The Galien Forum USA 2018
October 25th 2018
Alexandria Center for Life Sciences – New York City
The Galien Forum, held every autumn at Alexandria Center for Life Science – New York, offers a full day of spirited discussions with Nobel Laureates, top policymakers, and leading industry executives who offer perspectives on the most significant health challenges of our time while highlighting the latest research and clinical pathways toward diagnosis, treatment, and cure.

PANEL 1
Novel Approaches to Combatting Opioid Addiction
07:45 am – 08:50 am
Chronic pain is a prevalent but frequently under‐reported condition affecting some 75 million Americans each year, more than the incidence of diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. It is the leading cause of long‐term disability in the US and accounts for a major share of the physician visits, hospital admissions, prescription drug Rx and other expenditures that drive up overall health costs.
Chair
Robert S. Langer, M.D, PhD
David Koch Institute Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sarah Akerman, M.D
Senior Medical Director
Alkermes
Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA
President-elect
American Medical Association
Michael Heffernan
Chairman
Collegium Pharmaceutical
Corey McCann, MD, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Pear Therapeutics
PANEL 2
Cancer in a Time of Disruption
08:50 am – 09:55 am
Over the past decade, we have witnessed a significant paradigm shift in the treatment of cancer, largely driven by the unprecedented pace of innovation and discovery in oncology. New advances in science, technology, and policy are improving patient outcomes while redefining how patients engage with the larger healthcare system.
Co-Chairs
Joel S. Marcus
Executive Chairman & Founder
Alexandria Real
Estate Equities, Inc./
Alexandria Venture Investments
Co-Founder
Alexandria Summit
Lynne Zydowsky, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Alexandria Real
Estate Equities, Inc./
Alexandria Venture Investments
President and Co-Founder
Alexandria Summit
Alexis Borisy
Partner
Third Rock Ventures
George D. Demetri, MD
Senior Vice President for Experimental Therapeutics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Professor of Medicine & Director, Ludwig Center, Harvard Medical School Associate Director for Clinical Sciences, Dana-Farber
Harvard Cancer Center
Lee N. Newcomer, MD
Principal
Lee Newcomer Consulting LLC
Former Senior Vice President
Oncology and Genetics
UnitedHealthcare
David Schenkein, MD
Chief Executive Officer
Agios Pharmaceuticals
PANEL 3
Making Medicines Affordable
10:15 am – 11:20 am
Progress in the science of drug discovery has made medicines a vital element in the therapeutic arsenal against disease. Since private enterprise has proven to be the predominant source of innovative therapies, the up‐front costs of research and development lead to increased tension between patients desiring new treatments and industry’s need for financial returns in order to offset prior investment and make new high‐risk longterm investment in research…
Chair
Michael Rosenblatt, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Flagship Pioneering, Dallas
Sir Andrew Dillon
Chief Executive
National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence (NICE), UK
John Furey
Chief Operating Officer
Spark Therapeutics Inc.
Scott Howel, MD, MBA
Vice‐President and Head,
US Market Access
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Gary P. Pisano, PhD
Harry E. Figgie Professor
of Business Administration
Harvard Business School
Kent Rogers, MBA
Senior Vice President,
Industry Relations
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
KEYNOTE
Keynote Anna K. Abram
11:20 am – 12:00 pm
As Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning, Legislation and Analysis, Anna Abram plays a critical role in overseeing the development and implementation of key policy initiatives and provides strategic policy direction to advance FDA’s mission and vision of protecting and promoting public health.
Keynote
Anna K. Abram
Deputy Commissioner for Policy,
Planning, Legislation and Analysis
FDA
Moderator
Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPh
Chief Executive Officer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Prix Galien USA Committee Chair
PANEL 4
What’s Holding Back the Technology Revolution in Clinical Trials?
01:15 pm – 02:20 pm
Technology is revolutionizing clinical trials, and in the process transforming what is possible in terms of drug development, patient engagement, and insight. Digitization of clinical trial processes has been proven to reduce data variance, increase patient compliance, and decrease site monitoring costs in clinical trials.
Chair
Mauro Ferrari, PhD
Ernest Cockrell Jr. Presidential
Distinguished Chair President
and Chief Executive Officer,
Houston Methodist Research
Institute Executive Vice President,
Houston Methodist Hospital System
Marc M. Boutin, JD
Chief Executive Officer
National Health Council
Paula Brown Stafford, MPH
Co-Founder of Habergeon LLC.
Adjunct Professor of Public Health Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chief Development Officer,
Novan, Inc.
Gerard G. Nahum, MD
Vice President of Global Clinical Development
for Medical Devices & eHealth
Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Steve Rosenberg
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Oracle Health Sciences
PANEL 5
The Promise of Gene Therapy
02:20 pm – 03:25pm
Ever since the achievement of sequencing the human genome, scientists have had the unprecedented opportunity to characterize and understand rare diseases caused by a single faulty gene. As a result, breakthrough approaches to addressing those diseases are emerging with high frequency. This revolution in discovery science has become evident in the past year, with the FDA approval of Luxturna…
Chair
Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD
President Worldwide Research and Development
Pfizer Inc.
Philip D. Gregory, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Bluebird bio
Katherine A. High
President and head of Research and Development
Spark Therapeutics
Brian Kaspar, PhD
Senior Vice President Scientific Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
AveXis, a Novartis Company
Peter Marks, MD, PhD
Director
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA
Gaurav Shah, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Rocket Pharmaceuticals Inc.
PANEL 6
The Gut Microbiome: Opportunities and Challenge
03:25 pm – 04:30 pm
The gut microbiome is formally defined as the genomes of the microbes that live inside the gut. It is a complex, interactive, multispecies microbial community composed of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and viruses. While the vast majority of the gut microbiome is composed of just 30-40 bacterial species, there more than 1,000 in total, containing about 100x the number of genes as can be found …
Chair
Nancy A. Thornberry
Chief Executive Officer
Kallyope
Michael Fischbach, PhD
Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Stanford University
Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD
Co-founder
Vedanta Biosciences
Sarkis K. Mazmanian, PhD
Louis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology Division
of Biology & Biological Engineering
California Institute of Technology
Bernat Olle, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Vedanta Biosciences
MedStartUp
PANEL
How is Data Science Disrupting the Healthcare Landscape, Modernizing R&D, and Enhancing Access Models ?
12:30 pm – 01:30 pm
There is no question that more information – data – can yield better results. But how we synthesize, use, and act on that complex and often misinterpreted data holds the key to the future of R&D and healthcare. Data science is helping bridge the gap between clinical, regulatory, and pharmacovigilance approaches; between drug developers and healthcare …
John Baldoni
PhD, Senior Vice President, DPU Head, ln Silico Discovery
GSK Pharmaceuticals
Michael Ringel
PhD, JD, Senior Partner & Managing Director
BCG
Troy Sarich
PhD, Global Head Janssen R&D Strategy
Janssen Research & Development
Julie Schiffman
MBA, Vice President, Global Business Analytics
Pfizer