As the biopharmaceutical industry continues to rely on alliances and collaboration with external organizations to access innovation and obtain market access, internal teams are often confronted with the increasing complexities of systematically and effectively managing partnerships throughout their lifecycle. The function and organizational capability of Alliance Management is now recognized as a critical means to ensure the successful execution of any strategic partnership, acting as a central driver of value, while alleviating perturbations, and meeting alliance goals.
Building on 15 years of success, Cambridge Healthtech Institute is pleased to bring the popular Strategic Alliance Management Congress to Europe. The event will unite senior alliance management, business development, technology transfer and licensing professionals to network, discuss case studies, and share the components that cultivate successful partnerships. Delegates will gain strategic insights, proven tools, methods, and perspectives from a variety of leaders advancing the art of Alliance Management.
Final Agenda
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Thursday 16 NOVEMBER
12:00 Conference Registration
13:30 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks and Welcome
Kip Harry, Senior Director, Conferences, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
13:35 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: The Sanofi Case Study of Building an Effective Alliance Management Organization
Frank Grams, Ph.D., Vice President, Head R&D Alliance Management, Sanofi
This presentation will highlight Sanofi’s internal efforts for continued organizational improvements, experiences with KPIs on the alliance portfolio, and experiences with internal training of Alliance Management.
14:35 Co-Presentation: UCB’s Alliance Management Strategy and Key Challenges in Launching the Alliance Management Center of Expertise
Angela Boyhan, Ph.D., Head, Alliance Management Center of Expertise, Patient Value Practices, UCB
Florence Courtecuisse, Alliances Operations Manager, UCB
Partnering is key to UCB strategy and Alliance Management plays a critical role. This presentation will outline UCB’s Alliance Management strategy and highlight key challenges in launching the Alliance Management Center of Expertise at UCB.
15:05 Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall
16:00 Alliance Management at Immunocore
Henrik Sorensen, Ph.D., Head, Alliance & Portfolio Management, Immunocore, Ltd.
Immunocore has entered into multi-target discovery partnerships with Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca (MedImmune), to develop novel cancer therapies using Immunocore’s ImmTAC technology. A fourth partnership, with Eli Lilly, includes a co-development option in addition to ImmTAC co-discovery.
16:30 The Perspective of a Small Company Initiating an AM Function
Julie Friedman, Vice President, Program and Alliance Management, Quark Pharmaceuticals
During this presentation, I will share insights into initiating an Alliance Management function in a small organization. Lessons learned and considerations for success will be discussed.
17:00 Interactive Breakout Discussion Groups and Speed Networking
Network with potential partners while delving deeper into some of the overarching concerns facing alliances today. These are moderated roundtables with brainstorming and interactive problem solving, allowing conference participants from diverse backgrounds to have frank discussion while exchanging ideas, experiences, and developing future collaborations around a focused topic.
Table 1: Alliance Management at the Forefront of Deal Making
- At what point should Alliance Management get involved in the deal making process?
- What contributions can an alliance manager make to the negotiation process?
- How would a partner perceive Alliance Management at the table? What message would that deliver about your company’s approach to partnership?
- What steps are required to gain alignment in your own organization about the role of Alliance Management in the deal making process?
Table 2: Alliance Launch
- How, if at all, does your organization employ a systematic approach to launch alliances?
- What are the initial challenges, necessities and opportunities during an alliance launch?
Table 3: Introducing Alliance Management to a Growing Biotech Company
- Which Alliance Management skills and tools do companies need to possess?
- How can organizations develop a culture of open innovation?
- What are the ways to create value and share it among stakeholders involved?
- How do you get CEO and senior management engagement?
Table 4: The Bigger Picture: The Alliance Lifecycle – Managing Change and Termination
- How can turnover positively or negatively impact an alliance?
- What measures can be taken to ensure that turnover has little impact on the alliance relationships, goals, and achievements?
- How can planning and communication successfully manage the end of the alliance lifecycle while preserving value and relationship?
18:15 Welcome Reception with Networking
19:15 Close of Day
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Friday 17 NOVEMBER
08:00 Morning Coffee
08:25 Chairperson’s Remarks
Mark Coflin, Head, Alliance Management, Corporate Planning & Program Management, Shire
08:30 Working Together for Better Health
Stefan Walke, Ph.D., Head, Contracts and Alliance Management (CAM), Europe, Boehringer Ingelheim
Boehringer Ingelheim seeks to establish mutually beneficial collaborations with academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners in areas of strategic interest. We see these partnerships as being critical to the success of our drug discovery efforts and our pursuit of better therapeutics for the patients we serve. This presentation will give an overview of Boehringer Ingelheim, our partnering philosophy and strategic interests, in addition to detailing our approach to Alliance Management and how we seek to drive collaborations to have mutually beneficial outcomes.
