Global drug development executives converge on Boston for BioPharm America™ 2016

CARLSBAD, California and BOSTON, Sept. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 800 executives from the life science industry attended BioPharm America™ life science partnering event in Boston in early September. The one-to-one partnering meetings that take place propel M&A and deals in the drug development industry.

The highly successful 2016 event was accentuated by robust activity, including attendance by delegates from 530 companies representing 32 countries. As well, 2,424 one-to-one partnering meetings took place at the event where 881 licensing opportunities were on offer.

The 9th annual event was held over three days, September 13–15, at the Boston Marriott Copley Square, and featured daily "Food for Thought" keynotes with executives from pharma and finance speaking on pressing topics, including:

• "Has the IPO window closed?" with moderator John Carroll of Endpoints and panelists Christiana Bardon of MPM Capital; David Sabow of Silicon Valley Bank; and Simos Simeonidis of RBC Capital.
• "What makes a serial entrepreneur tick and why are they so successful?" with moderator Luke Timmerman of Timmerman Report, and panelists Tillman Gerngross of Adimab; Michael Gilman of Atlas Venture; and Troy Wilson of Kura Oncology.
• "The intersection of technology and medicine" with moderator Asher Rubin of Hogan Lovells, and panelists Jared Josleyn of Verily Life Sciences; James Mault of Qualcomm Life; and Kathleen McGroddy Goetz of IBM Watson Health.

A pitch contest took place the first day, where biotech startups pitched their company to investors to win a coveted one-on-one meeting with the investor of their choice. The winner was Michael Winlo, CEO of Linear Clinical Research Limited, who pitched on his Perth, Australia-based dedicated early phase clinical trials facility.

A special program track on Partnerships in Cell and Gene Therapies took place on September 13, and focused on industry updates and opportunities in this developing field.

Two concurrent one-day programs took place during the event. Biotech Startup Day on September 14 drew investors to the company presentations given by a curated group of startup companies. A Biotech Startup Day pitch competition took place where qualified startups pitched their companies to a top-notch panel of judges comprising BD execs, venture capitalists, and industry experts. The overall winner of the competition for both "best pitch" and "most investable company" was Ailis Tweed-Kent, Founder and CEO of Cocoon Biotech, Inc.