EAPB holds successful Science to Market Conference in Berlin

Science to Market 2011 (S2M2011), the annual conference of the European Association of Pharma Biotechnology (EAPB), was a great success. Over the course of two days (27 to 28 September), almost 100 experts from “Big Pharma”, biotechnology companies, technology transfer organisations and scientists from internationally renowned research institutes discussed the topic of personalised medicine and related diagnostic procedures very intensively.

Pharma diagnostic business models, the optimisation of personalised therapies using genome and transcriptome analyses, patient stratification methods, new study designs, funding models for personalised medicine, details on the development of biobanks, as well as the latest results from pure research on agent development and on therapeutic, diagnostic and analytical procedures – all this was presented in the auditorium, leading to lively discussions. The presentations will shortly be available on EAPB’s website (www.eapb.org).

A new approach being pursued by the transatlantic foundation, Health Innovation, is particularly worth highlighting. The founding members, John Hopkins, Charité and Bayer, are looking for additional partners – pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and clinics – for a concept of open scientific exchange between research and industry. Complex research on biomarkers is made significantly easier by setting up a consortium to work on the joint development and pooling of existing and new biomarkers.

The invitation to an evening event at Bayer provided a further highlight in terms of networking. This event gave guests the opportunity to share their views and experiences in tasteful surroundings during the evening of the first conference day. A participant from France commented, “It was most important for me that I was able to make interesting business contacts at Science to Market 2011. I have been attending S2M for years – and this one was the best so far!”

Wieland Wolf, EAPB president, already announced that the next S2M would take place in Heidelberg in September 2012 in cooperation with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s technology transfer centre, EMBL Enterprise Management.

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