Biotech Next Gen 2021: Full Schedule

9:00am EDT

Open for Networking

Tuesday June 22, 2021 9:00am - 9:30am EDT

9:30am EDT

What's next in gene therapy

A first wave of gene therapies has made it to market, but it’s just a prelude to the tidal surge to come. From new viral vectors to newly refined manufacturing to entirely new targets—including infectious diseases—biotech companies are advancing first-time approaches in an already cutting-edge field. We’ll talk to some of the next-wave pioneers about how the new work will improve on the groundbreaking advances we’ve already seen.

Moderator

Arlene Weintraub

Editor, Fierce Biotech

Arlene Weintraub has over 15 years of experience writing about health care, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Her freelance pieces have been published in the New York Times, US News & World Report, Technology Review, Scientific American, USA Today, Entrepreneur.com, FierceMarkets... Read More →

Speakers

Bobby Gaspar, M.D., Ph.D.

CEO and Co-Founder, Orchard Therapeutics

Dr. Gaspar is a world-renowned scientist and physician and accomplished strategic and organizational leader with more than 25 years of experience in medicine and biotechnology. As one of Orchard’s principal scientific co-founders, Dr. Gaspar serves as chief executive officer of... Read More →

R. Nolan Townsend

CEO, LEXEO Therapeutics

R. Nolan Townsend currently serves as Chief Executive Officer with LEXEO Therapeutics. Prior to joining LEXEO, Mr. Townsend held roles as President, Pfizer Rare Disease for the North America and international regions, respectively. Additionally, he served in a variety of roles at... Read More →

Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D.

CEO and Co-Founder, Kriya Therapeutics

Shankar Ramaswamy is the Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya Therapeutics, a next generation fully integrated gene therapy company focused on engineering, manufacturing and developing gene therapies to address series medical conditions. Prior to launching Kriya... Read More →

RA Session II

President, CEO and Founder, Taysha Gene Therapies

RA Session II is the President, CEO and Founder of Taysha Gene Therapies. Mr. Session has nearly 20 years’ experience in the life sciences industry, primarily in business development, corporate strategy and financial roles. Previously, he served as Chief Business Officer of the... Read More →

Natasha C. Lucki, Ph.D.

Senior Product Manager, Biosciences Division, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Natasha C. Lucki, PhD is a Senior Product Manager in the Biosciences Division at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Carlsbad, CA. Natasha leads the Viral Delivery portfolio which includes the complete viral vector production platforms LV-MAX™ and AAV-MAX systems. She received her PhD in... Read More →

Manja Boerman, Ph.D.

President, Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy, Catalent

Manja Boerman is the President of Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy with overall responsibility for strategy and leadership of the cell and gene businesses. Manja joined Catalent in December 2019. She has held several executive leadership positions at previous companies including Aesica... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 9:30am - 10:30am EDT
Virtual

Panel Discussions

10:30am EDT

Digital Acceleration: Using Data and Technology to Solve Some of Health Care’s Toughest Challenges

Speakers

Julie Garlikov

Head of Marketing, GRAIL

Julie joined Grail last Fall as the VP of Marketing overseeing all global marketing efforts, on the heels of serving NewAge as Chief Marketing Officer. GRAIL is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL is focused on saving lives and... Read More →

Geeta Nayyar, M.D., M.B.A.

Executive Medical Director, Salesforce

Dr. Geeta Nayyar, M.D., M.B.A., is a nationally recognized leader in healthcare information technology, a physician executive, a frequently sought-after public speaker, and an author with unique perspectives that bridge clinical medicine, business, communications, and digital health... Read More →

David Magrini

Group President, Integrated Solutions, Real Chemistry

David Magrini is the President, Global CRM and Marketing Solutions at Real Chemistry and a member of the Executive Leadership team. In this role, David is responsible for developing a capability and accompanying solutions for a scalable CRM offering that will support healthcare clients... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 10:30am - 10:50am EDT
Virtual

Keynote

10:50am EDT

Executive Interview: Dave Lennon, President, Novartis Gene Therapies

Moderator

Ben Adams

Senior Editor, Fierce Biotech

Ben Adams is a business, science and healthcare journalist who has worked as an editor for the UK publication Pharmafocus, as a group editor for Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe, as well as a features and news writer for the BMJ and the Pharmaceutical Journal. He has an especial interest... Read More →

Speakers

Dave Lennon

President, Novartis Gene Therapies

Dave Lennon has served as President of Novartis Gene Therapies (formerly AveXis) since June 2018. He leads the organization in its mission to bring gene therapy to patients and families devastated by rare and life-threatening neurological genetic diseases, starting with its proprietary... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 10:50am - 11:00am EDT
Virtual

Interviews

11:00am EDT

Enabling base editing research via automation and a cloud connected lab

Base editing — a new class of precision genetic medicines — has the potential of providing life-long cures to patients suffering from serious diseases. Yet base editing research is complex and demanding, requiring the processing of large sample amounts and tracking of complex data. In this presentation, learn how Beam Therapeutics pioneers this novel therapeutic by leveraging automation and Benchling's unified, cloud-based R&D informatics platform.

