BIO-Europe Spring 2020-14th Annual Partnering Conference

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a lockdown on worldwide travel, the 14th Annual BIO-Europe Spring Partnering meeting was restaged in just 16 days from an in-person meeting in Paris, France, to the largest virtual partnering event in life sciences. In her welcome remarks, Anna Chrisman, EBD Group Managing Director, reported that more than 6,000 partnering and investment meetings between delegates had been scheduled to date. The virtual meeting also comprised 45 recorded company presentations, 50 virtual exhibits and 12 panel discussions, including 1 live session by industry leaders on how the industry was combating coronavirus. Other sessions at the week-long virtual meeting included panel discussions covering business development negotiation, investing in digital health innovations in the next decade, cardiometabolic disease, a focus on start-ups, and a closing panel on China's road to recovery after COVID-19 where industry leaders there shared their insights from the early outbreak and how they were emerging from it. This report covers highlights from the meeting.