Sixth Annual BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit Concludes Today

Washington, D.C. (October 3, 2017) – For the past six years, the BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit has brought together a diverse group of organizations including patient advocacy, health care providers, academia, government, think tanks, professional societies and the biotechnology industry to focus on bringing the patients’ voice to the drug development process.

Concluded today, this year’s event offered the nearly 240 patient groups, companies and organizations new ways to connect, strategize, learn and partner. For the first time, BIO One-on-One Partnering™ was offered to facilitate face-to-face meetings among attendees. Engagement was high with more than 80% of total available meeting space filled during the event.

Another workshop added to the event, explored personalized medicine, a growing field within the health sector.

 “We have long recognized the importance of bringing all voices into the healthcare ecoysystem. The BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit is now a must-attend event for patient groups and others to share ideas, collaborate and keep the momentum going,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer for Merck and Co-chair of BIO’s Patient Advocacy Committee. “While adhering to BIO’s Guidelines for Patient Engagement, we continue to engage with these essential partners in the development of life-saving treatments and we are grateful this forum provides a way to encourage thought-provoking discussion.”

A Fireside Chat with Dr. Theresa Mullin, Director, Office of Strategic Programs for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was moderated by Marc Boutin, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Council. Among other topics, Mullin highlighted the ways that patients, industry and the FDA can work together to advance the patient’s perspective in regulatory decision making.

Panel sessions throughout the conference covered various topics designed to encourage discussion and to advance partnerships among stakeholders in the healthcare space.

The full program and speaker lineup may be found here.

The BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit was made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors:

Champion Sponsors – Astellas, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, and Shire
Ally Sponsors – Alkermes, Amgen Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Inc., and Novo Nordisk
Advocate Sponsors – Foundation Medicine, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda Oncology and Vertex

 Follow the conversation around the Summit on Twitter with #BIOSummit17.

About BIO
BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling “innovations transforming our world” and the BIO Newsletter is the organization’s bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.

Upcoming BIO Events
 
BIO Investor Forum
October 18-19, 2017
San Francisco

BIO One-on-One Partnering™ @ JPM
January 7-11, 2018
San Francisco

BIO CEO & Investor Conference
February 12-13, 2018
New York, New York

BIO Asia International Conference
March 19-20, 2018
Tokyo, Japan

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