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Quality rather than quantity – European Business Development Conference
Considering the fact that the venue for this year’s European Business Development Conference was the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), it was no surprise that the program had a very strong oncology and pharma focus. The organizing committee from Bio Deutschland put together very appealing sessions, with renown speakers.
On the first day, September 25th, Axel Hoos from GSK presented GSK’s oncology pipeline, which aims to develop new drug candidates that don’t only bring incremental positive enhancements, but significant improvements in cancer therapy. Myriam Mendila from Novartis confirmed that this is Novartis declared goal as well. Based on 4 different platforms they are filling their oncology pipeline and have over 200 cancer clinical trials in planning.
The second day put a spotlight on the influence of digitization and AI on drug development. Dirk Voelkel from GE Healthcare made a great start into the day by providing a stimulating overview on the power of AI in healthcare and giving very good examples on how clinical data, gathered in different layers of diagnostics, can provide surprising correlation between depicted biomarkers and diseases. The 115 attendees of the conference enjoyed the high quality of information given, as well as the networking opportunities. Coming from big pharma like Novartis, Roche and GSK, academic institutions like the host DKFZ, mid-size biotech like YUMAB and service providers like World Courier, TRIGA S and Biokryo the audience reflected the diversity of the life science landscape very well.
Congratulations to the sector association of the biotech industry, Bio Deutschland, to another great event.