BioNJ BioPartnering Conference returns in-person and bigger than ever

“Today is about growing the ecosystem and partnering to bolster medical innovation,” President and CEO Debbie Hart told a packed room last week at The Palace at Somerset Park during BioNJ’s 13th Annual BioPartnering Conference, which was back in person for the first time in three years.

The annual event, co-sponsored by J.P. Morgan, Johnson & Johnson and Morgan Lewis, brings together life science executives, investors, academic collaborators and business development professionals for networking, one-on-one partnering – in-person on the day of the conference and virtually throughout the rest of the week – startup pitches, exhibits, plenary sessions and more.

Those plenary sessions include discussion topics such as: stats and trends; raising capital; navigating the journey from startup to commercialization; building a workforce for biopharma manufacturing; the path to successful value creation and partnering with higher education institutions and academic medical centers; and raising capital via government-supported programs.

The conference, which included a record number of pitches from innovative companies across the life science, biotech, health care and digital health sectors, followed a schedule that organizers designed to foster productive partnerships and create meaningful opportunities, while striving toward that goal Hart that outlined at the open of growing the ecosystem and bolstering medical innovation.

While BioNJ did not immediately release official figures, in advance of the event Hart said the agenda and participation had it on track to be bigger than ever, eclipsing last year’s iteration, which drew more than 500 attendees from 18 states as well as the District of Columbia, 11 countries, and more than 100 investors looking for opportunities.

“There’s so much happening, so many different things happening in so many different places,” said Hart. “When science is supported, companies are created, drugs are developed, and patients are paramount,” she added. “Because as we say at BioNJ, ‘Patients can’t wait.’ And by your participation in today’s program, you’re helping to build a robust ecosystem that’s providing hope for patients around the world.”

Samuele Butera, president, U.S. Pulmonary Hypertension and Retina at Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos., opened his remarks with a question he said he always asks his team when they start a new endeavor. “And that question is, how can we save more lives together?” Butera asked. “And the together is the part that I really want to emphasize here. Every major breakthrough happens because of many, many people. It’s the innovators in the room. It’s the funders in the room. It’s the capital. It’s the ecosystem that we all represent here that makes innovation possible and makes us a crucial part in saving lives.”

Steve Cohen, a partner at Morgan Lewis and chair of the firm’s Emerging Business & Technology Practice, encouraged the attendees to collaborate. “With our investment banker friends, our accounting friends, our big pharma friends, so that we can get some things done,” said Cohen, noting that no one can develop a drug alone. “The smartest person in the entire world cannot develop a drug on their own. It takes biology. It takes chemistry. It takes legal. It takes regulatory. It takes the financial acumen to raise the money.”

Kristine O’Keefe, executive director at J.P Morgan Private Bank, said she and her colleagues were glad to be part of the event and support an industry that is driving innovation to develop therapies and treatments to improve quality of life and treat a variety of diseases. “Although we have much work to do, I’m excited to hear about the exciting innovations and research that should energize all of us,” O’Keefe said. “Conferences like this are crucial because it’s so important to come together and share ideas and best practices so we can all learn from each other.”

Phil Ross, global chair of investment banking at J.P. Morgan, presented an overview of the biotech industry. He opened his remarks by noting the myriad economic headwinds and uncertainty in the post-pandemic world. “What I can tell you is everything’s going to be just fine,” said Ross. “It’s way better than where we were in 2008. There’s 10 to 20 times more assets under management focused on this sector than there were then.”

Ross described a number of the challenges that remain after a turbulent 2022, with the first half of the year affected by COVID-19 variants, global inflation that led to increased interest rates, and macro uncertainty that has driven volatility. That led to a subdued IPO market and M&A activity. But he said the fundamentals so far this year continue to be strong with the innovation engine churning out transformative products addressing unmet needs in both large and small markets. Ross’s team concluded that broad sector stability and recovery coupled with macroeconomic policy may re-stimulate growth, but says the timing is a moving target. He also cited recent positive clinical updates and increasing M&A activity that will go toward uplifting the biotech sector in 2023.