Speakers

Lauren Shields

Head of Technical Solutions Consulting, Benchling

Lauren Shields is the Head of Technical Solutions Consulting at Benchling. After receiving her BS in Biology at MIT, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Université de Lausanne in Switzerland. Lauren went on to attain her PhD at UCSF, working in the... Read More →

Bob Gantzer

Head of Laboratory Automation, Beam Therapeutics

Bob currently serves as a Director at Beam Therapeutics where he leads the automation, robotics, and next generation sequencing (NGS) teams supporting cutting edge base editing research. At Beam Therapeutics, Bob has led the implementation of industry leading lab automation, designed... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 11:00am - 11:25am EDT
Virtual

Presentations

11:25am EDT

Executive Interview: Marcio Souza, CEO, Praxis Precision Medicines

Moderator

Amirah Al Idrus

Senior Writer, Fierce Biotech

Amirah Al Idrus is an editor with the Life Sciences group covering biotech, medtech and occasionally, biotech research. She started her career at The Center for Public Integrity, where she was on a team that earned an Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Award for their work covering how companies profit from the privatization of prisons. When she’s not working, Amirah spends her time playing rugby, trying to keep her plants alive and baking (and eating) pies... Read More →

Speakers

Marcio Souza

CEO, Praxis Precision Medicines

Marcio Souza has served as a director and Praxis Precision Medicines' President and Chief Executive Officer since April 2020. Prior to joining, Mr. Souza was at PTC Therapeutics, Inc., or PTC, where he served as its Chief Operating Officer from May 2017 to April 2020 and its Senior... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 11:25am - 11:45am EDT
Virtual

Interviews

11:45am EDT

Executive Interview: Trevor Page, Chief Business Officer, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies

Moderator

Rebecca Willumson

Vice President & Publisher, Fierce Biotech

Rebecca Willumson is the Vice President of Questex's Life Sciences and Healthcare media divisions and the Publisher of Fierce Biotech, Fierce Pharma and Fierce Healthcare. She is responsible for overseeing the sales, editorial, and operations functions of the group’s digital publications... Read More →

Speakers

Trevor Page, M.Sc., M.B.A.

Chief Business Officer, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies

Trevor Page is currently the chief business officer of Agilent's companion diagnostic (CDx) division where he leads the business development and alliance management team responsible for establishing and maintaining CDx development partnerships with pharma and biotech. Over the past... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 11:45am - 12:00pm EDT
Virtual

Interviews

12:00pm EDT

Lunch Break and Networking

Tuesday June 22, 2021 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
Virtual

Networking

1:00pm EDT

What’s the next target in oncology?

Immuno-oncology drugs have stormed the cancer field, but a cadence of targeted cancer drugs have hit the market, too, and more are on their way. KRAS may be the most obvious example of a new cancer target, but there’s also TIGIT, CD47, new CTLA approaches and kinase inhibitors 2.0—to name a few. We’ll dig into the hottest targets with companies pursuing them and experts watching them line up.

Moderator

Amirah Al Idrus

Senior Writer, Fierce Biotech

Speakers

Kristen Hege, M.D.

SVP, Early Clinical Development, Oncology/Hematology and Cell Therapy, Bristol Myers Squibb

Dr. Hege is SVP, Early Clinical Development, Hematology/Oncology & Cell Therapy at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) where she is responsible for advancing a pipeline of small molecules, biologics and cell therapies from first-in-human studies through clinical proof-of-concept. In additon... Read More →

Camille Hertzka

Head of Medical Affairs, US Oncology, AstraZeneca

Camille Hertzka is Head of Medical Affairs, US Oncology at AstraZeneca. A scientist by training, Camille has more than 15 years of industry experience in the oncology space both in Medical Affairs and Research & Development. Camille leads the teams that are responsible for the development... Read More →

Eric Rubin, M.D.

SVP & Therapeutic Area Head, Oncology Early Development, Merck Research Labs

Dr. Rubin has focused on cancer drug development for over 25 years, initially as a faculty member at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, then as a senior leader of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where he served as the Director of the Investigational Therapeutics Division of that... Read More →

Timothy A. Yap, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.

Associate Professor of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics; Medical Director of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Timothy A. Yap is a Medical Oncologist and Physician-Scientist based at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is an Associate Professor in the Department for Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program), and the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Virtual

Panel Discussions

1:50pm EDT

Executive Interview: Mark Wildgust, Ph.D., Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Oncology, Janssen

Moderator

Amirah Al Idrus

Senior Writer, Fierce Biotech

Speakers

Mark Wildgust, Ph.D.

Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Oncology, Janssen

Mark Wildgust has spent more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry working primarily in oncology, hematology and virology. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Plymouth, UK, and his PhD in Trace Metal Toxicology at the University... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 1:50pm - 2:00pm EDT
Virtual

Interviews

2:00pm EDT

Executive Interview: Mike Riley, Region President, North America, Catalent Biologics

Moderator

Rebecca Willumson

Vice President & Publisher, Fierce Biotech

Speakers

Mike Riley

Region President, North America, Catalent Biologics

Mike Riley is the Regional Biologics President for North America and has overall responsibility for strategy and management of the biologics business in North America. Previously, he served as Vice President/General Manager of Catalent Biologics for five years. Mike has 15 years of... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 2:00pm - 2:10pm EDT
Virtual

Interviews

2:10pm EDT

Executive Interview: Debanjan Ray, CEO, Synthekine

Moderator

Amirah Al Idrus

Senior Writer, Fierce Biotech

Speakers

Debanjan Ray

CEO, Synthekine

Debanjan has served as Synthekine’s President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s formation in 2019. Before joining Synthekine, he served as Chief Financial Officer and head of corporate development at CytomX Therapeutics, capping an eight-year tenure in roles of increasing... Read More →

Tuesday June 22, 2021 2:10pm - 2:25pm EDT
Virtual

Interviews

9:00am EDT

Open for Networking

Wednesday June 23, 2021 9:00am - 9:30am EDT

Networking

9:30am EDT

New trends shaping biopharma manufacturing

COVID-19 put pharma manufacturing front-and-center last year, but for many in the know, the production revolution was already underway. Whether it’s the rise of cell and gene therapies, the sudden, intense demand for pandemic vaccines and therapeutics, or the push to make essential medicines at home, the landscape is changing for contractors and drugmakers alike. We’ll discuss the latest tech—from self-contained production modules and continuous manufacturing to robotics and virtual reality—with the companies and experts leading the charge into the next manufacturing frontier.

Moderator

Fraiser Kansteiner

Staff Writer, Fierce Pharma

Fraiser Kansteiner is a staff writer at Fierce Pharma. He joined the Fierce team in 2020 and covers topics such as manufacturing, COVID-19 and drug delivery. He also manages Fierce Biotech and Fierce Pharma’s LinkedIn showcase pages. Before diving into pharma reporting, Fraiser... Read More →

Speakers

Samuel Neill, Ph.D.

Business Development Director – Grand Challenges 3 and 4 Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, CPI

Sam is a proactive and dynamic business development professional with over 17 years’ experience and is part of the team at CPI’s 'Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre' (MMIC). The MMIC is a collaboration between CPI, the University of Strathclyde and founding industry partners... Read More →

Atul Dubey, Ph.D.

Director, Pharmaceutical Continuous Manufacturing, USP Reference Standards Labs

Atul Dubey is the Director of Pharmaceutical Continuous Manufacturing (PCM) at the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP). Headquartered in Rockville, MD, USA, USP is committed to global public health and quality of medicines for 200 years.At USP, his group is focused on supporting... Read More →

Alison Moore, Ph.D.

Chief Technical Officer, Allogene

Allison Moore, Ph.D., is the Chief Technical Officer for Allogene, overseeing product sciences, supply chain, manufacturing, quality and technical operations. Alison has extensive experience in all aspects of biomanufacturing and CMC product development, working in both operations... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 9:30am - 10:25am EDT
Virtual

Panel Discussions

10:25am EDT

The New Path to Market for Emerging Biotech

Early stage biotech companies have traditionally had limited options to get their first asset to market: in most cases, they pursue deals with larger partners, losing control of their intellectual property and limiting their future financial returns, or become a fully integrated company through heavy investment and a great deal of risk. This session will explore new commercial realities and considerations for how to reduce risk, manage costs and optimize performance while maintaining control of your asset.

Speakers

Lee Taurman

Executive Managing Director and Global Head, Commercial Innovation and Solutions, Syneos Health

Lee Taurman is an experienced Life Sciences industry executive and management consultant. He specializes in working with clients to develop innovative solutions as they evolve to meet the needs of a changing healthcare and business landscape. This includes developing new integrated... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 10:25am - 10:50am EDT
Virtual

Keynote

10:50am EDT

Manufacturing of new modalities: New opportunities come with new challenges

A shift toward precision and personalized medicine is a growth driver in the pharmaceutical industry. Biologics and advanced modalities ranging from antibody-drug conjugates and mRNA-based drugs to cell and gene therapies contribute to this growth. However, these new modalities bring a new set of challenges for innovators striving to manufacture at sufficient scale to simultaneously meet market demand, high-quality standards, expected production cost and an acceptable ROI. Dr. Mahdavi’s talk will review key growth areas, innovative technologies and future strategies designed to increase the efficiency and scalability of these advanced therapeutics.

