BIO-Europe Spring® 2017 to Draw Pharma Executives Seeking Industry Insight and Biotech Partnerships

CARLSBAD, California and BARCELONA, Spain, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The eleventh annual BIO-Europe Spring® international partnering conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain March 20-22, 2017 at the CCIB Convention Centre Barcelona. Produced by EBD Group, the event is co-hosted by Biocat, the organization that coordinates and promotes the healthcare and life sciences sector in Catalonia.

The BIO-Europe Spring conference is expected to draw more than 2,400 life sciences industry executives from over 1,400 companies, and facilitate 12,500 one-to-one partnering meetings with 3,500+ posted licensing opportunities.

"I attend mostly because this is where you come if you really want to meet European pharma companies and other participants in the pharma market," said Charles Yeomans, President and CEO at Trigemina, Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

According to Biocat CEO Albert Barbera, the Bio Region of Catalonia "has more pharmaceutical companies per capita than any country in Europe, except Belgium, and is ranked fourth among European countries in terms of biotechnology companies per inhabitant and third for medical technology companies."

In addition to partnering and networking opportunities, the event will feature more than 120 company presentations and educational sessions that will explore the issues facing the industry, offer insight for best practices, and pinpoint the trends to watch for in the future.

The opening keynote plenary discussion, "Innovation in an Uncertain World," will be held on Monday, March 20, and will feature speakers Geno Germano, President, Intrexon Corporation, and John Oyler, Founder and CEO, BeiGene. Moderator Alex Lash, National Biotechnology Editor, XConomy, will address how to run a biotech company in unsteady financial, political and regulatory times. The session will cover pricing, valuing R&D, and managing staff, resource allocation, and cross-border collaboration in a global marketplace.

The main agenda for the educational workshops kicks off on Monday, March 20 with a discussion on "Clinical Trials In Early Stage Oncology Development." Moderator Edward Garmey, Partner and Oncology Drug Development Consultant at Alacrita Consulting, will delve into the topic along with Carlos Buesa, CEO, Oryzon; Carlos López, Business Development Manager, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology; Sonal Patel, VP, Oncology Scientific Innovation, Johnson & Johnson Innovation; Gemma Sala, Head, Clinical Trials Office for Phase I Trials, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology/Barcelona Clinical Trials Platform; and Robert Wasserman, Chief Medical Officer, Northern Biologics.