Panels

10:30
Technology Panels

Genomics at a Crossroad–Has the Bubble Burst or Have the Payoffs Only Just Begun?

Genomics experts from academia, industry, and venture capital discuss whether the genomics revolution has failed to deliver on its early medical and financial promise or if the benefits from this technology are on the horizon.

Dr. Kamb received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1982 and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1988. His postdoctoral work in protein crystallography was carried out at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1992 Dr. Kamb joined Myriad Genetics, Inc., a fledgling genomics company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Until 1996 he served as Myriad's Director of Research and directed groups that identified genes responsible for familial melanoma and breast cancer. In 1996 Dr. Kamb founded Arcaris, Inc., also in Salt Lake City. In June, 2003 he moved to the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., where he serves as Global Head of Oncology.

Todd Foley is a Principal with the venture capital firm MPM Capital. Prior to joining MPM as an associate in 1999, Mr. Foley worked in Business Development at Genentech, management consulting with Arthur D. Little, and research at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Bayer AG. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where he was co-president of the Healthcare & Biotechnology Club. At MPM, he has been actively involved in over 15 investments including a part-time engagement as COO for Centagenetix during its start-up phase and VP of Business Development for GenPath. He is a current or past member of the Board of Directors of BioValve Technologies, Centagenetix (now Elixir), and Coelacanth Corporation (now Lexicon Genetics).

Dr. Housman obtained his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1971. He is known for his contributions to the molecular genetics underlying human disease processes. The first to identify the gene conferring multidrug resistance in cancer cells, Dr. Housman also identified a tumor suppressor gene important in the development of Wilms tumor and established the molecular basis for permutation and anticipation in myotonic dystrophy. His laboratory's efforts are focused in three major disease areas: trinucleotide repeat disorder particularly Huntington's disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Housman is a member of both the National Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy.

Panel Lead

Matt Vokoun, MIT Sloan MBA & MS Chemical Engineering '05

Neuroimaging in Drug Development: Perspectives from the Field

A diverse group of panelists from academia and industry will examine neuroimaging, its impact to date, and its future potential to change CNS drug development.

Dr. Ashley Lawton is the President of Decartes Therapeutics, a company pioneering the use of functional neuroimaging for drug development. Dr. Lawton has 18 years of industry experience with Eli Lilly, Celltech, RepliGen, Genzyme and Phylos, with expertise in business development and general management. Dr. Lawton has raised over $30M in venture equity and has considerable experience in negotiating licensing and research collaborations with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including a $27M research collaboration with a major pharmaceutical company.

Gregory Sorensen MD, Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, is the Associate Director of the A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and a neuroradiologist with an active interest in using novel MRI technologies to improve diagnosis of human neurologic disorders. His research has focused on the development and use of novel MRI techniques such as diffusion and perfusion-weighted MRI in the diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke, and he also has an interest in applying these novel tools to other illnesses such as migraine, glioma, and schizophrenia. He has served on advisory boards for the FDA and pharmaceutical companies regarding the use of imaging in drug development and clinical trials. He received his Bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology, an MS degree from Brigham Young University, and his MD from a combined program between Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Randy Carpenter, MD, is the CEO of Sention Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed CNS drug discovery company. Dr. Carpenter joined Sention in 2001 from Adolor where he was Vice-President of Clinical Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs. Dr. Carpenter's previous work in CNS drug development includes senior management roles at Cypress Biosciences and Astra Pain Control. Prior to industry, Dr. Carpenter spent 15 years in academic medicine with a focus on research and the treatment of acute and chronic pain.

Panel Lead

Nimish Parikh, MIT Sloan MBA '05

Systems Biology–In Search of Governing Dynamics

Two leading systems biology companies discuss the technical challenges, scientific implications, and commercial successes and failures in the field of systems biology.

