The life sciences and biomedicine are a constant field of tension between cutting-edge ideas and breakthroughs, and time-tested procedures and regulations guided by experience and concerns for safety.
This tension is, on the whole, a good thing, helping innovators hone their ideas and strategies. At times like these, there are no shortage of scientific breakthroughs vying to change the medical landscape. On Dec.5, Xconomy is bringing together leading minds from the Bay Area’s life sciences community for a conversation about this next generation—of technologies, of companies, of people— all challenging limits in different ways.
During our Xchange forum at QB3 at UCSF Mission Bay, they’ll share their ideas, their approaches, and their stories about how they’re breaking biotech barriers. Confirmed speakers so far include the cofounders of San Francisco cancer immunotherapy developer Allogene Therapeutics: president and CEO David Chang, and executive chairman Arie Belldegrun.
Chang and Belldegrun were the top executives at Kite Pharma, which licensed a promising therapy from the National Cancer Institute and built a pipeline of living medicines called CAR-T: human T-cells, engineered to be super cancer fighters. They sold Kite to Gilead Sciences last year for $12 billion, then re-emerged months later with $300 million in funding for a new and very different CAR-T company, Allogene. Joining them in conversation at the event will be Wendell Lim, a UCSF researcher using synthetic biology and other tools to explore new functions of living cells. Lim is the founder of a biotech, Cell Design Labs, that partnered with and was ultimately acquired by Kite in 2017.
Come hear Chang and Belldegrun discuss Allogene’s roots and strategy as well as the future potential for living cells as medicine. More details about the Xchange are coming soon but you can visit our event site for the latest information, and to grab a ticket.
