2009 Keynote Speakers
Tim Opler, Ph.D.- Principal at Torreya Partners
Presentation Slides: The New Biotech Business Model
Thursday Morning: The New Biotech Business Model | |
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Tim founded Torreya in late 2007 and has a long history of leading strategic and financing transactions in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has carried out over 100 financing and M&A transactions with a notional amount over $50 billion. Most recently, Tim was Vice President, Strategy at FibroGen where he raised $117 million in a private placement of equity for FibroGen and helped to negotiate a historic licensing transaction for the company’s Phase II anemia product. Previously, Tim was a Managing Director in the health care investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston. Tim was also a professor of finance at Ohio State University. He is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles in corporate finance. Tim received a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA and B.A. from Florida State University. |
Scott R. Ward - Medtronic Sr. VP & President, CardioVascular
Presentation Slides: Medtech Trends & Impacts of Health Care Reform
Thursday Afternoon: Medtech Trends & Impacts of Health Care Reform | |
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Scott Ward was named Senior Vice President and President of the CardioVascular business at Medtronic in April 2007.
In this role, he is responsible for all worldwide operations of the Coronary, Peripheral, Endovascular, Structural Heart
Disease (SHD) and Revascularization and Surgical Therapies (RST) businesses serving physicians and patients with a full
portfolio of products that include coronary and peripheral stents, endovascular stent grafts, heart valves, atrial
fibrillation, and other cardiac surgery products. Scott first joined Medtronic in 1981 as a research technician and has also held various positions in regulatory affairs, clinical research, and new business development. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President and President of the Vascular business, with responsibility for the global Coronary, Peripheral and Endovascular groups. He has also served the company as Senior Vice President and President of the Neurological and Diabetes businesses; President of the Neurological business; and Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Drug Delivery Business. Before moving into general management, Scott was responsible for the Neurological Ventures Organization, where he led the development of new therapies for the treatment of pain, spasticity, and Parkinson's Disease. Scott graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Toxicology |
Edward C. Saltzman - Principal at Defined Health
Presentation Slides: Driving to Proof of Relevance
Friday Morning: Driving to Proof of Relevance | |
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Ed is founder and President of Defined Health, a leading consultancy in business development and disease area strategy for
the pharmaceutical industry. Since its founding in 1983, Defined Health has completed thousands of opportunity assessments and
commercial forecasts of development stage projects for hundreds of corporate clients across the Big Pharma, Biotechnology and
Specialty Pharma complex. Defined Health’s length and breadth of experience in evaluating pipeline opportunities provides the
firm with a unique and often unconventional spotlight on strategic issues confronting the industry, particularly with respect
to the quality of the development pipeline and its implications for sustainability of established and evolving business models. Ed is a noted speaker on industry strategy and was one of the earliest critics of the Pharma industry blockbuster business model and its over-dependence on in-licensing late-stage primary care blockbuster drugs to fuel growth. Ed was also one of the first to spot the limitation of the specialty pharma serial product acquisition model, and, as a result, he is much sought after for strategic guidance by specialty pharma and biotech companies facing sustainability challenges. Ed began his involvement with the pharma industry at the Ayerst Laboratories unit of American Home Products, where he had responsibility for evaluation and forecasting of compounds being considered for licensing. Prior to Ayerst, he managed the Healthcare Information Center at FIND/SVP. Ed is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and the New York Pharma Forum and is a graduate of New York University. |