AstraZeneca demonstrates drive for new partnerships at BIO 2011

The annual conference is widely recognised as the world’s best ‘one-stop shop’ for fostering new business partnerships in pursuit of valued innovation in healthcare. This year’s BIO was the 17th annual event, and AstraZeneca and MedImmune have been major supporters and sponsors for many years. And this year was no exception. Every opportunity was taken during the four-day meeting to demonstrate the company’s drive and determination to be a world leader in collaborating with the best life sciences companies.

Nine of our senior executives gave keynote presentations and/or participated in panel discussions. In addition, more than 700 requests for meetings were received by AstraZeneca and MedImmune in the Business Forum. Staff managed to meet with an astounding 500 prospective and existing partners, including 38 of the 50 academic organizations registered in the Business Forum.

It was a fantastic opportunity to meet a huge range of companies and organisations, to see if there are mutual benefits in taking the relationship further. This year’s event proved our most successful to date, in terms of the interest shown in AstraZeneca and MedImmune, and the hunger for more information and possible collaboration.

Chris Yochim, External Relations Director, Strategic Partnering & Business Development

Shaun Grady, VP Strategic Partnering & Business Development, said: “The BIO Business Forum is a unique match-making venue, where we get an unbeatable opportunity to meet with potential partners and assess each other’s capabilities and assets. Our approach to partnering is that there is no such thing as a standard approach. It’s the shop window for companies looking to partner their programmes. It’s also the shop window for Pharma to show why they should be the preferred partner. We work hard to understand our partners’ ideas, business and culture; then we look to build a deal that suits us both.

“Our overall goal at BIO was to continue to raise the profile of AstraZeneca to ensure we’re differentiating ourselves as the preferred partner to do business with.”

Atul Saran, MedImmune's SVP Corporate Development & Ventures, said: “BIO provides a neutral territory in which to meet and discuss a common interest in economic development and getting innovative drugs to needy patients.”

BIO itself is so large that it generates related offshoots. This year, for example, there was a pre-event in Philadelphia – a Russian symposium, which included Russ Gantt, VP Corporate Business Development NA and Jit Patel, Business Development Director. AZ Russia was well-represented in an event discussing the fast-growing Russian healthcare market.