Munich (June 15, 2010): “The importance of partnerships between biotechnology companies and the pharmaceutical industry has increased during the economic downturn”, said Peter Heinrich, President of the German biotechnology industry organisation (BIO Deutschland) at the European Business Development Conference in Munich. He also emphasised that these win-win-alliances help both sides to cope with future challenges.

The fourth annual European Business Development Conference was held in Munich attracting more than 100 CEOs and senior executives from US and European (bio)pharmaceutical, private equity, and venture capital companies.

Despite the global financing situation the European biotechnology still shows increasing innovation potential. A recently published report states that in 2014, the world’s six highest selling drugs will be products created in biotech companies, underlining the importance of the sector for the global pharmaceutical industry.

The keynotes and panel discussions outlined the needs of pharmaceutical companies to refill their pipelines through biotech co-operations. In addition, some pharmaceutical companies reported a shift in their research and development funds into biotech, thereby providing an important funding source for biotech in today’s difficult financial markets. One of the panel debates focussed on unmet medical needs in our aging population, spotlighting diseases of the central nervous system.

During the conference over 20 innovative European companies presented their research and development achievements and business models. Executives from key biotech and international pharmaceutical companies, private equity and venture capital firms shared their experience and presented their views for facilitating growth of the European Biotech sector.

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