SAN DIEGO, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- BIOCOM, the association for the life science industry in Southern California, is proud to announce that CALBIO 2006, its 13th annual conference, will be held May 18, 2006 at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina and feature up-to-the-minute discussions of current issues affecting the life science community.
“CALBIO 2006 is proving to be our strongest program in the conference’s history, with pertinent topics facing San Diego’s life science community and nationally recognized speakers,” said Joe Panetta, president and CEO of BIOCOM. “From regenerative medicine to biodefense, regulatory reform to patent reform, CALBIO will be the place to meet the decision makers and leaders of our region’s life science industry.”
Running from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the conference will feature a breakfast and lunch plenary session and eight breakout sessions.
The CALBIO Conference will begin with a breakfast plenary regarding early-stage funding. Speakers include corporate and traditional venture capital executives from Domain Associates, Forward Ventures and Biogen Idec.
Morning sessions will include a panel featuring licensing executives from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer. They will be discussing what big pharma is looking for in San Diego’s companies. Additionally, bioinformatics leaders from UCSD and UCI will be showcasing new visualization and collaboration technologies from Apple.
The morning sessions will conclude with pertinent discussions around the market opportunities around biodefense and regenerative medicine. Panels will include Congressman Darrell Issa and Greg Lucier, chairman and CEO of Invitrogen Corporation, respectively.
The lunch plenary session will feature a special speaker as well as a timely discussion on BIOCOM’s joint efforts with the FDA to bring products to market more expediently.
Afternoon sessions will feature an informative session on patent reform, highlighting the successful intellectual property strategies of Elan Pharmaceuticals and Gen-Probe. Biogen Idec, Conatus Pharmaceuticals, and Amylin Pharmaceuticals will discuss who they need as their next hires, and Dean’s from UCSD and SDSU’s business schools will be discussing what they are doing to meet the needs of companies like these.
The conference will conclude with key officers of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to discuss Medicare coverage and payment, and a valuable panel discussing alternative forms of financing for companies not able to secure traditional sources of funding.
Registrations for CALBIO 2005 are still available. To register and find more information about our topics and nationally recognized speakers, please visit www.biocom.org.
Accredited media can obtain press passes by contacting Vanessa Van Mildert at vvanmildert@biocom.org or 858-455-0300 extension 101.
BIOCOM’s Annual Dinner, which is nearly sold out, takes place on the same night, and will include key note speaker Judy Woodruff, CNN political correspondent.
BIOCOM is a premiere life science industry association representing nearly 500 member companies. The association focuses on initiatives that positively influence the growth of the life science industry, including capital formation, public policy, workforce development, and scientific discovery and development. For more information on BIOCOM or the San Diego regional life sciences community, please visit the organization’s Web site at www.biocom.org or contact our offices at 858-455-0300.
BIOCOM
CONTACT: Tim Ingersoll of BIOCOM, +1-858-455-0300
Web site: http://www.biocom.org//
