EBD Group today unveiled additional panels and workshops that will be featured at theannual BIO-Europe Spring^® partnering event, March 8–10, at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), Spain. To learn more about any of the sessions below, please visit the BIO-Europe Spring^® 2010 Program page (http://www.ebdgroup.com/bes/program.htm).

The Management of Assets: How to Position a Project to Attract a Deal

Moderator Diane Romza-Kutz of Troutman Sanders will lead a panel featuring Gordon McCauley, Allon Therapeutics; Graeme Martin, Takeda Research Investment and Michael Yeomans, Bayer Schering Pharma in an examination of how to position an asset to attract an ideal partner. In today's challenging financial and business environment, positioning an asset is equally as important as positioning a company. This workshop will discuss how to develop a plan to correctly position assets for a deal, and how such a plan can lead to a successful partnership.

Filing for Global Protection of Your Intellectual Property: What You Need to Know

Proactive management of intellectual property assets has become of utmost importance for the industry. Recent technological advances in biotechnology, new legislative frameworks, increasingly competitive markets, evolving business models, all strongly impact on the global patent landscape. Moderator Cyra Nargolwalla, Cabinet Plasseraud, European Patent Attorneys along with Fredrik Aslund, European Patent Office; Lila Feisee, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO); Ira Finkelstein, Baxter International Inc; Kevin Noonan, Outside Patent Counsel for Genmedica Therapeutics and Tim Shea, Patent Council for Ysios Capital Partners will unveil the latest patent law developments in Europe and the USA, and critically address the next expected changes in patent law.

The Virtues of Being Virtual

Given the uncertain outcomes in drug development, big pharma, investors, and biotech CEOs alike are looking for ways to maximize the probability of success and return on investment. Tony Fox, EBD Consulting, moderates a panel that includes Grahaem Brown, Competitive Development International; Toni Schuh, Sorrento Therapeutics and Michael Tansey, Competitive Drug Development International in a discussion of how the virtual approach may improve capital efficiency and increasing flexibility.

How to Take Advantage of Non-dilutive Capital

There is more than one way to fund new companies and CEOs and entrepreneurs must consider a variety of different sources of capital to fund discovery and early development. Moderator John M. Clerici, Tiber Creek Partners, and Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge will be joined by Kenneth A. Bertram, MD, PhD, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; Larry Glass, Neuren Pharmaceuticals; Gerald Kovacs, PhD, US Dept. of Health and Human Services and John Trizzino of Novavax to examine how biotechnology companies can best identify, approach, and capture non-dilutive capital from the USA and other governments, as well as from non-governmental organizations as part of their commercialization objectives.

Biotechnology in Catalonia: A Leading Hub in Spain

The BioRegion of Catalonia is the fastest growing biocluster in Spain, and one of the more successful bioclusters in Spain. The international sector views Barcelona as one of the key cities in the European biotech industry in the near term. A panel featuring Rafael Camacho, Genoma España; Jordi Martí-Pifigueras, Amgen SA; Antonio Parente, Catalonia BIO and Montserrat Vendrell, Biocat will provide insights on the organizations and the initiatives driving this growth, and how to meet the challenges to growth common to all developing European biotech regions.

Why China Should be Factored into a Company’s Development and Commercialization Strategy

With the globalization of the life science industry over the past decade, China has emerged as one of the key markets for the next decade. A panel of China experts featuring Ian Wisenberg, ChinaBio LLC; Michael Heerde, Bayer Healthcare Company, China; Yuwen Lui, bioBAY and Richard Soll, WuXi AppTec, Inc will discuss their personal and company perspectives, on how and why China has evolved so rapidly and what other transformations they see over the next three to five years. This will include information about how they got started in China, regulatory challenges or hurdles they faced, funding opportunities and commercialization strategies.

Cost-effectiveness and Reimbursement: Why Development Stage Companies Should Care

In the past, management teams of development stage companies have often neglected issues around reimbursement and cost-effectiveness. With rising healthcare costs, the debate around reform in the USA, and an active NICE in Europe, this mentality is starting to change. When going through the due diligence process with a biotech company, big pharma and investors now take a very close look at the potential commercial opportunities and reimbursement issues a product may face. Ted Buckley, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO); Meindert Boysen, NICE and Adrian Griffin, Johnson & Johnson will look at how the NICE works, how it makes its decisions and the implications of this type of system in the UK, Europe, and potentially the USA.

New Models for R&D; Collaborations

With pharma increasingly looking outside for strategic R&D; capabilities, companies with valuable discovery technologies or cost-effective integrated preclinical services are now in a good position to find R&D; partners. Moderator Mike Ward, BioCentury Publications will be joined by Pamela Demain, Merck & Co., Inc.; Harren Jhoti, Astex Therapeutics Ltd and Manni Kantipudi, GVK Biosciences to examine what types of collaborative deal structures actually work, how IP issues are addressed, and how the parties remain interested and equally incentivized to see them through to a successful result.

Notes to Editors:

Entry to BIO-Europe Spring 2010 is free to members of the press, including full access to the partnering system, sessions, press conferences, workshops, and pre-arranged partnering meetings. Visit the BIO-Europe Spring conference website at http://www.ebdgroup.com/bes/press_reg.htm for registration details.

About EBD Group

EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Since 1993, biotech, pharma and medical device companies have leveraged EBD Group’s partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships essential to their success.

EBD Group’s conferences are run with the support of leading corporations and international trade associations, and include:

• BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring^®, Europe’s largest life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
• BioPharm America™, the fastest growing partnering event in North America
• EuroMedtech™, EBD Group’s partnering event for the innovative medical technology industry
• BioEquity Europe, the investor conference co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO
• ChinaBio^® Partnering Forum, the first dedicated biotech/pharma partnering conference in China, co-produced with ChinaBio^® LLC
• Biotech Showcase™, a unique forum in San Francisco for presenting to investors and business development executives, co-produced with Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors

EBD Group’s sophisticated web-based partnering service, partneringONE^®, is used as the partnering engine at numerous third-party events around the world.

Outside of the conference format, EBD Group’s consultants provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies.

EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.

For more information visit www.ebdgroup.com