Speakers

Behzad Mahdavi, Ph.D.

Vice President, Open Innovation, Biologics, Cell & Gene Therapy, Catalent

With over 20 years’ experience in developing and implementing impactful growth strategies in the biopharmaceutical industries, Dr. Mahdavi joined Catalent in 2020 after a 13-year career at Lonza, where he held the role of Vice President Strategic Innovation & Alliances, and... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 10:50am - 11:05am EDT
Virtual

Presentations

11:05am EDT

Executive Interview: Sebastian Guth, Ph.D., President, Americas Region, Bayer Pharmaceuticals & Brian Cantwell, Vice President, Digital Strategy, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Moderator

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor, Fierce Pharma

Beth Snyder Bulik writes for Fierce Pharma Marketing. She has been a freelance journalist for 12 years, contributing to publications including Advertising Age, American Way and American Baby. Before that, she was a senior writer at Business 2.0, and held reporting positions at Advertising... Read More →

Speakers

Sebastian Guth, Ph.D.

President, Americas Region, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Sebastian Guth leads Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals business in the Americas Region, including the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Bayer's global Pharmaceuticals business. Previously, Guth served... Read More →

Brian Cantwell

Vice President, Digital Strategy, Bayer US Pharmaceuticals

Brian Cantwell is Vice President, Digital Strategy for Bayer Pharma, where he is responsible for digital strategy, capabilities, and operations in the US. Brian has made a career out of digital transformation in the biopharma industry, executing digital strategies that improve business results and deliver better customer experiences. Prior to Bayer... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 11:05am - 11:30am EDT
Virtual

Interviews

11:30am EDT

Modernizing the delivery of healthcare with Chrome Enterprise

Cloud-powering practitioners and healthcare staff on the frontlines with cloud-native solutions frees up more of their time for patient care. Chrome OS provides fast access to information for practitioners, a better patient experience, and devices that are easy to manage and deploy. Learn more about how Chrome Enterprise can help you modernize the delivery of healthcare while integrating with your existing infrastructure.

Speakers

Mike Puzen

Regional Sales Manager, Chrome OS, Google

Mike has been a technology thought leader for the past 15 years. He has focused on Retail, Manufacturing and Healthcare for most of his career with IBM, Sandisk, Lenovo and now Google. The goal for him has always been to push the boundaries of innovation at the customer experience... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 11:30am - 11:50am EDT
Virtual

Presentations

11:50am EDT

Executive Interview: Ardy Arianpour, CEO and Co-Founder, Seqster

Moderator

Andrea Park

Staff Writer, Fierce Medtech

Andrea Park is a staff writer for Fierce Medtech. Prior to joining the Fierce team, she covered hospital IT and innovation at Becker’s Hospital Review and made good use of her pop culture expertise as a reporter and editor at Marie Claire, W, People and more. A graduate of Northwestern... Read More →

Speakers

Ardy Arianpour

CEO and Co-Founder, Seqster

Ardy Arianpour is CEO & Co-Founder of Seqster, the leading patient-centric SaaS healthcare technology company that enables organizations to drive efficient healthcare via comprehensive medical records (EHR), individual genomic profiles (DNA), and personal health device data. For the... Read More →

Wednesday June 23, 2021 11:50am - 12:00pm EDT
Virtual

Interviews

12:00pm EDT

Who's next in biotech and pharma?

For several years, leaders in the biopharma industry have been pressing for gender balance and increased diversity, both within companies and at the top—in senior management and on boards. As the pandemic spotlights inequities and the social justice movement continues, more and more companies are stepping up with new requirements and policies to become more inclusive. We’ll talk to some of the leaders and to recruiting experts about what’s being done and how everyone’s company can help.

Moderator

Amirah Al Idrus

Senior Writer, Fierce Biotech

Speakers

Holly Wilson Leslie

Sr. Director. Life Sciences, Egnyte

Holly Leslie is the Senior Director of Life Sciences at Egnyte, where she works as a bridge between the sales and products teams providing solution thought leadership with an eye to improving the life science customer journey. Egnyte for Life Sciences enables companies to rapidly... Read More →

Robin Toft

Chairman & Founder, Toft Group Executive Search, a ZRG Company

Robin Toft is the founder and CEO of Toft Group a ZRG Company, where she combines a deep inside knowledge of the life science industry with a passion for building game-changing management teams. A champion of diverse executive teams, Robin has built a reputation for recruiting women... Read More →

Shamika Williams

Global PBRG Lead, BOLD, Bristol Myers Squibb

Wednesday June 23, 2021 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
Virtual

Panel Discussions