot (acquired by Excite-ATHM); Bluebird Bio (BLUE); R2 Technology (acquired by Hologic-HOLX); XenoPort (XNPT); Caliper Life Sciences (CALP, acquired by PerkinElmer); Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN, acquired by Emergent BioSolutions-EBS); Adolor (ADLR, acquired by Cubist-CBST); deCODE Genetics (acquired by Amgen-AMGN); Array BioPharma (ARRY); Nanosys; GenVec (GNVC); IDUN Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer-PFE); Genomica (GNOM, acquired by Exelixis-EXEL); Classmates.com (acquired by United Online-UNTD); Nura (acquired by Omeros-OMER); Hua Medicine; VLST; Ensemble Therapeutics; Arivale; Accelerator; Theraclone Sciences; Fate Therapeutics (FATE); NextCODE Health (acquired by WuXi PharmaTech); Bellerophon Therapeutics (BLPH); Syros Pharmaceuticals, Aldedade, Inc, and Everyday Learning Corporation (acquired by Tribune Corp.-TRIB.)

Mr. Nelsen is a director of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Juno Therapeutics, Denali Therapeutics, Sage Therapeutics, Syros Pharmaceuticals, and serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, and as a director of the National Venture Capital Association. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.

James Noble

CEO, Adaptimmune

Tuesday, October 20 | 12:30-1:25 PM | Cyril Magnin Ballroom
Moderator: Tony Gibney, Managing Director, Leerink Partners LLC

James Noble has served as our full-time Chief Executive Officer since March 2014 and part-time CEO from July 2008 to March 2014 and is one of our co-founders. From July 2008 until March 2014, Mr. Noble was also part-time CEO of Immunocore. Mr. Noble has 24 years of experience in the biotech industry.

He has held numerous non-executive director positions, including at CuraGen Corporation, PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, Oxford GlycoSciences plc, MediGene AG, and Advanced Medical Solutions plc. Mr. Noble is also Deputy Chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals plc and a non-executive director of Immunocore Limited.

Mr. Noble is qualified as a chartered accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and spent seven years at the investment bank Kleinwort Benson Limited, where he became a director in 1990. He then joined British Biotech plc as Chief Financial Officer from 1990 to 1997. Mr. Noble was previously Chief Executive Officer of Avidex Limited, a privately held biotechnology company that was Adaptimmune’s predecessor, from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Noble holds an MA from the University of Oxford.

Congratulations to Our Winners!

The Buzz of BIO at the BIO Investor Forum competition featured 19 nominees pulling in over 3,000 votes. Winners receive one complimentary registration to the BIO Investor Forum, a complimentary Company Presentation and promotion to industry leaders including a spotlight in BioCentury Extra. 

The Buzz of BIO contest drew a record breaking 3,000 collective votes. This year's winners will join more than 120 companies presenting at the BIO Investor Forum. New presenters are continuously being added. For updates on the list of presenting companies, please visit here. If you are interested in becoming a presenter, please submit an application here. The typical audience for company presentations features public, institutional and private equity investors, research analysts, investment bankers and industry executives.

Don't forget to register for the BIO Investor Forum!

Whole Biome is a laboratory/computational platform company with technology capable of generating and analyzing the huge volumes of genomic and phenotypic data necessary to elucidate the functional components of the human microbiome. By targeting novel symbiotic functionality inherent in the human-microbial interface, Whole Biome has identified multiple therapeutic targets for: metabolic disease, atopic dermatitis, and pre-term labor. Whole Biome’s flagship microbiome therapeutic for type II diabetes has shown promising preclinical data and is anticipated to be tested in humans in 2016.

Cold Genesys is a clinical-stage company focusing on the development of oncolytic viruses and immunotherapies for cancer. In 2010, Cold Genesys acquired the rights to develop CG0070 from BioSante Pharmaceuticals. A phase I/IIa dose escalating clinical trial has already been completed in 35 patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). With the promising results from the phase I study, Cold Genesys is currently investigating the company’s first oncolytic virus product, CG0070, in a phase II pivotal, single-arm clinical study with the FDA for NMIBC patients who have failed BCG therapy and refused cystectomy. In addition, Cold Genesys is exploring the use of CG0070 in combination with immune checkpoint modulators (ICMs) in various solid tumors.

Below is the list of 2014 participating investors for the BIO Investor Forum.

All presenting company information and webcasts will be available through this page as we approach the conference.

