NIH Leader Zerhouni Named Plenary Speaker for BIO CEO & Investor Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 7, 2004) - The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced that Elias Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will be a keynote speaker at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York City. Dr. Zerhouni will speak at the luncheon plenary session on Feb. 24.

"The NIH is a key driver in the research and discovery enterprise that is the foundation of the biotechnology industry, and Dr. Zerhouni has played a vital role in how our industry has approached product development," said BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum. "Through his leadership, Dr. Zerhouni has focused the agency's biomedical research programs on finding new discovery pathways, so that our industry will be better able to create significant, new life-saving medicines."

The BIO CEO & Investor Conference, which will be held February 23-25 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, will include 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.

Registration is complimentary for credentialed news media. Advance registration is available until Feb. 9. To register, please visit www.bio.org. Only reporters and editors working full-time for print or broadcast news organizations may register onsite with valid media credentials.

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.