BIOPHEX2004 promotes value innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry

By Kevin Richards

Industry Vice President, Reed Exhibitions

In its brief history, the biopharmaceutical industry has rapidly achieved a reputation for developing innovative products. Since 1982, when the first biopharmaceutical product was approved, the industry has reached $37 billion worldwide, with biotechnology products accounting for 26% of the total active pipeline as of December 2003. Seven of the top 50 pharmaceutical products in 2003 were biotech drugs, and some analysts predict that the percentage of biotech blockbusters will continue to expand, possibly exceeding 100 new product launches per year by the second decade of this century.

The question at hand is now: how will the industry bring this anticipated avalanche of new products to market? How will biopharmaceutical companies transition from the radical innovation of new product development to the more incremental value innovation of commercial development—process improvements, facility optimization, design enhancements, development of technology standards, protocols for knowledge transfer, and quality control?

The 2004 BIOPHEX Conference provides timely insights and expertise for biopharmaceutical scientists and managers faced with the challenge of bringing an unprecedented number of innovative new products to market. Nearly 50 in-depth sessions are organized into six tracks that address specific concerns and challenges inherent in the commercialization process:

• The Shrinking Biotech Plant: Strategies for Lowering
  Cost & Improving Efficiency

• Drug Delivery as a Strategic Asset

• Knowledge Management and Transfer

• Implementing Process Innovation

• Process Innovation in Practice

• Management Approaches to Reducing Error and
   Streamlining Operations

Conferees will acquire valuable insights and learn proven strategies that can help them navigate the unpredictable path from laboratory to market—all based on the real-world experience of an outstanding group of industry experts.

BIOPHEX Conference producer Genetic Engineering News has assembled a faculty of extraordinarily gifted innovators and achievers for this year’s program. Twenty-nine of the 49 speakers hold doctoral degrees. Collectively, they have studied and/or taught at 60 colleges & universities, including Caltech; Harvard Medical School; Johns Hopkins; MIT; the Pasteur Institute; Princeton University; Purdue University; the Salk Institute; Stanford University; Penn State; the University of California; the University of Iowa and many more too numerous to list here. They’ve worked at many of the industry’s most respected companies, including Gala Biotech; Nektar (formally Inhale Therapeutic Systems); Cetus/Chiron; The Dow Chemical Company; Sun Microsystems; Fluor; Aegis Analytical Corporation; Eli Lilly; Merck; MedImmune Vaccines, Inc.; Aspen Technology; Rockwell Automation and the Juran Institute. Several have founded successful companies.

Many of our speakers have received prestigious awards and honors, including several National Science Foundation CAREER Awards; ISPE Best Article of the Year award; Presidential Young Investigator Award; Technology Review Top 100 Innovator; Six Sigma Master Black Belt; University – Industry Synergy Award for Innovation, given by the Natural Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada; and the Moulton Medal for "the most notable contribution during the year to the published records of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.” They are active in leading associations such as ISPE, IchemE, ASME, AIChE, ASEE, the Controlled Release Society, ACS, PDA, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and have written more than 1200 scientific publications and research reports, in addition to authoring and editing several books. About a dozen speakers hold multiple patents, with more patents pending.

These respected innovators will share their hard-won, breakthrough approaches to:

• Making biomanufacturing facilities run leaner, more efficiently, and at lower
   cost – on less capacity.

• Extending the life of existing products, and possibly even resurrecting
   failed molecules.

• Improving the acquisition, management, and transfer of valuable knowledge
  and information assets.

• Optimizing manufacturing processes to maintain consistency, quality,
   efficacy, and profitability in these products.

• Implementing proven quality techniques that can provide almost
   instantaneous improvements to the bottom line.

Alongside this cutting-edge conference program, BIOPHEX will feature a comprehensive exhibition of advanced technologies for biopharmaceutical development and processing, including filtration and separation equipment, liquid handling, cleaning and sterilization, pumps and valves, instrumentation and much more. This year’s exhibition also features a new Biopharm Facilities Pavilion, offering solutions and services for the total facility lifecycle.

Exciting show features and special events include a free industry keynote on the future of DNA analysis, presentation of the new “Excellence in Biotechnology” awards, as well as poster presentations, networking reception, complimentary luncheons, a Career Expo and a Vespa giveaway.

BIOPHEX 2004 will take place September 28-30, 2004 at the Moscone Convention in San Francisco, California. The exhibition opens on Wednesday, September 29. For complete event information (including an up-to-date exhibitor list and floor plan, conference details, special events and convenient on-line registration) please visit http://www.biophex.com.

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