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The theme of BIO Convention Day #1 was the importance of inclusion—from within companies, to the products we create, to ensuring access to clinical trials and innovation. Here’s what we learned—about how to measure and report DEI and ESG, why it’s a great time to invest in women’s health, plus more news from San Diego and inside the Beltway. (658 words, 3 minutes, 17 seconds) |
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How to follow the BIO International Convention
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Team Good Day BIO is bringing you all the news and highlights from the BIO International Convention. Follow our coverage at Good Day BIO and Bio.News and join the conversation on social media with #BIO2022.
On today's episode of Good Day BIO Live, our team brings you exclusive interviews with Johnson & Johnson's Pierre Theodore, Travere Therapeutics’ Eric Dube, Organon’s Kevin Ali, and more—plus, a look at BIO’s approach to news content and misinformation, and a few fun things we found on the exhibit floor. Watch: |
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4 concrete ways biotech companies can improve DEI |
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BIO released the third Measuring Diversity in the Biotech Industry: Tracking Progress in Small and Large Companies, produced in partnership with Coqual. Executives discussed the findings and concrete steps companies can take to improve DEI during a panel yesterday. The key finding: Women and people of color in biotech are increasing—but both groups are still lagging at the executive and c-suite levels, as we reported yesterday. What concrete steps can companies take? - “It starts at the top,” said James Sapirstein, Chairman, President, and CEO of First Wave BioPharma, Inc.
- But initiatives must go beyond the company, said Charlotte Jones-Burton: “Our DEI initiatives at Chinook Therapeutics start internally, but ultimately extend out to everything that we do.”
- “I believe that it’s not just about facts, but it really is about measuring progress,” said Dr. Eric Dube, President and CEO of Travere Therapeutics Inc.—watch his interview with Good Day BIO Live.
Clinical representation is where “all of us are failing,” said Dr. Veronica Sandoval, Principal for Patient Inclusion & Health Equity at Genentech. “Our patients of color, especially our Black and our Latino populations, were all being diagnosed with COVID at higher rates and dying at higher rates.” But improved access to clinical trials “doesn’t happen spontaneously,”Dr. Pierre Theodore, VP of Global External Innovation at Johnson & Johnson, told Good Day BIO Live. It requires “focused, specific effort.” Read on Bio.News: Biotech leaders discuss how to build a more inclusive industry |
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A few more things we learned on Day 1… |
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Women’s health has been “woefully underrepresented and underfunded,” but we’re seeing “green shoots emerge,” said Kevin Ali, CEO of Organon, the women’s health-focused company that just celebrated its first birthday. Here's what he told Good Day BIO Live. International government officials agree: investment and faster approvals are key to pandemic preparedness,reports Bio.News. France, as one example, is planning to invest $8 billion to support biotech through President Macron’s Healthcare Innovation to 2030 program. “For patients, what matters is not what a drug company charges, but what insurance policy says,”said Jim Geraghty, explaining how price controls would harm R&D for rare and orphan diseases. Congrats, Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath—who’s not only celebrating her two-year anniversary as BIO’s President and CEO, but was also awarded the BioGENEius Innovators Woman of the Year Award on Sunday
BioCina will include the manufacture of plasmid DNA in a new dedicated Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) suite,the company announced yesterday. This will support in-process, release and stability testing of pDNA products, and will enable BioCINA to work with industry partners to further develop RNA vaccines and therapeutics as well as cell and gene therapies. |
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How biopharmas should think – and communicate – about ESG |
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Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is no longer optional. But it’s not enough for companies to implement it—they have to communicate about it, too, said a panel yesterday. Here's how biopharmas can do it effectively. You need this resource: The Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable’s Biopharma Investor ESG Communications Guidance 4.0, a resource for strategic thinking and planning of biopharma-investor ESG communications. Why ESG matters: With more, younger investors keeping an eye out for so-called “greenwashing,” ESG information needs to be meaningful and credible, said Sandor Schoichet, Co-founder and Partner at Meridian Management Consultants. Here are two things companies can do: - Adopt strategies and work to embed ESG in corporate culture, said Victoria Emerick, Executive Director & Global Head, Corporate ESG-Sustainability Strategy & Operations at Bristol Myers Squibb.
- Favor transparency—and qualitative over quantitative data, said Angela Bitting, Senior VP of Corporate Affairs at Twist Bioscience. More rigorous data collection is key.
A key ESG issue for biopharma: access to medicine—which must be a top priority, and not just for marketing purposes. Read more on Bio.News (including where to start with your ESG reports). |
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| Before you x-out of that email, here's a fun, quick peek behind the scenes at the BIO International Convention – from what goes into producing our content to what it's like to be back in person in San Diego.
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President Biden’s Tuesday: Heading to Philadelphia, where he’ll deliver remarks on the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention. Amb. John N. Nkengasong was sworn in yesterday as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy; he’ll oversee the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will mark up several bills, including its legislation reauthorizing the FDA user fee agreements—we’ll report back. |
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