Discovery Companies and Patient Advocacy Groups

Company	News & Information	Presentation Date, Time (PT), and Location
	Adjuvance Technologies Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:15 am Marina Room
	Aeglea BioTherapeutics Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:00 am Marina Room
	Allinky Biopharma Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:00 am Marina Room
	Atterocor Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:30 am Marina Room
	AuraSense Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:45 am Marina Room
	Bell Biosystems Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 8:30 am Marina Room
	BioKier Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:15 am Marina Room
	Bioniz LLC Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:45 pm Marina Room
	BioNovion B.V. Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:00 pm Marina Room
	Bionure Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:00 am Marina Room
	Biscayne Pharmaceuticals Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:15 pm Marina Room
	BNOAT Oncology Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 1:30 pm Marina Room
	CompuVax Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:30 am Marina Room
	Corbus Pharmaceuticals Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:30 am Marina Room
	Ennaid Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:30 pm Marina Room
	EternoGen Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:15 pm Marina Room
	ETX Pharma Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:15 am Marina Room
	Felicitex Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:45 am Marina Room
	GrayBug LLC Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:00 am Marina Room
	Humanetics Corp. Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:30 am Marina Room
	InvivoSciences Inc. Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:15 am Marina Room
	Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation PAG | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:30 am Marina Room
	Leukemia & Lymphoma Society PAG | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 12:00 pm Marina Room
	Makindus Inc. Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:30 am Marina Room
	Meditope Biosciences Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 1:45 pm Marina Room
	MentiNova, Inc. Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:00 am Marina Room
	Michael J. Fox Foundation PAG | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:45 am Marina Room
	Molecular Assemblies Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:00 pm Marina Room
	OncoSynergy Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 8:45 am Marina Room
	OrgaNext Research Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:30 am Marina Room
	Oricula Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:45 am Marina Room
	ORIG3N Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:15 am Pacific Heights Room
	Rare Cancer Research Foundation PAG | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:15 am Marina Room
	Recursion Pharmaceuticals Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:00 am Marina Room
	Relburn-Metabolomics Inc. Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:45 am Marina Room
	Rodin Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 12:15 pm Marina Room
	Scioderm Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:45 am Marina Room
	Sparrow Pharmaceuticals Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	Stemsynergy Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:00 am Marina Room
	Sulfagenix Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:45 am Marina Room
	Syntrix Biosystems Discovery | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:15 am Marina Room
	Tunitas Therapeutics Discovery | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:15 am Marina Room

Private and Public Presenting Companies

Company	News & Information	Presentation Date, Time (PT), and Location
	AbGenomics International Private  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	ActoGenix NV Private  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 1:30 pm Marina Room
	Adaptimmune Private  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:30 am Presidio Room
	Alize Pharma Private  | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	AOBiome Private  | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:30 pm Sea Cliff Room
	Apex Therapeutics Private  | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:30 pm Marina Room
	Apricus Bioscience APRI-NASDAQ  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:30 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Aptose Biosciences APS-TSE  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:00 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Argos Therapeutics ARGS-NASDAQ  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 8:30 am Presidio Room Webcast
	Arno Therapeutics ARNI-OTC  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:30 pm Sea Cliff Room
	Atossa Genetics ATOS-NASDAQ  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 3:00 pm Sea Cliff Room
	BEAT BioTherapeutics Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:30 am Presidio Room
	Benitec BLT-ASX  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:30 am Sea Cliff Room
	Berg Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	Biocept BIOC-NASDAQ |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:30 am Presidio Room
	BioClin Therapeutics Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Bio-Path Holdings BPTH-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:00 am Presidio Room Webcast
	Blueprint Medicines Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:00 am Sea Cliff Room
	CareDx CDNA-NASDAQ |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:30 pm Presidio Room Webcast
	Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners CPRX-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:00 pm Sea Cliff Room
	Cebix, Inc. Private  | Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Celladon Corporation CLDN-NASDAQ  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:30 am Presidio Room
	Cerecor Private  | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:00 am Sea Cliff Room
	CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:30 am Sea Cliff Room
	ContraFect Corporation CFRXU-NASDAQ |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:30 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Cortendo AB CRTOF-OTC  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:00 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Cortice Biosciences Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	Critical Outcome Technologies COT-CVE  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:00 am Sea Cliff Room
	Curis, Inc. CRIS-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:00 am Presidio Room Webcast
	CytomX Therapeutics Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Dicerna Pharmaceuticals DRNA-NASDAQ | Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:00 am Presidio Room
	Enable Injections Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	Genkyotex SA Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	GlobeImmune GBIM-NASDAQ  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:00 am Presidio Room Webcast
	GlycoMimetics GLYC-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 1:30 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Heat Biologics HTBX-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:30 am Presidio Room
	Henlius Biotech Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Immatics Biotechnologies Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	ImmunGene Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 12:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Immunovaccine Inc. IMV-CVE  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 1:30 pm Sea Cliff Room
	INHIBRx Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:00 pm Marina Room
	Invion Group IVX-ASX  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:00 pm Presidio Room
	Isarna Therapeutics Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Juventas Therapeutics Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	LoneStar Heart Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 1:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Lpath Inc. LPTN-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:30 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Mast Therapeutics MSTX-NYSE |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:30 pm Presidio Room
	Matinas BioPharma MTNB-OTCBB |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 12:00 pm Presidio Room Webcast
	Maverix Biomics Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:30 am Sea Cliff Room
	MAX BioPharma Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 3:00 pm Marina Room
	MetaStat MTST-OTC  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:00 pm Presidio Room Webcast
	Mirna Therapeutics Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Molecular Templates Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:30 pm Marina Room
	NeoStem NBS-NASDAQ  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:00 am Presidio Room
	NephroGenex NRX-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:30 pm Presidio Room
	Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA NWRN-SWX  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 9:00 am Sea Cliff Room
	NexImmune Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:00 pm Marina Room
	NuvOx Pharma Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 8:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Ocera Inc. OCRX-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:00 pm Presidio Room Webcast
	OncoMed Pharmaceuticals OMED-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:00 am Presidio Room Webcast
	OncoSec Medical ONCS-OTC  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:00 am Presidio Room Webcast
	Oryzon Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 3:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Oxyrane Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Palatin Technologies PTN-NYSE  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 11:00 am Sea Cliff Room
	PaxVax Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:00 am Pacific Heights Room
	Pfenex PFNX-NYSE  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 8:30 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Polynoma Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:30 am Presidio Room
	Protagonist Therapeutics Private |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:30 am Sea Cliff Room
	Provista Diagnostics Private |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 1:30 pm Presidio Room
	Radius Health Private  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 1:30 pm Presidio Room
	Relypsa RLYP-NASDAQ  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:30 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Rexahn Pharmaceuticals RNN-NYSE  |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:30 am Presidio Room Webcast
	RuiYi Private  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 3:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	RXi Pharmaceuticals RXII-NASDAQ |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 10:00 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Sevion Therapeutics SNTI-OTC |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:00 pm Presidio Room
	Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals Private |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 2:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Sophiris Bio SPHS-NASDAQ |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 8:00 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Sutro Biopharma Private |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:00 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Tekmira Pharmaceuticals TKMR-NASDAQ |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 4:00 pm Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	TherapeuticsMD TXMD-NYSE  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 10:30 am Sea Cliff Room Webcast
	Theravectys Private |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 11:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	Tolero Pharmaceuticals Private |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 1:30 pm Pacific Heights Room
	Trovagene, Inc. TROV-NASDAQ  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 3:00 pm Presidio Room Webcast
	TxCell SA TXCL-EPA  |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 12:00 pm Sea Cliff Room
	Vascular Pharmaceuticals Private |  Website	Tuesday, 10/7 9:30 am Pacific Heights Room
	VivaBioCell Private |  Website	Wednesday, 10/8 2:30 pm Marina Room

*Updated as of 7/22/2015

Monday, October 21, 2019 | 12:45 PM - 6:30 PM

The BIO SPARK Showcase aims to provide an excellent opportunity for academic researchers in the SPARK network to showcase drug development programs that are ready for partnering or venture funding.

The BIO Investor Forum is historically well attended by the venture arms and business development units of major pharmaceutical companies, smaller specialty pharma/biotech companies looking to add to their pipelines, start-ups, and many early stage venture capital firms, making it the ideal setting for early stage assets from the university setting. Academics interested in partnering will present their programs and also have one-on-one discussions with interested parties. 

Participation in the BIO SPARK Showcase is free. Sign up here to register for the BIO SPARK Showcase.

2019 BIO SPARK Showcase Presentation Schedule

Therapeutic Panel Topics

Report from the Frontier: Emerging Oncology Trends Bridging ASCO to ASH

If you missed the most important oncology event so far this year, this panel will address the key takeaways and what’s new since then. Just how important is PD-1 in your portfolio? CAR-T: is it still the game changing technology since 2014? What role will combination therapies play going forward into 2016? Will dendritic cell therapies maintain relevance in the immuno-oncology space? What does the ideal immuno-oncology portfolio look like? Will we continue to see partnering of assets amongst emerging biotechs?  

Moderator: Jeff Smith, PhD, Vice President, Investment Banking, H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC

Panelists:

• Louis J. DeGennaro, PhD, President & CEO, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)
• Olivier Lesueur, Managing Director, BIONEST Partners
• Ben Thorner, VP Business Development & Licensing, Head of North American Innovation Hubs, Merck Research Laboratories
• Geeta Vemuri, PhD, Managing Partner, Baxalta Ventures
• Jeffrey Wolf, Founder and CEO, Heat Biologics

Precision Medicine: Leveraging National Genomic Databases for Therapy Development (US, UK, Iceland)

As the price point for full genome analysis falls through the $1,000 per person milestone, national efforts are ramping up for large studies that should enable much more personalized therapies.  This data should accelerate drug development by clarifying genetic targets and the most appropriate patient sub-groups for clinical trials.  The US’s NIH is planning a million-person database, the UK’s NHS is already recruiting a 100,000 genome collection, and Iceland’s deCODE initiative has already produced findings from its 160,000 person database.  This panel will discuss the variety of strategies drug/therapy developers can apply to leverage these infrastructure investments most effectively.

Moderator: Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco; member of NIH Precision Medicine Initiative Working Group

Panelists:

• Andrew May, D.Phil., Chief Scientific Officer, Caribou Biosciences
• Matthew Scholz, CEO, Immusoft
• Pamela Sklar, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Psychiatric Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 
• Hannes Thor Smárason, Co-Founder and COO, WuXi NextCODE
• Tyler Wish, PhD, CEO, Sequence Bio

Stretching Your Dollar: Methods and Tools for Increasing the Productivity of Clinical Trials

Recent Tufts data show clinical trials typically take nearly twice as long to complete enrollment as predicted at launch and 48% of trial sites miss enrollment targets.  Delays in trials shrink the returns from patent exclusivity and increase R&D costs.  New methods such as adaptive and batch trial designs, as well as explosive growth in digital tools, such as Apple’s ResearchKit, have transformed the trial design choices available.  These innovations, and others, provide new levers for boosting productivity of clinical trials—with positive implications for improving cash burn rates and accelerating speed-to-market.

Moderator: Lawrence Klein, Associate Principal, McKinsey & Company

Panelists:

• Noah Craft MD, PhD, DTM&H, Co-Founder & CEO, Science 37, Inc.
• Avi Kulkarni, PhD, Managing Director and Senior Vice President, Quintiles Advisory Services
• Michael V. McConnell, MD, MSEE, Professor of Medicine, Director of Cardiovascular Health Innovation and PI of the MyHeart Counts Health research study, Stanford School of Medicine
• Matt Noble, Senior Director, Product Management, Medidata Solutions
• Komathi Stem, Strategic Innovation Leader, Genentech 

Policy Outlook—Valuation Model Implications of 21st Century Cures, IP Reform, TPP, and PDUFA VI

2015 is producing more legislative and regulatory policy changes that apply to drug development than the industry has seen in several years.  Each shift in exclusivity rules, patient-centered endpoints, patent challenge rules, or FDA application policies can dramatically affect how you—and your investors—value your therapeutic pipeline.  Join this panel moderated by a BIO policy expert on whether some or all these proposals will actually take effect.

Moderator:  Jeanne Haggerty, SVP Federal Government Relations, BIO

Panelists:

• Brenden Gingrich, PhD, Partner, Knobbe Martens
• Paul J. Hastings, Chairman & CEO, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals
• Elizabeth Krutoholow, Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence
• Sara Radcliffe, MPH, President & CEO, California Life Sciences Association

Business Panel Topics

Investor Management Lessons of Fierce 15 Alumni

Each year FierceBiotech’s John Carroll has identified the “fiercest” private companies most likely to create dramatic growth for their investors.  As many of those private companies went public, those CEOs’ relationships with their Boards evolved as pure venture investors made their exits. What are the most important factors investors look for in company management teams—and vice versa? How closely does the board align with company management to make an attractive investment offering? And what makes the investment banks see real value when looking at a potential IPO?  This panel will feature John Carroll asking past Fierce 15 winners to share what they have learned.