“I feel really confident that we are almost at the back end of this,” said Ross, adding that he believes the next 10 years are going to be a phenomenal time for industry growth.

Meeting up

The networking opportunities, startup pitches and partnering sessions were at the heart of the event, allowing the opportunity for that ecosystem the organizers spoke of to play out in real-time. As Hart noted, there was a sea of activity throughout the venue.

“We want to look for partnerships. So, this is a perfect venue for us to reach out and try to talk to different people,” said Shao Fu, vice president of operations at Novelstar. The Cranbury-based company is focused on advanced pharmaceutical drug delivery systems and new medicines, high-quality generic products, and providing service to the pharmaceutical industry.

Fu said that it was his first time at the event, that he had some meetings set up and was looking forward to making connections with potential partners or collaborators. “It’s important to bring people together face-to-face to interact,” said Fu. “It’s very good to see people again, and to interact.”

NJBIZ also caught up with Daniel Weinstein, CEO and co-founder of Lura Health, which is developing the first wearable sensor for saliva diagnostics. Weinstein’s company is based out of HAX in Newark after being launched in Boston, then heading to the HAX program in Shenzhen, China, before the pandemic hit in 2019. Later, he and co-founder Noah Hill went back to Boston for a time before making the move to Newark a few months ago. He previously told NJBIZ that he has felt supported by New Jersey’s life sciences and innovation ecosystems, feeling like the state wanted people to succeed here.

It was also Weinstein’s first time at the event, and he was looking forward to meetings with Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and more. “Everybody’s here. Everybody’s approachable. Everybody’s trying to connect and promote the ecosystem,” Weinstein explained. “And it’s unreal that we get to talk to six multibillion-dollar market leaders in a day.”

He said his goal at the event was to form partnerships, with a particular focus on identifying pharmaceutical companies to move into companion diagnostics for drug monitoring. His plan was to mix scheduled meetings with some natural networking.

“Med tech is very hard to navigate. There’s a lot of big players. The supply chains are extremely complicated. The value chains are complicated,” Weinstein said. “And it really takes these face-to-face interactions to carve out different models, test different use cases, develop traction and connections that can help fuel growth into massive industries. I think without these types of events, it becomes a lot more fragmented, becomes less approachable. And I think this just serves as an accelerator environment for establishing all these connections.”

During the event, BioNJ also released a new report, “Health Equity in Clinical Trials MBA Business Case Competition: Identifying Innovative Approaches to Strengthening Diversity Within Clinical Trials,” which provides an overview of BioNJ’s Inaugural health equity contest. That competition took place in December 2022 at Rutgers Business School. The report features highlights from all the submitted business plans, summaries of proposals that received top awards and learnings from the inaugural competition.

At the conference, the three winning teams, which won cash prizes totaling $20,500, presented their business plans to potential partners, collaborators and investors.

Those three winning teams were:

• Johns Hopkins University: Increasing Representation in Clinical Trials for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease, focused on people aged 65-plus with an emphasis on communities of color.
• Rutgers University: Measure What You Expect, focused on African American males with prostate cancer.
• Baylor College of Medicine, Northwestern University, and Rice University: Be Represented: A novel platform for engaging the Hispanic/Latinx community in cervical cancer trials.

The winning teams were chosen based on written proposals and in-person pitches evaluated by a panel of expert judges. BioNJ launched the Initiative to identify long-term interventions, support companies to improve equity in their clinical trials, consider best practices and affect policy. That initiative led to the launch of this first-of-its-kind competition.

“Created to grow the ecosystem and bolster medical innovation, the Conference is the perfect opportunity for our students to meet mentors, uncover possible career opportunities and move their proposed solutions forward by identifying potential partners,” Hart said. “Although ultimately three winning teams were presented with cash prizes, each of our participating teams has the potential to make a difference for patients by offering new models and technologies to better serve patients, build community trust and address gaps in healthcare delivery. We are excited to present all of the team proposals in our report.”