09:00 Shaping a New Company Capability in Alliance Leadership
Mark Coflin, Head, Alliance Management, Corporate Planning & Program Management, Shire
Shaping a new company with an innovative approach to Alliance Management leadership is an exciting opportunity! Shire is the leading biotech focused on rare disease targeting highly specialized conditions. This presentation will discuss key learnings on designing and building the organizational Alliance Management capability, championing change and overcoming obstacles in the journey. This presentation will share the vision of success, the roadmap, and practical tips for everyone.
09:30 Ask the Expert: Bring Your One Minute Question, Get a One Minute Answer
Anthony Hörning, Senior Advisor, Vantage Partners
10:00 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: The Pfizer Model of Alliance Management
Dana Hughes, Vice President & Global Head, Integration and Alliance Management, Worldwide Business Development Group, Pfizer
At Pfizer, we strongly differentiate between the alliance function, a very small core of professionals at the center, and alliance capability, which we aim to strengthen at multiple levels throughout the company. Our priority is to build on the existing alliance capability within our businesses, while maintaining a highly leveraged corporate alliance team to ensure success of our most important deals. Pfizer BD sees this balance as critical to the success of our deals, a match to expectations in our potential partner set and an appropriate match to Pfizer’s strengths. Recognizing that many peers see significant value in a more functional approach to alliance support, with larger central corporate alliance teams, we intend to display our model – as well as discuss its advantages and disadvantages. All participants should see how they can plug easily into Pfizer’s partnering capability.
10:30 Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall
11:15 Case Study and Co-Presentation: Collaborations in the BioPharmaceutical Industry – How We Made Ours Successful
Christopher Salvatore, Director, Strategic Alliances, Global Project & Alliance Management, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.
Karen Cromie, Program Director and Alliance Manager, Ablynx
Successful collaborations require a singular focus on the objectives, proactive management and full commitment from both Parties. If either Party is not fully committed the collaboration is destined to fail. Our presentation will spotlight how we have created and rapidly grown successful, highly collaborative alliances primarily focused on immuno-oncology targets, across two very different companies, Ablynx and MSD, resulting in the development of promising and novel therapeutics.
12:00 Case Study and Co-Presentation: Applying Game Theory to Best Practices in Alliance Management – First and Second Mover Advantages
Harm-Jan Borgeld, Head, Alliance Management, Merck KGaA
Stefanie Schubert, Ph.D., Professor, Economics, SRH University Heidelberg
Successful alliances are characterized by excellent decision making. This co-presentation will take you through the Game Theory journey and apply this to the tactics and timing of decision making. Should you always take the lead, or wait and react? First and second mover strategies will be discussed, and applied to real-life case studies. The presentation will address the following:
- What is the best timing to make a decision? Decide first and take the lead, or wait for the partner’s decision?
- Case study: The advantage of waiting for the partner’s decision.
- Does full transparency between the partners lead to better decisions?
- How to become a better alliance manager: Apply Game Theory to improve your timing of decision making.
12:45 Luncheon Presentation (Sponsorship Opportunity Available) or Enjoy Lunch on Your Own
13:15 Session Break
14:15 Chairperson’s Remarks
Yann Barrault, Business Development and Licensing Manager, Institut Curie
14:20 Is a “True” Partnership Really Possible between Academia and Industry?
Yann Barrault, Business Development and Licensing Manager, Institut Curie
Academia doesn’t really care about money and wants to publish as soon as possible. Industry is profit-driven and wants to keep things confidential as long as possible to gain/retain a competitive edge. Perfect fit, or recipe for a nightmare?
14:50 Converging Technologies in Alliances as Key Competitive Advantage in Innovative Industries
Yuri Khakhanov, Head of Projects, Energy Efficiency Cluster, Skolkovo Innovation Center
In many cases, innovative companies use different open innovation models to develop complex solutions they cannot do alone. Management of such collaboration faces many new challenges alliance managers need to deal with and find new approaches to partner with big and small business, academia, government institutions and other stakeholders. The presentation will highlight the author’s experience in forming collaborative innovative ecosystems from scratch and developing market-ready solutions, products and services in alliances of high-tech companies.
15:20 Alliance Management at Grifols
GK Kannan, Vice President, Business Development, Grifols
15:50 Close of Conference
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