Robert Cobuzzi Jr., Ph.D. is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development of Endo Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Cobuzzi joined Endo in 2005 with initial responsibility as Senior Director and then Vice President of Scientific Evaluation.  In 2008, he was named Acting Head of Corporate Development and was named Senior Vice President in 2010.  Before joining Endo, Dr. Cobuzzi was Director, Scientific Licensing at Adolor Corporation, which he joined in 2001.  From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Cobuzzi was in the regulatory affairs group at Centocor/Johnson & Johnson and prior to this position, he was part of the cardiovascular clinical team at AstraMerck from 1995 to 1999. 
Dr. Cobuzzi received his Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biochemistry from Loyola University Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Colby College.  

 

As VP Corporate Development at Catalent Pharma Solutions, Mr. Cohen leads M&A at this Blackstone portfolio company. An accomplished M&A practitioner, he has worked with and advised companies on transactions valued at $75+ billion. Since moving to industry in December 2010, he has maintained his aggressive approach, leading and successfully completing three complex and transformational transactions 

Before Catalent, Mr. Cohen was a Managing Director leading healthcare M&A at Oppenheimer & Co. where he focused on middle-market healthcare transactions. Previously he was a member of the Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan healthcare groups. 

In October 2008, Mr. Cohen advised Lev Pharmaceuticals in its sale to Viropharma ($443M). Mr. Cohen conceived and negotiated an innovative “earnout” structure utilizing contingent value rights (CVRs). This transaction represented one of the first public-to-public biotech deals utilizing CVRs since the late 1990s and set off a wave of similar transaction structures in the biopharma industry.

 

Mark Dennish is the Vice President of Business Development for Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., where he is responsible for championing all business development activities including mergers & acquisitions, product licensing and R&D and commercial collaborations. 

Prior to joining Daiichi Sankyo, Mr. Dennish held many senior management roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) including business development, operations planning, finance and internal audit. While at BMS, Mr. Dennish was responsible for the highly successful worldwide partnership with Daiichi Sankyo on pravastatin. His most recent role was Vice President, Business and Alliance Development/Asia, where he was responsible for business development and alliance management activities.  

Mr. Dennish received his B.S. in Economics from The College of New Jersey, his M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University and a Certificate in Data Base Technology from New York University. He currently serves as a Board Member of the New York Pharma Forum and SAVE, a non-profit animal shelter in Princeton, New Jersey.  

 

Dimitri is the leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Transaction Services Life Sciences sector. Dimitri advises corporate clients on the structuring of complex merger & acquisition transactions, alliances, partnerships and joint ventures, as well as minority and early-stage investments to successfully integrate and address accounting, financial reporting, corporate finance, and valuation challenges. In addition, he is a leading advisor within the Firm to clients on valuation principles, methodologies and critical assumptions employed in various business enterprise, intangible asset and security valuation exercises across the spectrum of companies in the pharmaceutical and life science sectors.

Dimitri is a leader in the Firm’s thought leadership efforts on the financial reporting rules surrounding valuation and has formulated the key implications and strategic insights for deal principals and various industry participants to consider. In addition, he has worked closely with the Firm’s National Office and valuation professionals to understand, interpret and shape the new rules, both from a financial reporting as well as a valuation perspective.

Dimitri, a CPA and a CFA, received his MBA in finance and economics from the University of Chicago and his BS in accounting from Bucknell University.

 

Chris joined AVI as President and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2011. He has served as a director of the Company since June 2010. Previously he was Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Celgene Corporation from July 2007. From November 2005 to June 2007, Chris served as an independent consultant to early stage biopharmaceutical companies. From 1997 to 1998 and from 1999 to November 2005, he worked at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where he served in a number of global leadership roles, including as Vice President of Corporate Development, Vice President of Marketing, and Vice President of Medical Affairs. Chris also held various commercial roles at COR Therapeutics, Inc. from 1998 to 1999 and at Abbott Laboratories from 1994 to 1997. He started his biopharmaceutical career as a consultant with Migliara/Kaplan Associates from 1991 to 1994. Chris received his BS in marketing from the University of Maryland.

 

Adam Golden is a Partner in and Co-Chair of the Corporate Department of Kaye Scholer LLP. A leader in Kaye Scholer’s esteemed Life Sciences practice, Mr. Golden heads the firm’s Life Sciences Transactions group. 

Mr. Golden's practice focuses on structuring and negotiating complex business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and the full range of licensing and collaboration transactions common to the life sciences sector. He has also represented both issuers and investors in public and private securities offerings, including venture capital, private equity and PIPE financings. 