Dr. McBurney joins the Company following his position as Founder, President and CEO of Differential Proteomics, Inc., a start-up proteomics company. He also formerly held the positions of President of CeNeS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Chief Scientific Officer and then President of Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. (CNSI). While at CNSI, he led the team that discovered CNS 1102, a candidate drug that limits brain damage due to cerebral vascular accidents. Dr. McBurney oversaw multiple additional drug discovery and development projects including: the discovery and advancement into Phase II clinical trials of CNS 5161, a drug to treat neuropathic pain; the discovery and commencement of clinical trials of a novel brain-imaging agent (CNS 1261); and, the discovery and pre-clinical development of GGF2, a protein therapeutic for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Dr. McBurney's former academic positions include: Assistant Director of the Medical Research Council Neuroendocrinology Unit (UK); Reader in Neurobiology at the Medical School of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK); Florey Fellow of the Royal Society in Sir Alan Hodgkin's laboratory at Cambridge University (UK); Visiting Associate in Neurophysiology at the NIH (USA); and, the Benjamin Meaker Visiting Industrial Professor in the Medical School at Bristol University (UK). Dr. McBurney has authored over 90 publications. He holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales.

Dr. Elliston is an experienced entrepreneur and intrapreneur who has dedicated his career to the development and application of leading-edge technology into the drug discovery process. Dr. Elliston spent over 10 years with the Merck Research Laboratories, where he led the integration of molecular sequencing technologies into discovery research, the development of computational molecular biology and bioinformatics, and pioneered the application of genomics and molecular profiling. Dr. Elliston served as the Director of Bioinformatics, and the Scientific Director of the Merck Gene Index project. From Merck, Dr. Elliston joined Bayer Pharmaceuticals where he founded their global genomics and bioinformatics efforts, and was the Section Head of Genomics and the World Wide Head of Bioinformatics. In 1997 he joined Gene Logic as the Sr. VP of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer. At Gene Logic, Dr. Elliston pioneered the development and application of molecular profiling to drug discovery, and was responsible for the development and management of 6 pharmaceutical research partnerships representing over $350M in potential revenues to the company. In 1999, Dr. Elliston founded Viaken Systems, where he was Chairman, President and CEO. Keith has been an advisor to Oak Investment Partners, Atlas Ventures and other biotechnology venture capital groups, and has participated in the early stage development of a number of biotech companies, including Sequana Therapeutics, Structural Genomics and Spotfire. Keith received an M.S. in Genetics from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Rutgers University.

Noubar B. Afeyan, Ph.D., Senior Managing Director and CEO of Flagship Ventures, is a recognized technologist and entrepreneur. With $600M under management, Flagship Ventures is a leader in creating, funding and developing new ventures in both life science and information technology sectors. Dr. Afeyan is also a Senior Lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management and is a frequent guest speaker at technology forums throughout the country. He has authored numerous scientific publications and patents. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Prior to co-founding Flagship Ventures in 1999, Dr. Afeyan co-founded a number of successful ventures during his 13-year entrepreneurial career. He was the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of PerSeptive Biosystems (PBIO), a leader in the bio-instrumentation field that merged with Applera Corp. (ABI) in 1998. During 1996 and 1997, he also served as Chairman of the Board of ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company spun out of PerSeptive and acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM) in 1997. Until August 1999, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Applera Corporation, where he initiated and oversaw the creation of Applera's subsidiary, Celera Genomics (CRA). He has also been a founding team member, investor and board member of Antigenics (AGEN), Color Kinetics and EXACT Sciences (EXAS).

Dr. Afeyan currently serves as a Director for Flagship portfolio companies Adaptive Therapeutics, Affinnova, Beyond Genomics, Compound Therapeutics, engeneOS, Genstruct, and Helicos. In addition, he serves on advisory boards for Boston University Medical School, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, the McGowan Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT's Media Lab, and the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University. He is also a Board member of several economic development organizations aimed at rebuilding the former Soviet Republic of Armenia.

Panel Lead

Richard J. Resnick, MIT Sloan Management of Technology '04

2:00
Policy panels

Developing and Managing Successful Global Health Partnerships

The Global Health Panel will focus on innovative strategies created to address major health care problems in the developing world.

The session will include discussions on: 1) Using market-based mechanisms to stimulate more R&D investment by biotechnology companies in the development of vaccines and other biologics that address diseases of the developing world, 2) Managing global health partnerships involving governments, philanthropic organizations, and established pharmaceutical/biotech companies.

