East-West Biopharma Summit Road Trip:

New York Review and Summary

On Oct 19th, the East-West Biopharma Summit Road Trip kicked off at the first station, New York. This event was co-hosted by Jones Day, BioCentury, BayHelix, BioAroundWorld, And MSQ Ventures. People from biotech and pharmaceutical companies attended this face-to-face meeting, sharing their experiences and insights. The attendees discussed biotech companies’ opportunities in this hard pandemic time and how cross-border collaboration advances global drug development. The whole Road Trip will be conducted in four cities. New York is the first station. Events in Boston, San Diego, and Silicon Valley are coming soon.

East-West Biopharma Summit Road Trip aims to provide a communication platform for people in the biopharmaceutical industry, from both east and west, to share experiences and knowledge. Due to the pandemic, many of our previous events were held online. Therefore, this ongoing face-to-face communication is very exciting.  Communication among biopharmaceutical researchers, investment firms, and pharmaceutical companies from both eastern and western countries is necessary. It facilitates global biopharma development and solves health issues for people from different groups.

The New York event started with the opening speeches given by Tony Chen, partner of Jones Day, Josh Berlin, head of business development of BioCentury, and Echo Hindle-Yang, founder and CEO of MSQ Ventures. They underlined the importance of establishing and maintaining the relationships between east and west in the field of biopharma innovation and development, as well as increasing the communications among different subjects to share experience and knowledge.

Biotech Company's Opportunity during this Winter

The first panel was moderated by Josh Berlin, Head of Business Development of BioCentury. The discussion focused on biotech companies’ opportunities during this hard time. Y.Katherine Xu, Partner of Decheng Capital, Nikolaos George, Partner of Jones Day, Alvin Luk, Global Drug Development Advisor of Biotech, and Echo Hindle-Yang, Founder and CEO of MSQ Ventures attended the panel discussion. These business executives and industry specialists shared their experiences. Facing the winter period, Katherine highlighted the trend of innovative collaborations among the bio companies. The collaborations make the use of resources more efficient and prompt innovations. The speakers in this panel emphasized the importance of cross-border cooperation between bio companies from the east and the west. The industry brings us together. We are also connecting the industry tightly.

Josh Berlin, Head of Business Development at BioCentury, emphasized the necessity of cooperation between large and small-scale biotech firms, especially in the present bearish economy. Before the negative market trend started, many bio-pharmaceutical companies believed they could run their businesses independently, which is in contrast to how the biotechnology industry developed. Usually, smaller companies share risk with larger firms by teaming with them and getting up-front cash, development knowledge, and resources. "Presently, we see and expect a return of biotech companies to their origins in this negative market," he said. Furthermore, Josh commented that the negative market trend will not last forever. Biopharmaceutical companies should prepare to take advantage of the prospective upturn in the market.

Echo Hindle-Yang, CEO and Founder of MSQ Ventures, alluded that biotech companies have started collaborating more than they did in the past. "I believe we have been busier than ever this year.  Many biotechnology companies are having trouble raising capital." "So they have attempted to collaborate. More and more companies are working innovatively now," she said. Echo said she believes that opportunities abound for biotech companies, especially if these companies' CEOs and management teams think out of the box and leverage cross-border collaboration.

Katherine Xu, Partner at Decheng Capital (a premier investment business providing capital and strategic assistance to early-stage life science startups with innovative technology) said her company is searching for companies with genuine science and worldwide rights. "Currently, we invested in a company based in China that is trying to raise money in the United States. They are seeking expedited permission in the United States and China simultaneously. Also, for other types of businesses, for instance, cell therapy companies, we attempt to invest in technology that we consider the finest and most advanced", she said. Furthermore, she emphasized the readiness of her company to work side by side with other biotechs, especially those they were already in partnership with. "We work closely with our portfolio companies and provide gross capital." "Consequently, for virtually all of our portfolio companies, we lead the investments, serve on the board, and have a significant impact on the company's strategies and funding," she said.

Alvin Luk, Advisor at Biotech,  opined that the East and the West can collaborate in more ways to enhance the effectiveness of drug development and harness their experience.

Innovation in Biotech

The panelists also discussed the paradigm-shifting innovations by biotechnology companies. Josh described the present era as exciting. He remarked that biotech companies have become more innovative. "If you had told me 10 years ago about some of the things we're tracking at BioCentury, such as gene editing or gene therapies, I would have been skeptical", he said.

Nikolaos George,Partner at Jones Day, also stated that he was impressed by the innovations. "I am fortunate enough to specialize in patent prosecution. As a result, I am exposed to a great deal of fresh material in its infancy. But I suppose what excites me the most are the innovations I continue to observe", he said.

Concerning creativity, Nick believes that the biotech industry is now sophisticated and nimble enough. Technologies are no longer siloed, generating many new opportunities. Furthermore, he described gene therapy as a prime example of a higher degree of creativity among biotech companies. "We found this rudimentary double-stranded break in eukaryotic cells less than a decade ago. And today, less than a decade later, we can knock in genes, knock out genes, do DNA base editing, RNA base editing, Gene writing, Gene rewriting, and prime editing", he said.

