Breakout Discussions

Interactive Breakout Discussion Groups

Concurrent breakout discussion groups are interactive, guided discussions hosted by a facilitator or set of co-facilitators to discuss some of the key issues presented earlier in the day’s sessions. Delegates will join a table of interest and become an active part of the discussion at hand. To get the most out of this interactive session and format, please come prepared to share examples from your work, vet some ideas with your peers, be a part of group interrogation and problem solving, and, most importantly, participate in active idea sharing.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22

Table 1: Right-Sizing Your Resource Dataset for Real-Time Capacity Planning

Richard Sonnenblick, PhD, CEO, Enrich

Grant Morgan, PhD, Senior Vice President, Head, Project & Portfolio Planning, R&D Finance, Systems & Analytics, BTG

• Is data-driven capacity planning a success story or a cautionary tale at your firm?
• What is the right level (function, franchise, TA, whole-company) for capacity planning?
• Is it realistic to think data is updated frequently enough to enable real-time capacity planning?

Table 2: Building Partnerships between Project Management, Resource Management, Functional Management, and Finance to Drive Productivity

Melquidades de Jesus, MBA, Director, R&D Strategy & Planning, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Daniel Patrick, MBA, Director, Business Consulting, Grant Thorton

Matthew Kokkonen, MBA, Director, Portfolio Management and Governance, CSL Behring

Dana Hammill, MS, MBA, Director, Business Development and Alliances, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania

• What are the pitfalls to avoid when trying to develop partnerships internally?
• What is an “engagement model” to use to establish trust, uncover real resource needs, and maintain a strong relationship with each department?

Table 3: Resource Management: Centralized vs. Decentralized

Sam Gabrielli, Associate Director, Portfolio & Project Management, Gilead Sciences

Mark Bedard, Project Manager, Devens Biologics Manufacturing PMO, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Pierre Roussel, Director, Head of GRA Demand, Capacity and Performance Management, Vaccines Global Regulatory Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline

• What is the current approach at your company and what are the challenges? Is there a better way?
• Which approach adds the most value and reduces risk?
• What are the key capabilities/skillsets required to effectively maintain Resource Management programs?

Table 4: Developing and Leveraging Integrated Analytics for R&D

Josh Schraeder, Head of Pipeline Strategy & Management Systems and Processes, AstraZeneca

Raveen Sharma, Life Sciences Practice Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP

• How are companies advancing analytics to boost R&D productivity?
• Where are the greatest opportunities inside of biopharmaceutical organizations for business operations optimization and improved decision making?
• What are pragmatic examples of implementation of predictive and prescriptive modeling analytics for risk management, forecast error, portfolio simulation & modeling?

Table 5: Achieving More Effective and Real-Time Portfolio Management and Resource Allocation

J. Todd Abrams, PhD, Senior Director, New Ventures and Business Development, Technology Commercialization, Temple University

Delfi Krishna, PhD, Director of Operations, Planning and Strategy, Cell and Gene Therapy Platform, GSK

Geert Vanhove, Partner, Bluecrux

• What is real-time portfolio management and resource allocation?
• Have you achieved this at your company?
• What are some approaches you have tried?

Table 6: How to Leverage the PMO to Best Enable Project/Portfolio Delivery

Dianna Ambach, Senior Project Manager, Biologics PMO, Sanofi

Michael Myers, PhD, Senior Director, LRL Due Diligence, Eli Lilly & Co.

• Why is there such variability in how pharma companies leverage Project Management Offices (PMOs)?
• What are some ways we, in various organization, leverage our PMO? Where do we fail and where do we succeed?
• What are some key insights we can consider for our own PMO?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23

Table 7: Creating a Governance Body and Corporate Structure to Enable Agile Decision Making

Ian Popoff, Senior Director, Strategic Portfolio Management, Pfizer

Dianna Ambach, Senior Project Manager, Biologics PMO, Sanofi

Michele Washko, MBA, Program Manager, BioStrategy Partners

• Centralized vs. Decentralized approach?
• Level of decision granularity needed for senior leaders? (financial, scientific, operational, commercial)
• Who needs to know? (empowering decision makers in your organization)

Table 8: Making Hard Decisions: Building a Portfolio That Balances Short- and Long-Term Objectives

Richard Sonnenblick, PhD, CEO, Enrich

Grant Morgan, PhD, Senior Vice President, Head, Project & Portfolio Planning, R&D Finance, Systems & Analytics, BTG

Michael Kennedy, PhD, MBA, Director, Alliance Management, Business Development & Licensing, Bayer AG

• How can long-range planning activities work in tandem with shorter-term project-level decision-making?
• Can you provide prospective portfolio investment suggestions for executives without threatening their desire to be in the driver’s seat?
• Are your company strategic goals driving your project selection? Should it, and how can that change?

