BIO CEO & Investor Conference Kicks Off with Session on Building Shareholder Value

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 28, 2004) — The opening plenary session at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference will focus on different approaches to sustaining this past year's considerable biotechnology momentum. The session, "Biotech Business Models for Creating Sustained Growth and Shareholder Value," will be moderated by Tracy Lefterhoff, global managing partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP. The session is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf=Astoria.

"The biotechnology industry is building on a stellar year, earning 37 FDA approvals — up 25 percent from 2002 — and raising $16.4 billion in new financing, up 56 percent," said Carl B. Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). "The BIO CEO & Investor Conference, and our opening plenary session in particular, will afford the industry, investors and the media a chance to closely examine how we can sustain this record of scientific and financial success."

The BIO CEO & Investor Conference runs February 23–25 at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. The event features presentations from 200 private and publicly held biotechnology companies, roundtable sessions on key business issues and industry trends, and presentations on therapeutic and technology developments in targeted disease areas, such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and allergies, stroke, diabetes and liver disease.

Participants in the opening plenary session include James C. Mullen, CEO, Biogen Idec, Inc.; John C. Martin, president and CEO, Gilead Sciences, Inc.; David E. I. Pyott, chairman, president and CEO, Allergan, Inc.; Dr. Kris Jenner, health care analyst, T. Rowe Price Associates; and Roger Longman, managing partner and publisher, Windhover Information Inc.

The opening discussion is one of four plenary sessions. The Feb. 24 luncheon keynote speaker will be Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, the breakfast plenary topic will be personalized medicine, followed by a keynote speech from Richard Pops, BIO chairman and CEO of Alkermes Inc.

Registration is complimentary for credentialed news media and investors. Advance registration is available until February 9. To register, visit www.bio.org. Please note, on-site registration will be open only to reporters and editors working full-time for print or broadcast news organizations with valid media credentials. All others must register in advance.

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.