Mr. Golden has substantial experience representing clients for whom intellectual property is a key asset. As a lawyer with a background in science, he brings an in-depth understanding of the technology involved in transactions for the benefit of his clients. His clients include companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology, chemicals, information technology, healthcare services and medical devices industries. Mr. Golden’s practice is international in scope, and his clients range in size from multibillion-dollar global businesses to emerging-stage companies.

Chambers USA (2009–2011) recognized Mr. Golden and rated Kaye Scholer’s multidisciplinary Life Sciences practice as being among the strongest in the nation, winning praise for “comprehensive service” with a “results-oriented approach and deep understanding of the market.” According to a source interviewed by Chambers, Mr Golden “understands the industry like no other lawyer.”

 

Dean Haubrich, Ph.D., is Chairman of the Board of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. and of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc.

Previously, he served as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of OPDC and, prior to that, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of OAPI.

Dr. Haubrich joined Otsuka in 2006 as Vice President, Corporate Management, for the Global Development and Commercialization Unit of OAPI in Princeton. He worked across the development and commercialization teams to execute a new business process that focused on integrating commercial planning with clinical development at an early stage in drug development, identifying clear action points in the development process, and creating cross-functional Project Development teams. While leading OAPI, Dr. Haubrich implemented a new governance structure and recruited top leadership talent to Otsuka. He also worked across OPDC and OAPI in creating a single Otsuka culture in North America and led the transition.

With 35 years pharmaceutical industry experience, Dr. Haubrich is an expert in drug discovery and development. Following his post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health, he had a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry with the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute and Rhone Poulenc Rorer. He served as both a line leader of more than 100 scientists and a project team leader in drug discovery, where he introduced several candidate compounds into clinical testing. 

During this phase of his career, Dr. Haubrich also established his reputation as a researcher in neurochemistry and pharmacology through more than 80 publications and abstracts. In addition, he served as a reviewer for several scientific journals, and as an adjunct professor at Princeton University, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Albany Medical College.

At Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Dr. Haubrich managed teams that developed and marketed two successful drugs for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. 

Dr. Haubrich has also pursued an interest in the global health area with the TB Alliance, a not for profit organization aimed at developing new drugs to treat tuberculosis. 

Dr. Haubrich holds a Bachelor of Science degree with specialization in Biology and Chemistry, and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Pharmacology and Biochemistry.

 

Mr. Sharon Kochan is Executive Vice President and GM of the Prescription (Rx) Pharmaceuticals Segment of Perrigo Company, a leading global healthcare supplier that develops, manufactures and distributes over-the-counter (OTC) and generic prescription (Rx) pharmaceuticals, nutritional products, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) with annual sales in excess of $3 Billion. 

Sharon started his career in pharmaceuticals with Clay-Park Labs in 1994 as a project manager, and grew through the ranks, and by way of acquisitions, to serve as SVP of Business Development and Strategy for Perrigo Company in March 2005, further to the acquisition of Clay-Park Labs/Agis by Perrigo in March 2005.

In March 2007, Sharon Kochan was promoted to an EVP role with responsibility to lead the Rx Pharmaceuticals segment of Perrigo, which had just over $100M in annual sales at that time. During the last five years the business experienced consistent and impressive growth trajectory, driven both by fruition of an organic pipeline, select product acquisitions and the latest acquisition of Paddock Labs, the Perrigo Rx segment annual sales run rate exceeds $600M based on FY12  H1 with operating margins well above the industry averages.

Sharon Kochan holds a BSc. degree in Industrial Engineering, cum laude, from Tel-Aviv University, and MSc. degree in Operations Research from Columbia University in NYC.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Ellen Lubman is a Group Director in the Strategy, Alliances and Transactions Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Ellen focuses on M&A execution and strategy, identification of new transaction opportunities, and initiation of String of Pearls� transactions, as well as spearheading novel business initiatives. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ellen worked with Celtic Pharma, L.P., a private equity fund that acquires direct ownership or controlling stakes in commercially attractive pharmaceutical products in the late stages of clinical and regulatory development, and VIA Pharmaceuticals, a start-up cardiovascular disease biotechnology company incubated at Bay City Capital in San Francisco. During the heyday of the Human Genome Project, Ellen was a Biotechnology Equity Research Analyst at Robertson Stephens where she focused on Genomics, Proteomics, Drug Discovery and Technology Platform companies, and developed research pieces on Genetic Intellectual Property, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and other discovery technologies. Ellen holds a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, including a Certificate in Global Management. She is a Director on the Board of Gilda's Club of NYC and the Investment Board of Springboard Enterprises.

 

Michael has more than fourteen years of experience assisting organizations achieve transformational change and improving business performance through operations improvement.  His area of expertise is in leading the development and deployment of new strategies, processes, and technology. He has global experience in the consulting, pharmaceutical planning and financial services industries.

Currently, Michael is the Global Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences R&D Advisory Services Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ and is based in New York City.   He is primarily focused on R&D operations and business planning, project management, and organization development.  His areas of specialization include: senior-management decision support, demand management, portfolio visualization, operational planning, organization design, and process engineering. He has developed strategic and tactical programs to help organizations define and implement desired changes, as well as foster the leadership skills needed for the new environment.

Prior to joining PwC, he was the founder and president of Intendere Consulting, a specialized consultancy established to develop and execute practical R&D services and strategies for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. While at Intendere, Michael led projects for both large- and medium-size pharmaceutical organizations, helping them achieve greater efficiency through the development of operations planning organizations, systems, processes and tools.  Earlier in his career he was a management consultant in the Life Science Strategy practice at Deloitte Consulting based in New York City.

Michael holds a B.S. in Industrial / Organizational Psychology and a B.S. in Biology from Brooklyn College and a M.A. in Organization Psychology from Columbia University.  He is a visiting professor for several universities and teaches Organization Behavior and Leadership.  Michael is an advisory board member within The Pharmaceutical Community of Practice with PMI and an implementation taskforce member for FDA Modernization committee. 

 

Garry Neil, M.D. is Corporate Vice President, Corporate Office of Science and Technology (COSAT), Johnson & Johnson.  In this role, Garry leads a team that catalyzes sustained growth for Johnson & Johnson by identifying and launching emerging technologies that underpin the creation of future businesses.  

Garry has broad experience in science, medicine and pharmaceutical development.  He has held a number of senior positions within J&J, most recently Group President, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development where he was responsible for maximizing existing strengths and leveraging collective resources to bring innovative new molecular entities (NMEs) to market quickly and cost effectively.  Through a number of new initiatives he helped transform J&J’s pharmaceutical R&D to a much more capable and productive organization and helped recruit a number of top scientists.  Under his leadership a number of important new medicines for the treatment of cancer, anemia, infections, central nervous system and psychiatric disorders, pain, and genitourinary and gastrointestinal diseases, gained initial or new and/or expanded indication approvals.

Garry joined J&J in 2002 as Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development (J&JPRD). In 2005, Garry became President of J&JPRD, and in 2006, was promoted to Group President. Before joining J&JPRD, he held senior-level positions with Astra Merck Inc., Astra Pharmaceuticals, Astra Zeneca and Merck KGaA.  He has also held a number of academic posts at a number of academic institutes including the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of Toronto, the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania (adjunct).
 
Garry has written more than 50 articles and book chapters.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and completed his postdoctoral clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at the University of Toronto.  He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, a member of the American Association of Immunologists, and the Society for Clinical Trials, and a member of the Life Sciences Leadership Council of the University of Michigan.  He is a member of the Boards of the Reagan Udall Foundation and the J&J Development Corporation and is J&J’s representative to, and Chairman of, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) Science and Regulatory Executive Committee, Chairman of the PhRMA Foundation Board, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (Rutgers), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Biomarkers Consortium. He is also the 2007 discovery awardee of the American Geriatrics Society.

 

Adelene Q. Perkins has served as Infinity’s president and chief executive officer since 2009. Ms. Perkins first joined Infinity as chief business officer in 2002 and then served as president from 2008-2009. Since joining Infinity, she has played an integral role in building the company, in leading its transition from a platform- to a product-based organization, and in developing Infinity’s business strategy, including the establishment of innovative strategic partnerships. 

Ms. Perkins has more than 25 years of international business and corporate strategy experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, focused on licensing and business development, strategic finance, product life cycle management, and leading high-caliber, cross-functional teams. Ms. Perkins joined Infinity from TransForm Pharmaceuticals where she served as vice president of business and corporate development and an early member of the management team that built the company prior to its acquisition by J&J. Prior to TransForm, from 1992-1999, she was at Genetics Institute, now a unit of Pfizer, where she was vice president of emerging businesses and the cofounder and general manager of the DiscoverEase™ business unit. She also formed and served as chief executive officer of MetaMorphix, a joint venture between Genetics Institute and Johns Hopkins University directed at discovering and developing members of the TGF-b superfamily. She joined Genetics Institute in corporate and business development where she led corporate and product strategy initiatives. From 1985-1992, Ms. Perkins worked at Bain & Company, an international strategy consulting firm, where she provided strategic and operational advice to clients in the healthcare industry. 

Ms. Perkins received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.S. in chemical engineering from Villanova University. She is on the Boards of BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization) and the Villanova University College of Engineering and is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Project Hope.

