2024 BIO International Convention

Cooley is proud to again chair the digital health track at the annual BIO International Convention, which features 100+ interactive sessions covering a broad range of therapeutic areas, including business development, digital health, patient advocacy, public policy and next-generation biotherapeutics. This comprehensive, four-day event represents the full ecosystem of biotech and draws more than 20,000 life sciences industry leaders from across the globe. 

Featured agenda items

Friday, May 31, 2024 – Sunday, June 2, 2024 | 8:30 am – 5:00 pm PDT

Advanced Business Development

Held just before the convention, this multiday course focused on all key aspects of transactions in the biopharma industry, and it is ideal professionals at any stage, from people in the early years of their career looking to advance their skills to seasoned dealmakers or executives wanting to hone their skills and network with other dealmakers.

Advanced Business Development featured lectures from experienced dealmakers, as well as reviews of example models, dissections of actual deals, interactions with other participants, and a live Q&A. The course also included a mock negotiation scenario, where each participant is either on a deal team assigned to negotiate a transaction involving a drug in development or a team using an actual valuation and deal structuring model.

Instructors

• Joseph S. Dillon – President and CEO at SynerPhysics and president at Dillon Capital Strategies
• Patrick Duxbury – Partner and head of life sciences at Gowling WLG (UK)
• Charity R. Williams – Partner at Cooley
• Lesley Stolz – Regional vice president of early innovation partnering at Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Monday, June 3, 2024 | 4:00 – 5:45 pm PDT

Investors’ Perspectives – Digital Health Trends and Investment Thesis in 2024 and Beyond

This panel of digital health investor icons shared their perspectives on top areas for digital health investment. While deal count and dollars now mirror 2019, areas such as techbio and artificial intelligence are poised to change the healthcare landscape – and health innovators are realigning to create shared incentives between providers, payers and pharma. Participants learned what factors are driving early- and late-stage investment decisions, as well as how best to position a company for success given the current market dynamics.

Panelists

• Sourav Kole – Managing director at Dolby Family Ventures
• Mara Aspinall – Partner at Illumina Ventures
• Matt Blum – Principal at Cigna Ventures
• Josh Seidenfeld (moderator) – Partner at Cooley

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PDT

Biotech Partnering in Stormy Seas: Key Insights on Charting a Course to Successful Deal-Making Through a Choppy Market

Successful life sciences dealmaking requires the ability to navigate the here and now, while also trying to see around corners and predict the future – and depressed and unpredictable market conditions make this even more challenging. This course drew from the panelists’ decades of experience, including roles as C-suite executives, investors, legal counsel, and board members, in a diverse range of life sciences and biotech companies and investment funds. They shared insights, strategies and real-world experiences in crafting successful deals in various market conditions, and how they think about structuring and negotiating deals that best enable acceleration when market conditions improve.

Panelists

• Barbara Kosacz – Strategic business development adviser at Kronos Bio
• Brian Cuneo – Senior partner at ARCH Venture Partners
• Joseph Baroldi – Executive vice president and chief business officer at Ionis Pharmaceuticals
• Stacy Feld – Regional head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, West North America
• Kate Hillier (moderator) – Partner at Cooley

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | 4:15 – 5:15 pm PDT

IPOs Are Starting to Come Back: Are You Ready?

Many of the macroeconomic challenges that halted biotech initial public offering activity in 2022 and 2023 have begun to subside, and the capital markets are expected to continue improving. While biotech IPOs might take a little while to get back to prepandemic levels, there’s reason to be optimistic – especially with the Federal Reserve poised to lower rates in the second half of 2024. Our panel dove into lessons learned from past IPOs, and how early-stage biotechs can avoid common pitfalls.

Panelists

• Steven Spector– Executive vice president, head of business development and general counsel at Longboard Pharmaceuticals
• Brad Wolff – Senior managing director of strategic advisory at Evercore
• Arvind Kush – Chief financial officer at RayzeBio
• Kristin VanderPas – Partner at Cooley
• Rich Ramko (moderator) – US-West life sciences sector and US biotechnology practice leader at EY

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 | 4:15 – 5:15 pm PDT

Overcoming Systemic Data Bias via AI and Digital Health Tools: Perspectives From Providers, Pharma and Innovators

Systemic data barriers have contributed to inequities across the healthcare spectrum. Unbiased data and AI solutions are helping to achieve early interventions designed around social determinants of health, leading to better access and better outcomes, and lowering the overall cost of care. Digital therapeutics and AI tools are making these innovations possible – and pharma, providers and innovators are working together to leverage diverse datasets to enable interventions and comprehensive care. In this session, senior executives from top hospital systems, big pharma, and digital health innovators explored how data-driven solutions are closing gaps in care delivery and diagnosis.

Panelists

• Erin Parks – Chief clinical officer at Equip Health
• Christina Hochul – Senior director/Head of strategic alliance development at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease
• Alexis Bortniker (moderator) – Partner at Cooley

For more information, please email Danielle Piro.