How We're #PartneringAgainstCOVID19

A few weeks ago, Thomas B. Cueni, Director General of International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA), pointed to two areas where the industry needed to step up in the fight against COVID-19 outside of the R&D lab.
The first area was leadership and, so far, that’s been a win. Industry leaders, industry groups, and policy makers have all shouldered the burden of leadership in this crisis. Both government officials and pharma CEOs have been visible and vocal in leading the fight against the virus.
The second area was partnering. As a truly global challenge, the response from the industry has to involve working together.
When it comes to partnering, it’s time for the pharma industry, the biopharma sector, and the life sciences to step up and start going the extra mile, and its spurred our team at Inova into action.

#PartneringAgainstCOVID19: Our Virtual Partnering Event

Working with a consortium of biotech clusters, the team at Inova joined, by Lyonbiopole, EIT Health and Evaluate Ltd, will host a free Virtual Partnering Event that kicks off next week. In the last seven days we’ve already registered nearly 800 delegates from 59 countries, including from some of the biggest pharma companies in the world.
This entirely pro bono event is essentially the same as the partnering conferences that have become central to discovery and development of new therapies in the biopharma sector, with only one crucial difference: instead of taking place in a crowded convention center, the event and all of the meetings take place entirely online.
Like the world’s largest in-person biopharma partnering events, this Virtual Partnering Event leverages our matchmaking technology that has proven so effective at connecting pharma companies, biotechs, and other stakeholders. It’s a proven technology that has been helping companies partner at events like the BIO International Convention since 2015, and now it is being put to work partnering against COVID-19.
The technology is dedicated to making partnerships happen. At Inova, partnering is what we know best, it’s what we are dedicated to, and powering mutually beneficial connections between industry players is what we’re known for. We help companies schedule tens of thousands of meetings with potential partners every year, and now we’re putting that experience to work fighting the novel coronavirus.
Lyon, the city Inova calls home, has a long history of fighting infectious diseases. It’s home to Sanofi Pasteur, Biomérieux and many biotechs and research centers working on infectiology including the renowned International Center for Research in Infectious Diseases. The World Health Organization stations part of their Global Capacities Alert and Response team here, and even Lyon’s famed Fête des Lumières (Festival of Light) each December was born from celebrations of the city escaping the ravages of the 17th century plague.
For us, virtually hosting this event from a city with this disease-fighting pedigree is less serendipitous and more a reminder that we’ve battled disease together before, and we’ve succeeded before, too.

Reimagining Biopharma Partnering

National lockdowns, stay at home orders, and work-from-home decrees have forced many industries to reimagine the way that they do business. Many organizations are learning fast that a lot of what they thought they knew about their business is, in fact, open to change.
We’ve been reimagining partnering in the biopharma sector ourselves, too, but we started that reimagination long before COVID-19 emerged as a global threat. That’s because, over the last ten years, partnering in the pharma industry has become more important than ever. And that’s why our partnering platform has evolved along with the industry.
Reimagining and accelerating partnering is core to Inova’s corporate DNA. Our technology today continues to power partnering meetings, but it also speeds up deal making, reduces risk, helps companies manage alliances, and contributes to bringing new therapies to patients faster than ever. No surprise, then, that when our team needed to quickly adapt our partnering platform to a new virtual space, they were ready and able to transform to meet the needs of the industry once again.

Join Us in the Fight Against COVID-19

Like Thomas Cueni and the IFPMA, I believe that strong leadership and industry partnerships will be key in defeating the novel coronavirus, and I’m confident that the meetings Inova will enable at our Virtual Partnering Event will play a role in that defeat.
I’m so proud that Inova, Lyonbiopole, Evaluate, and the more than three dozen industry groups that have endorsed this Virtual Partnering Event are helping the pharma industry move forward in the fight against COVID-19, and I can’t wait to hear about the new therapies that our attendees will work together to deliver to the world.
Interested in attending? Sign up today – it’s free: https://virtual-partnering.com