Wendy Taylor is the Executive Director of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), a new non-profit entity formed to accelerate the development, distribution and accessibility of biotechnology products that address diseases of the developing world. BVGH is still in its early start-up phase and will be officially launched later this year.

Prior to joining BVGH, Ms. Taylor was the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Bioethics for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Joining BIO in November 2001, she negotiated on behalf of the biotech industry the third reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); established and led BIO's Regulatory Affairs Committee and worked with the FDA to address a range of regulatory issues important to the biotech industry. Ms. Taylor is also responsible for spearheading BIO's global health initiative. As part of that effort, she planned the first Partnering for Global Health Forum sponsored by BIO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and created a new non-profit organization focused on stimulating global health product development.

Ms. Taylor has extensive experience in the executive and legislative branches of the US government in both public health and welfare, including positions at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the US House Committee on Ways and Means. She received a Master of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA from Duke University.

Dr. Linda Distlerath is Vice President, Global Health Policy for Merck & Co., Inc. based in Whitehouse Station, NJ. The Global Health Policy group serves to leverage Merck's role in global health, building upon strategic philanthropic initiatives such as the Mectizan Donation Program, the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships in Botswana, vaccine donation programs and other health, public policy and educational programs supported by Merck's leadership, expertise and resources worldwide. As head of Global Health Policy, Dr. Distlerath plays a key role in facilitating relationship-building on behalf of Merck with public and private sectors partners in the development and implementation of public health and educational programs. Dr. Distlerath also provides strategic direction in the development and advocacy of public policy to achieve Merck's key global health goals in alignment with business and philanthropic objectives.

Dr. Distlerath joined the Merck Research Laboratories in 1984 as a clinical research associate, and in 1989 moved to Public Affairs, where she held positions of Executive Director for Public Affairs for the Merck Research Laboratories, Executive Director of Public Policy and most recently, Vice President of Public Affairs.

Dr. Distlerath holds a BS in Medical Technology from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in toxicology/environmental health from the University of Cincinnati, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in biochemistry at Vanderbilt University. She also holds a JD degree from Rutgers Law School-Newark. Dr. Distlerath is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee for the Committee for Economic Development, the Africa America Institute, the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships, Inc., and Project HOPE.

Professor Berndt is a member of the Pull Mechanism for Vaccine Development Working Group, a group of academics, policy analysts and attorneys that is working with the Center for Global Development, funded by the Gates Foundation. This taskforce is assessing economic, scientific, legal and engineering issues that must be addressed in creating a system that provides credible incentives for market-like stimulation of research and development targeted toward vaccines for diseases prevalent primarily in countries with low purchasing power.

Panel Lead

Fabio A. Thiers, MD Harvard-MIT (HST) PhD Candidate '05

Balancing Patient Privacy and Innovation–Where do we go from here?

The speed and ease of information flow between clinicians, patients and researchers is critical to researching and developing new technologies. However, information technology has also introduced new risks to patient privacy. How can these competing interests be balanced? Two founders of companies providing clinical, genomic, and tissue information and a HIPAA specialist with McDermott, Will & Emery will share their experiences on this issue:

What must we do to maintain or restore patient confidence and trust as technology raises the stakes for patient privacy? What issues do biotechnology companies face regarding HIPPA regulations? What has been the impact of regulation on privacy and innovation? Are future changes necessary?

Dr. Wyle is Founding CEO, Computational Biology Corporation and Founder and Board Member of Ardais Corporation, the leader in clinical genomics. Ardais, founded in 1999, has raised $60 million and is the leader in the use of clinical genomics to enable the post-genome promise of better healthcare for all humankind. Dr. Wyle has over 20 years experience in the health care industry, and has worked for both large companies and small ventures. Before founding Ardais she was Chief Operating Officer of Curis (Ontogeny), and prior to that was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corporation. She has held positions at Bessemer Venture Partners, C.R. Bard and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Dr. Wyle received her M.B.A. as a Baker Scholar from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, her Ph.D. and M.S. in medical physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her Sc.B. in physics from Brown University. She has served on M.I.T.'s Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors of the North Avenue Nursery School and the Venture Advisory Board of the Brigham and Womens' Hospital. She enjoys mountaineering, Inuit sculpture, scuba diving, and the world's wild places.

