Conference Reports
17th BioPartnering Europe
London, UK, 11-14 October 2009
London once again welcomed the BioPartnering Europe conference with an action-packed program of symposiums, presentations and meetings. The unseasonably sunny and warm weather heralded three days of good food, good company and great opportunities for the 946 delegates attending from over 31 countries.
The conference opened with an introduction to the new global network of BioPartnering events, including the recently-formed BioPartnering Latin America and BioPartnering China, which was due to host a meeting in London later in the month. The truly global nature of the bioscience industry was also a main feature of the keynote address by Patrick Keohane from AstraZeneca. He highlighted the benefits of investment and collaboration in Asia, which is rapidly staking its claim as one of the most important regions in the industry.
The underlying theme of "success through alliances" was once again a central tenet of the conference. The importance of marrying both large and small companies in order to share risk and financial resources was revisited. The need as well to shelter scientific innovation from the recent economic pandemonium was highlighted by the impressive array of cutting-edge science in the company presentations.
DBV-Technologies presented delegates with an interesting introduction into their innovative epicutaneous drug delivery technology - VIASKIN, which has potential in allergy diagnosis, desensitization, vaccines and cosmeceuticals. When a VIASKIN product is placed on the skin, an occlusive chamber is formed between the patch and the skin, which generates moisture, inducing the active ingredient to be released and absorbed through the dilated skin pores. The drug then interacts with Langerhans immune cells, producing an immune response. DBV is currently developing a peanut allergy vaccine (DBV-712), which is currently in preclinical development, as well as dust mite, milk, shigella, typhoid and Hepatitis A and B vaccines. Licensing partners are actively being sought for collaboration on these programmes.
The evening reception at the premier waxwork museum Madame Tussauds gave delegates an opportunity to mingle with contemporary and historic idols, with the realistic wax figures providing light relief from the business of the day. Participants were rewarded with an array of sumptuous and exotic hors d'oeuvres, relaxed conversation with newly-found friends and closeness to the effigies of the rich and the famous.
It was back to business on day two, with an interesting presentation from Light Sciences Oncology. The company is developing the anticancer agent aptocine, a water-soluble drug that is injected systemically, but only activated within tumours by a single-use disposable LED light. This produces singlet oxygen, which kills tumour cells via apoptosis. This localized effect reduces the incidence of side-effects, but interestingly aptocine may also have a systemic effect, since strong antitumour T-cell responses have been reported along with reductions in the size of metastatic lesions. Licensing discussions are currently ongoing.
It was clear that companies are still optimistic about the future and recent economic events have done little to dampen their innovative nature. The conference was rippling with new possibilities; attendees were beaming with the determination of seeing their businesses continue to flourish in these challenging but nonetheless hopeful times. The emphasis was on collaboration as a successful business model to further scientific development and so enable the fruition of great ideas. And we look forward to seeing the results.
Clare Gibbard & Naila Shaw
Pharmaprojects Analysts
