Bio 2008, part 2

June 19, 2008 – 2:54 am

Day 2 at Bio 2008 has been somewhat less exhausting that Day 1 was. At the end of Day 1, I attended the opening reception in the exhibit hall, munched a few hors d’ouevres, but mostly tried to stay awake. The atmosphere was akin to a carnival sideshow, but instead of sleazy barkers trying to lure you into seeing the Bearded Lady or the Tattooed Man or the Fiji Mermaid, there were lots of enthusiastic, smiling company representatives who wanted to give passers-by corporate literature and swag. There were variations on the usual tinned mints and stress balls. At the Thailand Pavilion, I was asked if I wanted a bag of information; expecting a plastic bag with brochures, I was surprised when a pretty little patchwork bag of batiked indigo cotton was introduced. Tianjin zone representatives at the China Pavilion were giving away screen-printed canvas bags with a fetching picture of the Lucky Boy. Some of the companies, and the international pavilions in particular, held performances. At the Korean Pavilion, I saw two beautifully costumed dancers playing the small hand drum, or sogo, as they danced The Thai pavilion had two women artists who sat and carved beautiful floral fantasies in fruits and vegetables, much like the ones depicted in the photo above from Creative Carving. In the case of Novo Nordisk, swag and performance were combined into one as street-style drummers playing industrial plastic buckets exhorted onlookers to clack rhythms with the Novo Nordisk-logoed drumsticks pressed into their hands.

By 6 p.m., I had enough and was quite ready to finally check into my hotel.

My second day here in San Diego has been slightly less hectic. I started out with an interesting sitdown with Dr. Joseph Miletich, senior VP of research and development at Amgen. Dr Miletich focused on the innovative medicines in Amgen’s pipeline, particularly denosumab, AMG 479, AMG 102, AMG 386, AMG 655, and AMG 951, also known as rhApo2L-TRAIL. He’s very excited about these medicines and others in Amgen’s pipeline, and believes in the company’s long-term future, despite the negative attention Amgen has received recently about the side effects of its two leading marketed drugs, Epogen and Aranesp. “We’re feeling really good about all the things we’re bringing forward,” he said.

Later meetings occurred with Dr. Stephanie B. Wells, senior VP and chief marketing officer of the CRO Charles River Laboratories, who talked about the company’s capabilities in early-phase studies; and Dr. Jens Oliver Funk, senior VP and global head of TA oncology at Merck Serono (at right, he is seen giving a talk at a conference in Germany) who addressed how the pharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA is developing its oncology pipeline beyond Erbitux into areas such as cancer vaccines. All of these interviews focused on what companies were doing to achieve innovation.

I made it to the media session where former FDA Deputy Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb and former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, Dr. Joshua Berger, CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and William B. Schultz, former deputy assistant attorney general, answered some questions about what they think needs to happen at FDA to have real reform. The short answer: a strong FDA commissioner who will in turn strengthen the organization. The panel members do not want to see a series of interim commissioners and would like to see a strong commissioner appointed from the very beginning of the next administration. “We are absolutely looking forward to the change in adminstrations,” Dr. Berger said. “Who wins is not as important as having an administration who is ready to hit the ground running.”

The keynote speaker luncheon featured Dr. J. Craig Venter, who mainly talked about the JCVI’s success in chemically synthesizing an organism’s genome as well as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (whose speech you can see here). Again, innovation was the main theme of these talks. After the luncheon, the governor went down to the California Pavilion to shake hands and talk more about California biotech. I went and wandered the convention floor again, passing out my business card to anyone who seemed interested.

I ended the day at a media reception hosted by Amgen at The Children’s Museum, where Dr. Miletich and Dr. David Lacey, senior VP, head of research, explained how Amgen strives for innovation and talked more about the drugs in the pipeline. They were joined by Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards and an advocate for healthcare reform. Mrs. Edwards (at left show during a campaign speech last year in New Hampshire) expressed her appreciation of how Amgen pursues innovation in medicines, and deplored the fast-food mentality of our world in which companies are pressured to perform for short-term gain. “We don’t even want to pull up a few feet at a drive-through for hot french fries,” she said. She spoke frankly of her cancer and her hope that she will be able to benefit from some of the medicines Amgen is developing (perhaps denosumab may be of help to her; the drug is being studied in patients whose cancers have metastasized to the bone, like her breast cancer has). When the question was raised that innovation is expensive, she strongly disagreed. “Innovation has the capacity to reduce costs,” she said. “The long-term view is a lot rosier than that. My mother has osteoporosis. The cost of the pill she takes is a lot less expensive in the long run than the cost of care.”

The hour is late and I need to soak my feet from all of the walking I’ve done. And maybe tomorrow, I can catch up with some of the blogs before I fly out of San Diego tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers that at least this time, I don’t get stuck in another airport.