Ms. Fisher is Founder and CEO of BioMed 20/20 Technologies, Inc. (Auburndale, MA), a biotechnology and medical information products company focused on enabling personalized medicine and accelerating clinical trials through providing on-line, comprehensive patient profiling technologies and services. Previously, she co-founded and served as President of ViaCell, Inc. (Boston, MA). ViaCell, a cellular medicines company, raised $95 million in private financing since its inception in April 2000. The company is developing pharmaceutical grade cord blood stem cell products to treat cancers such as leukemia, genetic disorders, and certain immune deficiencies. ViaCell combines its proprietary, platform technology in stem cell amplification with its sourcing of placental and umbilical cord blood stem cells through services including Viacord, a private, family cord blood banking service. Ms. Fisher founded Viacord, Inc. (Boston, MA) in 1993 and served as President and CEO for eight years. Prior to starting Viacord, Ms. Fisher was Marketing Manager for the Blood Bank Division of Haemonetics Corporation. She started her career with IBM Corporation where she held various positions in sales and marketing account management.

Ms. Fisher is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. She is a member of the National Advisory Council of Harvard Medical School. She is a Trustee of Ursinus College. She formerly served as Chairman of Aurora Assets, LLC, on the Board of Directors of ViaCell, Inc., and General Equipment Rentals, Inc. Ms. Fisher received her MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Biophysics from Ursinus College.

Stephen W. Bernstein is a partner in the Health Law Department of McDermott, Will & Emery's Boston office and co-chairs the Firm's HIPAA Practice Group and the Firm's Health Ventures Group each on a nationwide basis. He specializes in e-health, health related matters impacted by the Internet, and HIPAA, as well as mergers, acquisitions, affiliations and joint ventures in the hospital and physician areas; fraud and abuse and Stark issues; and related licensing and regulatory matters. Mr. Bernstein has particular experience in working with large, multi-specialty physician practice groups both within and outside of the tax-exempt sectors.

Mr. Bernstein has practiced health law since 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts and in Palo Alto, California. In Palo Alto, he provided on-site counsel to Stanford University Medical Center. Among other accomplishments at Stanford, Mr. Bernstein negotiated the affiliation between Stanford Health Services and Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital. More recently, Mr. Bernstein provided counsel implementing a new physician group practice comprised of over 130 OB/GYNs through the simultaneous transfer of assets from 24 different physician practices. Contemporaneously with these transfers, the physician group and its capital partner formed a joint-venture management services organization which currently manages the physician group through a long-term management contract. Mr. Bernstein has lectured on hospital mergers and acquisitions for the Practicing Law Institute and currently lectures extensively on legal issues associated with health care privacy issues, HIPAA, physician compensation and e-health regulatory matters, including the impact of digital signature legislation on health care operations. These lectures have included speeches at The First National HIPAA Summit and the Second Annual Pharmaceutical Industry & Regulatory Compliance Summit. He is the author of "Complex Corporate Structures," a chapter in the Health Care Corporate Law Series published by Little, Brown & Company as well as numerous other articles in area publications. Most recently, Mr. Bernstein's articles on Technology and Privacy and HIPAA for Emerging Companies were featured in the February 19, 2001 and October 22, 2001 issues of Mass High Tech at http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?art_id=46439 and at http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?Art_ID=51456. Mr. Bernstein was recently featured on National Public Radio's syndicated program Here and Now discussing medical privacy issues. Link to the story at http://www.here-now.org/topics/_news/nws_020701b.asp

Mr. Bernstein is a member of the Massachusetts, District of Columbia and California bars. He chairs the Boston Bar Association's HIPAA/State Law Task Force's subcommittee on preemption, is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society's HIPAA speakers bureau and is active in providing technical advice to the Massachusetts Legislature's study committee concerning pending Massachusetts health privacy legislation. Mr. Bernstein is also a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and its Health Information Technology Committee, and has completed internships with the British National Health Service and the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care.

Mr. Bernstein received his J.D. degree cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1988 and his A.B. magna cum laude from Duke University in 1985. He served on the Boston College Law Review and was the executive editor of the Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law.

Martha L. Gray, Ph.D., is director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical and Electrical Engineering, holding professorial appointments in both HST and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT.

She received a B.S.in computer science from Michigan State University in 1978, an S.M. in Electrical Engineering from MIT (1981) and Ph.D. in Medical Engineering/Medical Physics from HST (1986). After a post-doc at Tufts Schools of Medicine and SUNY Stony Brook, she returned to MIT, joining the faculty of HST and EECS.

Professor Gray's research interests center on ways to diagnose and treat cartilage degeneration (arthritis), and also include connective tissue physiology, imaging, and microfabrication. She holds key leadership roles in a number educational projects, including HST's Biomedical Engineering Internship Program, the NSF Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Educational Technologies (VaNTH), and Realistic Patient Simulation for Training in Critical Care and Emergency Medicine.

Professor Gray is a past recipient of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research Associate Award, the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the American Medical Women's Association President's Recognition Award. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Panel Lead

Erik Yazdani, MIT Sloan MBA '05

The Path to Drug Approval–Current Regulatory Issues

Biopharmaceutical companies are using advanced technologies to identify an unprecedented number of promising new drug candidates. Turning these early leads into marketed products is a daunting process, however, involving lengthy clinical development and regulatory review.

Significant changes in the regulatory process are also on the horizon, including generic biologics, drug re-importation, CDER/CBER integration, clinical data management regulations, and new technologies including pharmacogenomics.

Our panelists bring vast expertise from both large pharma and biotechnology, and will highlight the key success factors for drug development and approval in the US and abroad.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., markets VELCADE(R) (bortezomib) for Injection, a novel cancer product, co-promotes INTEGRILIN(R) (eptifibatide) Injection, a market-leading cardiovascular product, and has a robust clinical development pipeline of product candidates. The Company's research, development and commercialization activities are focused in three therapeutic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, and inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome, its understanding of disease mechanisms, and its industrialized drug discovery platform, Millennium is seeking to develop breakthrough products.

Dr. Pietrusko holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Prior to joining Millennium in 2001, Dr. Pietrusko was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Smith-Kline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 19 years.

Dr. Pietrusko served as a BIO representative for the PDUFA III reauthorization discussions with FDA including two new pilot programs. He also has helped lead the BIO Task Force in assessing the potential impact of the CBER/CDER integration from the Industry perspective and leads the Pharmacovigilance effort for BIO's Regulatory Affairs Committee.

Bonnie Goldmann has fifteen years of drug development experience within the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining J&JPRD, Dr. Goldmann was Senior Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories where she was involved with the development and approval of ten new chemical entities spanning therapeutic areas.

Dr. Goldmann held the position of Director, Emergency Medical Services at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA from 1983 to 1988. She was a Kaiser Fellow in General Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she earlier served her residency in Internal Medicine. Her academic experience includes faculty appointments at both Temple University and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Goldmann received her baccalaureate degree in Psychology from State University of New York at Stony Brook and her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Goldmann is a Diplomate of Internal Medicine and was a Diplomate of both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians (1988-2001).

Dr. Kaitin is the Director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, an academic drug policy research group providing strategic information to help drug developers, regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of the drug development process. He is also Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and he serves on the faculty of the European Center for Pharmaceutical Medicine at the University of Basel. Dr. Kaitin has written extensively on a broad range of drug development issues, and he has provided public testimony before the U.S. Congress in hearings on pharmaceutical innovation and FDA reform. He is a former President of the Drug Information Association (1997-98), and he is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Drug Information Journal. Dr. Kaitin received a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Rochester.

Panel Lead

Dr. Jeffrey B. Moore, MIT Sloan Fellow '04

3:30
Afternoon Industry Executive Panel

Idea to Product in the Healthcare Industry–What will the value chain look like in 2014?

Leading life science executives and professionals discuss the shifting industry dynamics required to fill a pipeline and bring innovative therapies to market, with special emphasis on licensing, alliances, partnerships, and mergers.

Peter Tollman is a vice president and director in BCG’s Boston office. He is a key contributor to the health care practice and leads the health care R&D business. He is principal author of three BCG publications on genomics and is currently leading an assessment of industry productivity and the consequent implications on industry evolution and structure.

Dr. Tollman has managed pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic medical center, and managed care assignments involving M&A, corporate strategy, research, development, business development, medical affairs, and commercialization. He has provided analytical and negotiation support for partnering negotiations at several major pharmaceutical and biotech firms as well as health care delivery networks and managed care companies.

Dr. Tollman joined The Boston Consulting Group in 1989. Outside BCG, Dr. Tollman co-founded and managed a health care investment and advisory company, Medical Portfolio Management (MPM Capital), and was a global account manager at Monitor Company, a leader in its health care practice, and an adviser on health care investments to Monitor’s private equity fund.

Dr. Tollman received his PhD in engineering from the University of Cape Town and his MBA with distinction from Columbia Business School. He is a Governor of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance at the Hebrew University.

Alan Crane is a venture partner at Polaris and CEO of Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Previously, he served as senior vice president, corporate development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where he led the Company's global merger and acquisition, strategic alliance, and licensing functions. During his tenure, he built one of the largest and most influential business development groups in the pharmaceutical industry. His group forged alliances providing over $2 billion in funding to Millennium, fueling the Company's rapid growth. Under his leadership, Millennium created many of the largest alliances in the industry, including relationships with Aventis, Abbott, Bayer and Monsanto as well as the acquisitions of Cor Therapeutics and Leukosite. Prior to joining Millennium in 1997, Alan was vice president of business development at ChemGenics (which was acquired by Millennium), a marketing executive at DuPont Merck, and a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. Alan received his M.B.A. in 1992 and his B.A. and M.A. in 1986, all from Harvard University. He also attended Harvard Medical School from 1986 to 1988 before pursuing a business career.

John Palmer is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Biogen, Inc. He has been with Biogen since 1989, also serving as Program Executive, Director of Operations and Director of Marketing and Business Development. Prior to joining Biogen, Mr. Palmer held management positions at General Foods Corporation and at the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, Strategic Planning Associates and was co-founder of a medical air transport company. Mr. Palmer holds an MBA degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pfizer is the number one pharmaceutical company in every major market around the world and only behind GE and Microsoft in market capitalization. Pfizer Global Research & Development is one of the key Divisions in the Corporations and the engine for our Human Health business. Our 200+ projects in development reflect our commitment to innovation – the largest in the industry – we spend more than $20 million on R&D every business day. Our product portfolio includes 14 number one medicines across various therapeutic categories.

Rajiv Shukla is a Director in Pfizer Global Research & Development. He is a member of the Strategic Management Group tasked with the responsibility of developing innovative business paradigms. Most recently, he led the development of Pfizer’s Early Stage Licensing strategy and is currently working on the creation of an Acquisition strategy. Before Pfizer, he worked in the Corporate Finance and Development practice at the Boston Consulting Group. Besides BCG, Rajiv worked for the CFO at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Endeavor (a venture capital incubator focused on emerging markets), Wyeth and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Rajiv currently serves on the Board of Directors of S. R. College of Pharmacy in India.

Rajiv holds a Masters in Healthcare Management from Harvard, a Pfizer fellowship at the University of Buffalo and a Bachelors in Pharmaceutics (Honors with distinction) from the Institute of Technology in India; he has also published five Harvard Business School case studies.

Lawrence S Wittenberg is a Partner in the Business Practice Group of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP, and heads the firm's Life Sciences Practice.

Mr. Wittenberg has been an active participant in the Life Sciences industry since the mid-80's, and his practice focuses exclusively on biotechnology and other Life Sciences companies. Larry's clients range in size from start-ups to public companies. He assists these clients with the full range of corporate and intellectual property transactions, including venture capital financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, licenses and technology transfer agreements, as well as with general legal and strategic advice. He also represents venture capital groups with respect to their investments in Life Sciences companies and investment banks in connection with public and private financings. Larry has structured and negotiated corporate partnering transactions with numerous world-wide pharmaceutical companies. Larry is a frequent speaker on corporate collaborations, start-ups and public and private financing, both in industry settings and at MIT and other local universities.

Mr. Wittenberg received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Cornell University in 1976 and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1979.

Mr. Wittenberg is admitted to the Massachusetts bar (1979).