Northbank Communications reports on recent conferences

Northbank staff have been out and about, pounding the beat and pressing the flesh at leading events in the life science calendar in support of our clients and, of course, to meet new companies as part of our own business development efforts. Conference attendance helps keep us up-to-date with what’s going on, so here’s what we gathered since December 2005.

Genesis, 1 December 2005, London, UK

The annual Genesis conference is the London Biotechnology Network's showcase event to support and promote biotechnology in London and across Europe. Sue Charles was at the well-attended welcome reception at the Canadian High Commission the evening before the conference. Jodi Lewis attended the main event where the established conference continued with its mix of frank debates, ones-to-watch biotech start-up presentations and main exhibition hall. Over 50 companies exhibited and more than 221 delegates were able to network, either through the partnering system or through the networking breaks provided throughout the day, as well as take in some of the excellent discussions from speakers such as Roberto Solari, Chief Executive, MRC Technology Ltd and Ed Currie, Business Solutions Leader, IBM.

www.londonbiotechnology.co.uk/genesis

Industrial Biotech and Finance Forum, 1-2 December 2005, Barcelona, Spain

The Industrial Biotech & Finance Forum, held in Barcelona at the start of December, brought together a group of exciting new entrepreneurial biotech companies and potential investors. With 38 companies presenting from 13 different countries, and approximately 50 VC’s in attendance, 180 delegates made the most of their time at the event with over 240 meetings arranged through the partnering system. Adam Michael and Katja Stout from Northbank coached at the venture academy, a pre-Forum event where companies gave their presentations to a panel of coaches who asked questions and gave feedback. This allowed the companies to refine and finesse their presentations before the main conference, in front of investors. Adam also moderated a panel session entitled "Alternative Exit Routes for VCs", which discussed the mindsets, attitudes, business models, and corporate strategies that can be employed to create exit routes that are not through public markets.

www.e-unlimited.com/ibff

Scrip Awards Dinner, 7 December 2005, London, UK

The inaugural Scrip Awards, organised by Scrip World Pharmaceutical News, was held at The BallRoom, Grosvenor House, where Katja Stout, Emma Palmer and Jodi Lewis attended the glamorous and well-organised event along with a Northbank’s client who was finalist at the awards: Oxford BioMedica. The Scrip Awards are intended to recognise excellence in the global pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and to give well-earned publicity to the many men and women in these sectors whose performance is truly outstanding. John Sergeant, the political journalist and broadcaster and compere for the evening, was an excellent host and kept the audience in good humour throughout the ceremony. A thoroughly enjoyable evening, look out for the 2006 awards which will be held in London on 15 November 2006.

www.scripawards.com

10th Annual BIA Gala Dinner, 26 January 2006, London, UK

The BIA celebrated its 10th Annual Gala Dinner at the Natural History Museum, London. Northbank is a member of the BIA and Sue Charles, CEO attended as a guest of Lynne Evans Executive Resourcing together with over 600 guests from the bioscience industry. As ever the dinner was busy but provided an excellent kick off to 2006 and provided an opportunity to meet colleagues from the industry.

At the dinner, the annual BIA Award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to UK Bioscience was presented to Dr David Chiswell, outgoing Chair of the BIA for his contribution to the success of many UK bioscience companies over the last 25 years, most notably at Cambridge Antibody Technology.

Giving the keynote address at the dinner, Dr Simon Best, BIA Chairman commented on the encouraging progress seen recently in the sector. "We are starting to see the sector deliver returns. Yesterday, Humira, Cambridge Antibody Technology's (CAT) monoclonal antibody to treat rheumatoid arthritis, became the first UK biotech product to reach over $ 1 billion in sales. The UK has its first blockbuster. This, in addition to the news that £120 million in royalties from Humira is helping the MRC to rebuild two of the UK's biggest bioscience laboratories. The pharmaceutical industry is also seeing the value of bioscience with big deals being made with key UK bioscience companies."

Dr Best also commented on the industry's maturing pipeline, saying, "The BIA will focus increasingly on delivering innovation by promoting faster and better access to innovative medicines; communicating the benefits of UK bioscience innovation; and examining how that innovation should be paid for."

Raising money for CancerBACUP, the BIA collected £10,250 in advance of the event from table sponsors who gave £250 each. CancerBACUP provides cancer patients and their families with the up-to-date information, practical advice and support they need to reduce the fear and uncertainty of cancer.

In addition to funds raised through table sponsorship, the BIA collected a total of £11,440 on the night for CancerBACUP from Gala Dinner guests. As a sponsored table, Ernst & Young collected the highest amount, totalling £1,440, and won membership to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The highest collection from a table of individuals was £280 and this table enjoyed a bottle of Malt Whisky donated by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

www.bioindustry.org

BioSquare 2006, 8-10 March 2006, Geneva, Switzerland

This conference created 5139 one-to-one partnering meetings for over 1200 delegates representing around 800 companies from 34 countries. Hence, BioSquare remains one of the most popular and successful business conferences in Europe, alongside its sister conference BIO-Europe. The EBD Group organised the conference, with kind support from the Republic and State of Geneva, and Bioalps, representing the Geneva biocluster, and many others. At the conference, the Northbank team of Douglas Pretsell, Christellle Kerouedan, and Adam Michael ran the media relations and press office for the conference. The next EBD conference is BIO-Europe 2006 in Duesseldorf November 6-8.