Moderator: John D. Carroll, Editor-in-Chief, FierceBiotech

Panelists:

• Mark A. Goldsmith, MD, PhD, Founding President, CEO, and Board Director, REVOLUTION Medicines
• Jeff Jonker, President, NGM Biopharmaceuticals
• Stephen T. Isaacs, Chairman, President, and CEO, Aduro Biotech
• William Lis, CEO, Portola Pharmaceuticals

Venture Capital Funding Trends: BIO Analysis of Ten Years of Investment and the Gaps that Appear

BIO released new analysis in June of investment and deal trends across the past decade for emerging therapeutic companies. That analysis found three remarkable gaps between where VCs have placed their investments and what might be expected by biotech CEOs.  First, despite a remarkable growth in the number of start-ups, there appears to be a bottleneck of about 65 Series A rounds made per year—why?  Second, the period sees a shift in popularity away from common chronic diseases toward rare diseases and oncology—how permanent is this therapeutic bias?  Third, crossover investors are supporting more private companies earlier, but the total amount of Series A funding per year appears much flatter than the rocketing total of IPO value creation—will that venture money come back or are good startups getting frozen out?  Learn from the investors making the individual decisions how they see these trends continuing or changing in the future.

Moderator: Michael J. O'Donnell, Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Panelists:

• Lindy Fishburne, Executive Director, Breakout Labs; SVP for Investments, Thiel Foundation
• Charlotte Hubbert, Program Investment Officer, Venture Investing at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Nina Kjellson, General Partner, Canaan Partners
• Camille Samuels, Partner, Venrock
• David Thomas, CFA, Senior Director, Industry Research and Policy Analysis, BIO
• Ilan Zipkin, PhD, Senior Investment Director, Takeda Ventures

BioCentury Presents: Courting Crossover Investors

The participation rate of crossover investors in biotech venture funding rounds has been growing at more than 50% per year since 2012 with anecdotal information suggesting a near necessity of such involvement to maximize a company’s IPO performance.  BioCentury will provide new data to quantify the impact of crossover fund involvement as well as foster a panel discussion of the “do’s and don’ts” of managing relationships with such investors.  

Moderator: Steve Edelson, Senior Editor, Finance, BioCentury Publications, Inc.

Panelists:

• James Healy, MD, PhD, General Partner, Sofinnova Ventures
• Nathan Hubbard, Vice President Transactions, Oncology and Diagnostics, Eli Lilly and Company
• Oleg Nodelman, Founder and Managing Director, EcoR1 Capital
• Jonathan Norris, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank
• Dinesh V. Patel, PhD, President & CEO, Protagonist Therapeutics

Market Outlook—Status of the IPO Appetite, M&A, Foreign Shocks, and Higher Interest Rates?

While the appetite for new IPOs remains strong and cash is still flowing freely in the capital intensive biotech sector, concerns over valuation have the public markets on high alert.  Investment banks are competing for the next biggest IPO with less clinical evidence in place up front. As M&A among payers and among biopharmas start a new round of consolidation, what does all this mean for privately held companies?  Global economic factors have had a serious impact across all sectors, but how will biotech be affected?  Has the biotech sector’s resilience strengthened since the last downturn?  This panel of diverse experts will discuss what we can learn from history and where the market is crossing a new frontier.

Moderator: Brian Hagerty, Senior Director, Capital Markets, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Panelists:

• John Chambers, Vice-Chairman and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, ROTH Capital Partners
• Margarita Chavez, Director, Venture & Early Stage Collaborations, AbbVie Biotech Ventures
• Asthika Goonewardene, Senior Biotech Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence
• David Woodhouse, PhD, Chief Financial Officer at NGM Biopharmaceuticals

Digital Health Spotlight #1—Investment Landscape and CEO Interview

Recent advances in mobile applications, miniaturization, and standards interoperability, plus the rising acceptance or even preferences of patients to sharing healthcare interactions through digital channels are changing the face of medicine.  Join this spotlight session for a report from the frontier of digital health, already an industry sector with a growing, multibillion-dollar investment base, and a conversation with a CEO exploring this new terrain.

Moderator: Olivier Leclerc, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Speaker: Jeffrey Brewer, CEO, Bigfoot Biomedical

Digital Health Spotlight #2—The Road to Health 2.0 and Beyond
Since 2007, Matthew Holt has been on the forefront of exploring and explaining the digital health terrain at co-founder of the Health 2.0 conference series and writer at The Health Care Blog.  Please join as he provides his perspective on the trajectory of the health care industry’s relationship with technology over the past eight years and answers questions about where he sees these trends impacting the biotechnology industry.

Speaker: Matthew Holt, Co-Founder, Health 2.0
 

Plus- Fireside Chats from industry leaders. Check back often for program updates.