The discussion will focus
on how the remarkable confluence of theory and reality will
pay real dividends for Biotech/Life Science ventures now and
in the coming years. Some of the topics planned to be discussed
are as follows:
PANEL: 1 A BIRD’S EYE VIEW
Biotech & Life Sciences Ventures In
A Rapidly Changing Global Landscape - The world has
virtually become a boundary-less piece of landmass with ever-changing
laws to make it easier whether finding talents, raising capital,
and entering new markets. Soon it’ll become irrelevant
whether your office is in Beijing or New York, and before you
know the target market is no longer the US, but rather in India.
The opportunities abound – what our speakers think.
- Where the USA, Europe and Asia stand in
terms of competition, innovation, investment, regulation and
market share.
- Will China and/or India become the dominant player in the
world’s biotech space in 10-15 years and what are their
strategies?
- New openings and regulations – a global and regional
perspective.
- Could changes in India’s patent law create new dynamics
for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries?
- What are the main barriers to innovation in biomedical research?
- What are the forces driving change?
- Are emerging markets leading future growth?
- Is there a real alternative to the blockbuster drug strategy?
- Every industry matures and so will Biotech. Are we there yet?
What’s the best strategy moving forward? How can it avoid
the excesses and shortfalls of the Big Pharma Model?
PANEL: 2 STRAIGHT-TALK
Investors Prospective of Biotechnology/ Life Sciences
Venture (Industry/Investment Focus)
- What are investors/VCs looking for in a) Early Stage Financing
and b) Later Stage Financing and Follow on rounds these days?
- Are they looking for too much, too little, or just about right?
- Why so many VCs stay away from early stage investment in Biotech
ventures – is it just too risky or does it not fit with
most investors’ exit time frame?
- Valuation of Biotech Ventures – are too many VC’s
chasing too few later stage Biotech investment and if yes, what’s
the impact on valuation.
- How do investors view the positioning of pharma and biotech
in their portfolios?
- Are pharma and biotech complementary or alternative competitive
investments?
- To what degree if at all, are investors responsible for pharma’s
weak research approach?
- What are some of the new trends emerging in investor strategies
and how can the industry as well as entrepreneurs capitalize
on these opportunities?
- Do good drugs guarantee investment success?
PANEL: 3 LET US BUILD
Building a Biotech & Life Sciences Ventures
(Entrepreneur Focus)
- Basic tips to entrepreneurs to secure that first round of
funding.
- What are the key leverage points that an entrepreneur need
to know before getting out there?
- What are some of the winning strategies for building a Biotech
venture.
- Basic differences between biotech/life sciences with other
technology ventures.
- Where do you begin and how far you have to see clearly to
convince an investor.
- Most biotech ventures are high risk and too uncertain in terms
of time frame – what are the MUSTS that entrepreneurs
have to have before going out there to seek capital?
- Board of Advisors: how critical are they to the success of
biotech startup?
- Valuation Issues
PANEL: 4 CONVENIENCE
Strategic Partnership: Choosing the right partners
is key to success
- Partnership of startups with academics, govt. research labs
or big companies’ research. How it’s benefiting
the biotech evolution so to speak.
- Let us shed some light on biotech-big phrama partnering. Is
it really win-win for both?
- If not, who gains most from the biotech-pharma partnership?
- How will this relationship evolve? Will biotech come to be
seen as the underlying real share value in joint ventures?
- Can we draw any parallels between the old media/new-media
partnership we saw during the internet days with this biotech/pharma
partnership
- How are big pharma companies applying the technologies behind
Translational Medicine to drive their future successes?
- How to co-opt the different players.
PANEL: 5 GET OUT
The Exit: M&A, IPO & Other Options
- It’s the exit that scares most investors from many excellent
biotech investment opportunities. Are investors getting used
to long time-frames for their exit strategy?
- How does the IPO market look now and for the next few years
for Biotech companies?
- If the IPO market is not conducive, how does that affect M&A
activities, as there are probably not many M&A candidates
to begin with?
- Are investors’ exit interest going to force more biotechs
to take the M&A route instead of waiting for the right IPO
window?
PANEL: 6 THE FUTURE
Medical Device, Speciality Pharma, Drug Design,
Genomics, Stem Cells, Proteomics, Biomedicine and the Nanotech-Biotech
- What big new developments in medical device technology
can we expect in the next few years?
- Future of Specialty Pahrmaceutical Model.
- Is Phrmacogenomics the new future of medicine?
- The convergence of drugs and diagnostics – the opportunities
and problems of co-marketing a therapy and a companion pharmacodiagnostic.
- Future of Stem Cell, are we losing the advantage to countries
like South Korea because of our govt. policy of not funding?
- What is the future regulation regarding genetics and stem-cell
research?
- How big is the business of Nanobot and who will dominate the
field: big boys or little leaguers?