Table 9: Balancing Internal R&D Investments and Resources with External Collaborations

Daniel Patrick, MBA, Director, Business Consulting, Grant Thorton

J. Todd Abrams, PhD, Senior Director, New Ventures and Business Development, Technology Commercialization, Temple University

Greg Bayer, Head of Strategy & Operations, Business Insights & Analytics, Research & Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Geert Vanhove, Partner, Bluecrux

• What analysis do you use to evaluate investments and resource planning?
• How do you prioritize resources when evaluating both internal and external projects against each other?

Table 10: How Do Companies Do Portfolio Management within TA’s and across the Pan-Company Portfolio?

Delfi Krishna, PhD, Director of Operations, Planning and Strategy, Cell and Gene Therapy Platform, GSK

Michael Myers, PhD, Senior Director, LRL Due Diligence, Eli Lilly & Co.

Richard Bayney, PhD, President & Founder, Project & Portfolio Value Creation (PPVC)

• What is your model (central team vs. TA embedded?) How do companies do portfolio management within TA’s and across the pan-company portfolio?
• What is your decision-making model for cross-TA portfolio optimization?
• What systems and metrics are they using to enable the portfolio management?
• Who has accountability for portfolio performance?

Table 11: Right Sizing: How Can Capacity Management Contribute to Right-Sizing and Outsourcing?

Melquidades de Jesus, MBA, Director, R&D Strategy & Planning, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Sam Gabrielli, Associate Director, Portfolio & Project Management, Gilead Sciences

Keith Gardner, Senior Director, Decision Science, AstraZeneca

Mark Bedard, Project Manager, Devens Biologics Manufacturing PMO, Bristol-Myers Squibb

• Right-sizing and capacity planning strategies in a large pharma or small biotech
• How to maximize your R&D resources and increase your portfolio’s value through intelligent outsourcing?

Table 12: Aligning Portfolio & Productivity with Corporate Strategy to Drive Strategic Resource Allocation

Matthew Kokkonen, MBA, Director, Portfolio Management and Governance, CSL Behring

Raveen Sharma, Life Sciences Practice Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP

• How to optimize impact of your investments and how to allocate resources strategically?
• How to drive innovation from early research and discovery to development, while always thinking about ROI?

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25

Table 13: Partnerships, Alliance Management and Program Execution in Oncology and Immuno-Oncology

Lena Frank, Executive Director, Program & Alliance Management, Oncology Business Group, Eisai, Inc.

Courtland LaVallee, MBA, Head, Project Management, BeiGene

Dana Hammill, MS, MBA, Director, Business Development and Alliances, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania

Anjali Ganguli, PhD, Executive Director Corporate Development, Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

• Approaches to partnering for success in Immuno-Oncology: Not one-size-fits-all!
• Big and Small Companies sharing risk, doing in-/out-licensing and trying to do co-development: How to engage and partner with your Business Development and Alliance Management departments to achieve success?
• With so many partnerships and shorter timelines, how do you ensure your Alliance Management and Program Management capabilities are up to the task?

Table 14: Regulatory Strategy as a Key Component of Oncology and I-O Drug Development Planning

Matthew Brown, PhD, Vice President (retired), Enterprise Governance Management, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Greg Cohee, Partner, Pharmica Consulting

• Different class labels. Navigating the BLA, MAA. What can be done with each?
• How fast are review cycles: What is involved in Orphan drug designations, Breakthrough designations, accelerated approvals?
• What are regulators willing to accept as novel endpoints (which gets back to feasibility); Utilizing interim end points to know if the drug is working: What are the options for this?

Table 15: Building a Program Management Capability for Unique Challenges and Timelines of Onco/I-O

Matt Kiernan, Partner, Pharmica Consulting

Akshay Patny, PhD, Director, Global Project Management, EMD Serono, Inc.

Sam Gabrielli, Associate Director, Portfolio & Project Management, Gilead Sciences

Chad Stewart, MBA, PMP, Senior Director, Program and Alliance Management, Immatics, US

• Without a clear pathway for development in the current oncology, immuno-oncology, immunotherapy combinations landscape what does this mean for drug development, program planning and execution?
• With oncology drugs being developed and approved at the fastest rate ever, how do you game plan and work in this expedited world?
• With the surge of oncology and small combination products in the immunotherapy arena and subsequent trials jamming the pipelines, how do sponsors, CROs, suppliers and sites respond to this wave of clinical projects?

Table 16: Clinical Trial Design and Operations Challenges in Oncology and Immuno-Oncology

Kelly White, MSN, RN, Global Operations Lead, Oncology, Merck & Co., Inc.

Dan Tierno, MBA, Strategic Implementation, Global Data Sciences and Analytics, Bayer U.S. LLC

Peter Malamis, COO, ImmunoRestoration

Eric Lake, Partner, Pharmica Consulting

• How do deal with patient recruitment challenges?
• How do you do instream data?
• How to find qualified sites that can get started quickly, are able to conduct complex oncology studies, and who aren’t already doing competitive studies?