Concerning the operation of biotech enterprises, Nick said he was delighted that many companies are more realistic. "In the past, I have witnessed many organizations get stuck in the R&D phase and fail to move from an academic to a translational perspective. We've seen enough failures. Even platform firms are identifying prospects and advancing pretty early, " he said.

Finally, Katherine expressed concerns that some companies had insufficient cash to run their business, which might lead to the collapse and merging of some biotech companies. She suggested that biotech companies create an excellent profile to attract investments, which will keep them buoyant in the adverse market.

East - West - East: How Cross-border Collaborations Advance Global Drug Development  

The second panel was moderated by Tony Chen, Partner of Jones Day. In this panel, Debra Yu, President and Chief Strategy Office of LianBio, Oliver Kong, Chief Medical Officer of IASO Bio Therapeutics, Warren Nachlis, Partner of Jones Day, and Laura Hong, the CSO of IView Therapeutics explored how cross-border collaborations advance global drug development.

During this panel, the speakers shared their experiences and insights in building up networks with other companies. The panelist agreed that collaborations between companies from the west and east accelerate the progress of drug development and help spread the most advanced technology around the world, improving equity in global health.

Debra Yu, the President and Chief Strategy Officer of LianBio, described her company as a next-generation licensing company. The programs and products are developed to meet the needs of a global market. She stated that her company was founded by Perceptive Advisors and other leading investors, which gave her company a head start in the market. She noted that it is crucial for biopharmaceutical enterprises to raise significant capital if they want to compete in a challenging market. Also, Debra said that getting such capital would require attracting investors who are willing to work with the companies through thick and thin.

After that, Laura Hong, Chief Strategy Officer of IView Therapeutics, spoke about her company. The company's focus is the development of drugs for ocular diseases, including a gene therapy program for ocular cancers. She believes that gene therapy will provide a cure for common eye diseases. She advocated that biopharmaceutical companies remain focused this winter and continue building up their pipeline and developing relevant products. She was optimistic that these products would come good and benefit patients worldwide soon.  

Subsequently, Oliver Kong, Chief Medical Officer for IASO BioTherapeutics, commented that Chinese biopharmaceutical companies often do not have clear clinical development and commercial strategies. This is one of the major reasons pharmaceutical products fail in the market. "After spending significant time on the science, bio-pharma enterprises quickly turn to the financial term sheet while ignoring the clinical development strategy and marketing strategy. Therefore, the companies fail to build a plan and cannot commercialize their products," he said. The result is a failure in the market. "Chinese biopharmaceuticals, in my opinion, definitely need to have a development and marketing plan in place. In contrast, pharmaceutical companies in western countries usually have a development strategy set out. They have a system that prioritizes information about the drugs they hope to produce and how to market them. Chinese biopharmaceutical companies typically concentrate on getting down payments for the development of products," he said. He suggested that Chinese biopharmaceutical companies establish clinical development and marketing plan in advance, especially if the company wants to compete beyond the Chinese market.

Afterward, Warren Nachlis emphasized the need for pharmaceutical companies to have integrated legal counsel. He said it is crucial that the patent and transactional counsel understand and work synergistically with the corporate. He then stated that very few firms offer the kind of integrated services that they do at Jones Day and that prospective clients can be assured of an integrated and wholesome legal service at Jones Day. Afterward, Warren alluded that there are opportunities for prepared biopharmaceutical companies during this hard time. He advised biopharmaceutical companies to plan thoroughly for the next 12 to 18 months to take advantage of the opportunities. 

How to avoid potential deal-killers of cross-border collaborations

During the discussion, Tony Chen suggested that the speakers address how to avoid potential deal killers of collaboration and drug development. Warren believed that a neglected or undetected problem in the IP portfolio is often responsible for failed collaborations. He emphasized that biopharmaceutical companies should invest early in their IP portfolio and thoroughly review their data to prevent failed deals. "Firms should invest in their IP portfolio at an early stage because you don't want to have a product with excellent preclinical results and then have a partner or acquirer look at your IP portfolio and realize they won't get a return on their investment. It's important to start planning ahead and lay a solid foundation," he said. 

Furthermore, Oliver suggested that it is vital that Chinese biopharmaceutical companies understand the regulatory practices and standards of the US companies if they hope to avoid failed partnerships. Additionally, he noted that understanding the characteristics of eastern and western markets will facilitate collaboration among biopharmaceutical companies. 

Finally, Debra Yu suggested that pharmaceutical companies sort out their target product profile (TPP) early during negotiations with their partners to avoid a potential breakdown in agreement. 

After the second panel, the event was concluded by presentations of Radiopharm Theranostics, Innocoll Biotherapeutics, Anavex Life Sciences, IView Therapeutics, HanchorBio Inc, and Panorama Medicine. In conclusion, despite the fact that the biopharmaceutical industry is in the period of winter, we can still be confident that spring is coming after this hard time by strengthening communication within the industry. The drug development process can be accelerated via collaboration between the west and east.

The success of this event is a result of the support of the participating companies. After the first meeting in New York, the following three meetings will take place in a face-to-face manner in Boston, San Diego, and Silicon Valley.  We appreciate the participation and contribution of the attendees. We received highly positive feedback from the audience and will continue to boost cross-border collaboration and communication in the biopharmaceutical industry.