If you lived through the dot-com stock market crash of March 11, 2000, you probably have some appreciation for the present day Henny Pennys who fear the sky will soon fall for biotech. One of the key trends fueling the alarm is the continued surge in biopharmaceutical company valuations.

A little over a year ago, Kemal Malik received some really good news — he’d been promoted. The former head of global development and chief medical officer in the pharmaceuticals division at Bayer AG had been appointed to the company’s five-member board of management. If you have ever received similar news, you probably recall the initial feeling of euphoria.

I had never heard the phrase “the curse of knowledge” before attending this year’s DCAT Week conference. But on my way home from NYC, of all the new facts, topics, and concepts I had crammed into my brain at the show, it was this one that persistently kept coming to the forefront.

Toward the end of my conversation with this month’s cover feature subject, Bayer AG board of management member and global innovation leader, Kemal Malik, I inquired if there was a question he hoped I had asked. “I guess I thought you’d ask me, ‘What is the biggest challenge to innovation in the life sciences,’” he replies.

I imagine it's a rare occurrence for someone to pause and ponder if what they are putting into or on their body to be safe. As human beings, we place a high degree of faith in the companies that manufacture the BioPharmaceutical products we use on a daily basis. 

We often refer to innovation in the business world as having a link to serendipity. “We just happened to be in the right place at the right time — a lucky break.” But is this really the case? 

The German proverb, “Wer rastet, der rostet,” loosely translates to, “He who rests grows rusty.” This saying occurs to me as I sit across from Grünenthal’s chief scientific officer, Klaus Langner, Ph.D. We are at the Omni hotel in San Francisco, and it is very late. However, since we are in town for the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare conference, each of us knows this is far from our last meeting of the day.

The first quarter in the life sciences industry provides a wonderful study in contrasts. For example, in January at the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference, some of the largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies conduct presentations to packed rooms at the Westin St. Francis.

Follow the Twitter hashtag #BIOCEO15 and look for the tweets touting “standing room only” to determine the companies investors consider hot at the 7^th Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference.