BIO International Convention 2015

The BIO International Convention 2015, world’s largest biotechnology event that occurred at Philadelphia (USA) between 15 and 18 June, had more than 15 thousand attendees.

Brazil participated at the convention with a pavilion built with the institutional support of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) related to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), and coordinated by the Brazilian Pharmochemical Industry Association (ABIQUIFI) and the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI). It featured numerous partnerships by providing spaces for the dissemination of projects, as well as partnering booths that allowed meetings between potential partners.

The Brazilian delegation transformed the pavilion in a great meeting center through which passed hundreds of attendees interested in the country, its regulatory framework and the potential of Partnerships for Productive Development (Parcerias para o Desenvolvimento Produtivo – PDPs).

The official Brazilian delegation was composed by representatives from  ABDI – Prof. Maria Sueli Felipe e Eduardo Rezende; Association of Official Pharmaceutical Laboratories (ALFOB) – Júlio C. Felix and Mario Sergio Ramalho; Minas Gerais State Association of Biotechnology and Life Science Companies (AMBIOTEC) – Sílvio Wandalsen Arndt, Vanessa Silva and Valéria Matarelli; National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) – Dr. Renato Alencar Porto, Daniela Marreco Cerqueira e Bianca Zimon; Apex-Brasil/MDIC – Laís Dutra and Gabriel Isaacsson; Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) – João Paulo Pieroni e Vitor Pimentel; BIOMANGUINHOS – Artur Couto and Jorge Costa; National Confederation of Industry (CNI) – Diana Jungmann; Biominas Brasil – Eduardo Emrich, Arthur Nigri and Josiely Gomes; Butantan Institute – Prof. Jorge Kalil, Alexander Precioso and Ricardo Tolentino; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) – Prof. Odir Dellagostin; Foundation for the Support of Research in São Paulo (FAPESP) – Sérgio Robles Reis de Queiroz; Funding Authority for Studies and Projects (FINEP) Eliane Britto Bahruth; Brazilian Health Ministry – Flávia Caixeta Albuquerque; and representatives from the Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI); Vital Brazil Institute (IVB) among others; who have fufilled an extensive agenda and attended the event completely.

This official group participated in field visits to industrial and research facilities. The first visit was to the production facility of MSD, where the anti HPV vaccines are manufactured and this technology is being transferred to Butantan, public partner of the ongoing PDP. The second research and development technological park visited was from Janssen, company responsible for the technology transfer of infliximabe, scope of a PDP between Bionovis and Biomanguinhos, which already provides the finished products to market.

A relevant participation of ANVISA reflects the interest and increasing synergy of the Agency and its regulated sector in Brazil. The Agency’s delegation also participated in two panels: one about its role in biopharmaceutical innovation and other about the perspective of biologics products’ regulation in Brazil, in addition to attending several meetings with national and international entrepreneurs interested in understanding Brazil’s regulatory framework for biologics products and biosimilar drugs.

ALFOB participated officially for the first time and was represented by its president Júlio C. Felix and its executive secretary Mario Sergio Ramalho and also counted with the presence of other associates such as Fiocruz/Biomanguinhos, Butantan, Vital Brazil Institute and Paraná State Technology Institute (TECPAR). They have shared experiences and all the public agenda of the event, strengthening the ties between the network and potential partners. In addition, ALFOB received with great pleasure the invitation by Biominas to actively participate in the BIO Latin America conference, to be held in October this year at Rio de Janeiro.

The event was also attended by biotechnology industry experts, research institutes and regulatory agencies of different countries. Among the private companies with PDPs projects in Brazil, the following can be highlighted: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BioCad, BioGen, Biolab, Biolutus, Bionovis, Boehringer, Brasterápica, Celltrion, Chemo, Eli Lilly, Giliard, GSK, Janssen, Hospira, Libbs, Merck Serono, MSD, Takeda, ThermoFisher. Amid consultancies were Albright Stonebridge, Pinheiro Neto, RM Consult, SciBr Foundation e Thomson Reuters.

In parallel to the BIO 2015, ABDI hosted the 7^th Innovation Learning Lab of the Rede Diáspora Brasil, which aims to bring together Brazilian researchers and entrepreneurs working in research centers and national companies. Under the coordination of Prof. Maria Sueli Felipe from ABDI the agenda \”Innovation and business for new drugs and biotechnology: the Brazilian Diaspora as a facilitator” was developed.

This Learning Lab was attended by ABIQUIFI, ALFOB, ANVISA, Apex, Biolotus, Bionovis, Eli Lilly, Giliart, Hospira, IVB, Libbs, MSD and featured presentations from Rogerio Vivaldi (SPARK); Andreia C. Mortensen e Rômulo Falcucci (Drexel University); Eliseu de Oliveira (Georgetown University); Ana Lopes (Boston University); Marcia Fournier (Bioarray) and Cecilia Schott (AstraZeneca).

Among the various opportunities presented in an endless universe of offers and overlapping service providers and projects, nothing stands more than the identification, construction and solidification of the important and qualified network developed between the participants.

Focus, integrated coordination, group work to develop a structural policy destined to small and large niches, establishment of some regulatory landmarks, for example in the diagnostics and nanotechnology areas, composed the themes that guided all the event and transformed into a great challenge for the national biotechnology policy makers.

Source: ALFOB