In this opening presentation one of these pioneers will explain his commitment to making patented cost-affordable bio-medicines for patients who currently receive no treatment. His underlying concept is inventing, developing and manufacturing novel compounds based upon our understanding of patented medicines with important therapeutic benefits. At present, their cost impairs access to the global community.

Professor Shaunak is from the new generation of pharmaceutical entrepreneurs. He has a zeal for creativity and thinking outside the box. His keynote promises to be thought-provoking as it explores the exciting new pharmaceutical horizons becoming available to our global community in the 21st Century.

Professor Sunil Shaunak, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital London and a co-founder of PolyTherics

The Ultimate Attraction—Creating Shareholder Value
Just how do biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies best create shareholder value. There is probably no right answer to this question and some will succeed where others fail. In this session we’ll explore the different strategies and approaches undertaken by discussing the personal experiences of our panel. Thus providing an insight into the variety of ways of creating value including: partnering arrangements that maximize the value of assets; going it alone with the intent of commercializing independently; and how to respond when the “activist shareholder comes knocking” amongst others.

Chair: Jennifer Fox, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Securities, Health Care Investment Banking Group

Panelists:
J. Donald deBethizy, Ph.D., President and CEO Targacept, Inc.
Hugh Cowley Head, Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery GlaxoSmithKline
Alex Barkas, Managing Director, Prospect Ventures
Ron Cohen, MD, President & Chief Executive Officer, Acorda Therapeutics Inc

Doug Badger, Partner, The Nickles Group

Businesses fit for the future
In January, the possibility of a recession loomed over many economies. After stock markets experienced steep plunges and stirring comebacks in a single week, investors were left searching for clues as to whether the market's troubles were over or if more pain lay ahead.

So what does this mean for the pharma and biotech sectors? Is it business as usual or will big pharma companies become targets for private equity as their value plummets to accessible levels, and what might this mean for other stakeholders within the sector? The current credit crunch has seen some reduction in private equity's ability to acquire pharma assets but many feel that this is only temporary.

Our panelists have all experienced business change in the last few years and will share their insights as we consider what the business model of the future might be for this sector.

Chair: Yann Bonduelle, Partner European Valuation & Strategy Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Panelists:
John Fowler, Vice Chairman and Head of European Healthcare Investment Banking, Deutsche Bank
Genghis Lloyd-Harris, Partner, Abingworth Management Limited
Vincent Mutel, Chief Executive Officer & Head of R&D, Addex Pahramaceuticals SA
Ad Rawcliffe,Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development, GlaxosmithKline