The medical affairs team has an increasingly important role to play in today’s healthcare ecosystem. In the structure and operations of an alliance they should be on equal footing with the development and commercial teams, but too often they are not. This presentation from a senior medical affairs executive well versed in alliances shares his perspective on the importance of providing medical affairs with its own governance process and budget; getting the alignment right between the global and territorial aspects of medical affairs; and leading practices for collaborating on publications processes and other value-creating activities.  

How much attention do you pay to the information your strategic partners present in their financial public disclosures?  Often our primary concern is the disclosure content related to the specific alliance we partner on; however, the value of following closely the full scope of a company’s corporate financial reporting can add significant value to the alliance, your company, and your career. 

How alliances are integrated or ended following an M&A transaction is critically important to realize the value of any deal as well as to manage significant risks for the transaction.  This presentation will provide best practices to implement and pitfalls to avoid in order to ensure Alliance Management is appropriately wired into an integration- or separation-management program.  Special business development and alliances considerations to ensure comprehensive knowledge transfer from the deal team to the integration management team will be discussed as well.

There are many reasons why a company may want to terminate an alliance – the priorities of one or both companies have changed, the underlying theory was flawed, there are fundamental differences about business decisions and operations, or the alliance may not have yielded the value anticipated at deal signing. Whatever the reason, the parties must understand and follow the correct procedures for termination. Importantly, winding down an alliance built on trust and strong relationships will be easier to end versus one where the relationships are strained. This presentation will demonstrate through real world examples how the alliance manager can help steer their organization through this process while minimizing damage to the relationship or their reputation.

Managing academic alliances — what is different and how to deal with them successfully? Academic alliances represent a great opportunity to access ground-breaking innovation. At the same time, differences and numerous potential pitfalls need to be actively addressed to ensure mutual success and a productive relationship. Observations and learnings from several academic alliances ranging from early exploratory research to candidate delivering alliances will be be shared. Focus will be on what to look out for, where AM practices might differ and what options can be applied to ensure different interests of academic partners can be met without putting the biotech/pharma interests at risk.

Business Development and Alliance Management collaboration is critical not only for the success but also for the expansion of our partnerships.  Early involvement of Alliance Management on Business Development deal teams is essential to incorporate input prior to finalizing the contract. Also very often new opportunities can develop from an existing collaboration and often these new deals are led by Alliance Management, leveraging experience from Business Development.

There are various structures to alliances and partnerships, with one key constant: The need for a well-established and defined governance to provide the environment needed to make and implement critical decisions important to enable success. Governance is not a difficult concept. Given there is no one-size fits all model, identifying specific needs of the partnership can pose challenges. This session will explore different approaches and offer tips for effective governance.

The role played by alliance management professionals often varies across the industry.  While alliance management in any form is a value generating capability for biopharma companies, there are value amplifying opportunities that are often left on the table.  Understanding these opportunities, and implementing a game plan to unlock them, can move you from a valuable team member to a trusted partner and strategic influencer.

Alliances focused on leveraging drug discovery technology to generate potential drug candidates represent a key sector of partnerships in the life sciences. These alliances are unique in their intensity of scientific integration and require a high degree of trust, flexibility, and transparency to achieve optimal outcomes. This presentation will delve into the characteristics of these alliances, their opportunities and challenges, and will discuss best practices to achieve collaboration success.

Novel partnerships between advocacy organizations and drug developers are emerging as a driving force behind new therapeutic advancements and innovation. Partnerships between advocacy and industry play a unique role in assuring new medications in development are positioned to best meet the needs of patients and open up a new category of opportunities for alliance managers.