We’re a little more than three weeks away from one of the biggest Seattle life sciences events of the year. Folks have been asking me about it lately, so I figure it’s time to unveil the program for “Reinventing Biotech’s Business Model” here in Seattle on April 3.
This half-day conference is attracting top-notch speakers who will share their experiences wrestling with one of the industry’s toughest challenges—how to create biotech business models that will attract investors? The cast of speakers is awesome—venBio’s Corey Goodman, Third Rock Ventures’ Kevin Starr, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ John Maraganore, Plexxikon’s Kathy Glaub, Inception Sciences’ Peppi Prasit, and Versant Ventures’ Brian Atwood are all part of the group flying in to Seattle for this event. From the local front, we’ll hear from Accelerator’s Carl Weissman, WRF Capital’s Thong Le, Bruce Montgomery of Cardeas Pharma, former Calistoga Pharmaceuticals CEO Carol Gallagher & more.
These folks will tell their stories about new business model ideas in a series of fast-moving, moderated conversations, with time for breaks at the beginning, middle and end. The event starts at 2 pm and goes till 6 pm on April 3 at PATH’s headquarters in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, at 2201 Westlake Avenue.
Here’s how you can expect things to flow:
1 pm. Registration and networking
2 pm. Welcoming remarks, PATH & Xconomy.
2:10 pm. Opening keynote chat.
Corey Goodman, venBio.
Luke Timmerman, Xconomy (moderator)
2:40 pm. Experiments with new business models. 20 minutes each.
Ed Saltzman, president, Defined Health (moderator)
Brian Atwood and Peppi Prasit. Versant Ventures/Inception Sciences
Kathy Glaub, Plexxikon
Steve Tregay, Forma Therapeutics
Thong Le & Bruce Montgomery, Cardeas Pharma
4 pm. Networking Break
4:30 pm. Experiments with new models
Alex Lash, reporter/editor, Startup/In Vivo (moderator)
Carl Weissman & Bard Geesaman, Acylin Pharma
Heather Franklin, Blaze Bioscience
Carol Gallagher, formerly of Calistoga Pharmaceuticals
5:30 pm. Closing Keynote Chat.
Kevin Starr, Third Rock Ventures
John Maraganore, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Luke Timmerman, Xconomy (moderator)
6 pm. Networking reception
7 pm End
We have more than 175 people registered at last count, including leaders at organizations around Seattle like Dendreon, Seattle Genetics, Gilead Sciences, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Accelerator, Theraclone Sciences, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington, and Novo Nordisk. With this many smart people in the same room sharing experiences about such a big issue for the industry, good ideas are bound to result. I look forward to seeing you and many other Xconomy readers be part of the mix at PATH on April 3.
