“Going to medical school, completing my residency, and pursuing my Ph.D. were a cake walk in comparison to being the CEO of a biotech,” says Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., who talks about his journey from working out of his car to selling his company for $300 million and then going to work for Lilly.

“Going to medical school, completing my residency, and pursuing my Ph.D. were a cake walk in comparison to being the CEO of a biotech,” says Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., who talks about his journey from working out of his car to selling his company for $300 million and then going to work for Lilly.

Part 2 continues the discussion on drug pricing started last month. Panelists include Steven Miller of Express Scripts; Ron Cohen of Acorda Therapeutics; Jeremy Levin of Ovid Therapeutics; David Meeker, former EVP of Sanofi Genzyme; and Jeffrey Berkowitz, former EVP at Merck, Walgreens Boots Alliance and UnitedHealth Group.

As children, we were all taught the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But as adults, we all know that words can hurt and, more importantly, that semantics do matter. I was reminded of the latter on two occasions recently.

If you are anything like me, you are probably in need of a little more positivity. And despite what many mass media outlets might lead you to believe, the biopharmaceutical industry has a plethora of bright spots.

“As the price of pharmaceuticals continues to rise, we are seeing greater resistance from [U.S.] patients being willing to pay,” says Dr. Steven Miller. The SVP and chief medical officer at Express Scripts is giving his opening remarks during the Our Common Goal: Ensuring Access and Affordability of Innovative Medicines session at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego. Miller pulls no punches with his fellow biopharmaceutical executive panelists, setting the tone that today’s discussion on drug pricing will not be a “hugfest.”

Why would David Hung, M.D., a veteran pharma executive, forgo retirement (after a big acquisition payday), join Axovant Sciences, and then invest $10 million of his own money into the small company? Our chief editor sat down with him to get the answers to those questions and more.

Life Science Leader Chief Editor Rob Wright is cochairing the 2018 BIO educational program planning committee. In this blog he talks about why this was the earliest the planning committee has ever met and what you can do to submit interesting and novel session proposals that will get the attention of the committee.

Next week, BIO will invite biopharmaceutical industry experts to submit educational topic session proposals for the 2018 BIO International Convention in Boston, June 4 - 7. The 2018 call for sessions and speakers opens on Thursday, September 14, and closes on Thursday, October 12, 2017. As I have (once again) agreed to serve as a BIO educational program planning committee co-chair, I have a vested interest in its success. My goal in helping biopharma’s largest and most influential global event, is to assist in creating such a strong educational program, that when you see this year’s offerings you will deem BIO 2018 in Boston as a must attend. However, I need your help to pull this off. The only question is: Will your participation be active — or passive?