www.ebdgroup.com/biosquare/

Drug Discovery Technology Europe 2006, 13-16 March 2006, London, UK

Drug Discovery Technology Europe 2006 is one of the largest conferences in Europe dedicated to the drug discovery and pharma markets. This year the event was co-located with InfotechPharma 2006, a major global conference for top-level Pharma IT executives. The event incorporated a single, combined exhibition showcasing the latest technology developments in the industry.

www.drugdisc.com

Genomes to Systems, 22-24 March 2006, Manchester, UK

The 3rd Genomes to Systems conference and exhibition was a great success with over 600 delegates attending the two and a half day academic conference, up by more than 25% on last year's conference. Exhibitor numbers were also up with more than 60 leading specialist genomic and proteomic companies together with more general lab suppliers and media companies showcasing their products and services to the International audience.

Northbank created the branding for the conference and managed the event strategy, exhibitor sales and support, media relations and sponsorship, delegate promotion, registration and on-site logistics for the 3 day conference.

This was the second Genomes to Systems conference that we’ve managed. The next is already slated for March 2008.

www.genomestosystems.org

Scottish Science Communications Conference, 6-7 April 2006, Edinburgh, Scottland

The Working Lunch aimed to incorporate presentations and discussion of case studies which outlining successful partnerships between science communicators and the media. The Working Lunch ran twice over two days and was attended by approximately 30 people each day. Sue Charles was one of three speakers and stressed the importance of scientists being willing to comment generally on an area of research. When acting as a viewpoint for someone else’s research, the scientist helps to make up a balanced panel. This prepares them for when they want to use the media for their own research. The Science Media Centre was highlighted as being a good place to look for such scientists. In summary, it can be said that in order to create a partnership with the media, scientists should be encouraged to speak to journalists early on. If a scientist is regularly and reliably available for comment on other people’s research, it fosters a closer and more trusting relationship with the journalists, which will put them in good stead for stories emanating from their own companies or research teams. It’s a two-way relationship – if you help the journalist first, then they’ll return the favour.

www.the-ba.net/the-ba/ScienceinSociety/ScienceCommunicationConference/

Analytica 2006, 25-28 April 2006, Munich, Germany

Visitors to the 20th Analytica were reported up at 26,000 from the 25,000 expected although exhibitors were down at 908 companies from 32 countries (Analytica 2004: 1,118 exhibitors from 35 countries). Northbank’s Head of Marketing Communications, Peter Colley, attended the exhibition which was again spread over 5 halls, all of which seemed to go through busier and quieter periods. Some stands seemed, however, busy most of the time – and these were not necessarily just the big players. Clearly, companies that spend significant parts of their budgets in attending exhibition need to also invest in programmes to maximise visitor attendance and design stands that stand-out and communicate clearly what the company offers.

www.analytica.de

Biotech and Finance Forum, 8 May 2006, Munich, Germany

The 7th Annual Biotech and Finance Forum, organised by e-unlimited and backed by the European Commission and Europabio, provided an opportunity for early stage companies to present themselves to private investors. Northbank's Adam Michael chaired a session entitled 'How to Structure a Company Towards an IPO or Trade Sale', which proved a lively event with three Northbank clients on the panel: Santaris, MNLPharma and Plethora Solutions. The pre-partnering system ensured that most people were able to maximise partnering and network with senior investment and corporate contacts from the European Biotech industries. The day before the conference, Northbank's Munich Bureau Chief, Douglas Pretsell participated as one of the coaches at the Venture Academy. This unique coaching event provides an excellent forum for presenting executives to hone their skills and sharpen their presentations for maximum impact.This well attended and organised event made the Biotech and Finance Forum worthwhile for sponsors and delegates alike. The next e-unlimited event will be the Nordic Venture Summit in Copenhagen on 9 October 2006.

www.e-unlimited.com

BioEquity Europe 2006, 22-23 May 2006, Frankfurt, Germany

Sue Charles and Katja Stout attended from Northbank, supporting existing clients including Ablynx, Powdermed and Santaris Pharma, as well as networking.
The event was very well attended by pharma, investors and biotech, with a total of 575 attendees. This included about 400 members of the international financial community and 166 life science executives. In total there were 66 Company presentations, across the two days, including Europe's next generation of bellwether companies and participants from about 20 nations. An additional 16 biotech companies participated in BioEquity's ‘Next Wave’ session. This session introduced a select group of pre-IPO companies, many of them looking to move into the clinic.
The BioEquity conference programme featured more than 80 speakers that included thought leaders from the key venture capital, investment banking, asset management and biotechnology companies. As in year's past, the programme was kicked off with BioCentury’s Annual Report on Europe’s Financing Need.
BioEquity is undoubtedly one of Europe's top investment conferences for the biotech sector and this year’s event was the biggest and best attended BioEquity ever. The 2007 event is planned for Glasgow, Scottland, 22 – 23 May 2006

http://www.biocentury.com/html/conferences/bee/2006/index.htm

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© 2005 Northbank Communications