 

Seth Rodner has a unique combination of government, private practice, andbusiness experience, having served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S.Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he specialized international cartel enforcement; a business crimes litigation partner in prominent Florida law firm, where his nationwide practice defended a wirange of white collar criminal investigations and agency enforcemeproceedings across multiple highly-regulated industries including healthcare andlife sciences; and currently Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, andCorporate Secretary for Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation, an NYSE-listpharmaceutical, biologics, and medical device company headquartered Scottsdale, Arizona.  

As Medicis’ Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Rodner directs the worldwide legal affaiof the corporation, including its prescription dermatology, facial aesthetics, andorphan drug divisions.  His mandate spans all dimensions of the businesranging from corporate governance, securities disclosure, and FDA regulatorand other healthcare fraud and abuse guidance to transactions, investigations,litigation, contracting, employment, and intellectual property matters. 

Mr. Rodner joined Medicis in September 2006 as the Company’s Chief Compliance Officer, and served in that capacity through November 2010, during which period he negotiated, implemented, and oversaw Medicis’ nowcompleted Corporate Integrity Agreement. Mr. Rodner was appointed Medicis’ General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in 2010, and became Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer effective January 2012.  

A frequent author and speaker on government enforcement and corporate compliance, Mr. Rodner is the past-Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s national Criminal Law Section, and has been named in multiple publications as a rising star in the legal profession.  His charitable work includes serving on the Board of the Whispering Hope Ranch Foundation, and prior pro bono service as the Director of the New England Innocence Project, where he coordinated a sixstate initiative utilizing DNA evidence to exonerate wrongly-convicted individuals.  Mr. Rodner was awarded the highest possible AV Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell for both legal ability and ethical standards, and earned his B.A. from Amherst College in 1991 and J.D. from Duke University in 1994. 

 

Catherine Sazdanoff joined Takeda’s Global Business Development & Licensing group in December 2006, and became Vice President, Global Licensing in May 2008 after the Millennium acquisition.  She subsequently became VP, Corporate Development focusing on global M&A projects, and most recently was co-lead on the Nycomed acquisition in May 2011. 

In her new role as VP, Global Business Development, Catherine heads the team responsible for global R&D licensing and other strategic alliance transactions including M&A. 

Prior to Takeda, Catherine was employed by Abbott Laboratories, where she held a variety of business and law positions, including Director of Business Development for Abbott’s Pharmaceutical Products Division and Senior Counsel for International Transactions.  Other areas of responsibility at Abbott included managing commercial legal operations for Europe and Canada, global litigation, internal investigations, and commercial compliance.  Catherine was previously employed at the law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale in Chicago.

Catherine has a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.  She is Vice President of the Board of Directors of New York Pharma Forum and a member of Licensing Executives Society, Women Business Leaders, and American Bar Association.

 

Pol Vandenbroucke is Vice President, Development, Emerging Markets. Prior to this appointment he was Vice President, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Canada/Latin America/Africa-Middle East, Vice President, Medical Division Japan, based in Tokyo, and Director of Medical Operations, Asia/Australia/NZ, based in Hong Kong. He moved to Hong Kong from Pfizer HQ in New York where he was a member of the Joint Operating Committee that managed the partnership of Pfizer and Warner-Lambert for Lipitor (atorvastatin), responsible for Pfizer for the international clinical development of Lipitor. 

Before joining Pfizer, Pol was US Medical Director, Bayer CC, Medical Director, Sterling-Winthrop International and Cardiovascular Disease Manager at Novartis. His background includes experience in Medical Affairs, Clinical Development and Regulatory experience in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia.

He holds a medical degree and an MBA degree, and is a Member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Medicine of the UK.

 

Michael Wise is a Partner in A.T. Kearney’s Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Practice and lead partner for the Boston office.  He has over 20 years of industry and consulting experience with Zeneca Pharmaceuticals and A.T. Kearney.  Mike serves clients across the healthcare value chain on a broad range of strategic and operational issues including due diligence and merger integration.  Over the last 4 years he has served as an advisor and integration partner on three of the four largest healthcare mergers.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Management degree Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

 

Brett Zbar, M.D. serves as a Partner of Aisling Capital, a leading venture capital and private equity firm that also manages the investments of the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, LP.  Aisling Capital invests in life science companies developing biopharmaceutical products and creates businesses based on advanced life science technologies.  Dr. Zbar focuses on investments in development-stage as well as commercial-stage companies, and currently serves as a Director or board observer at Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Catalent Pharma Solutions, and Planet Biopharmaceuticals.  Previously, Dr. Zbar was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company and a senior member of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice.  While at McKinsey, he worked closely with management of large pharmaceutical companies and specialty pharmaceutical companies based in the U.S., Europe and Japan.  Prior to joining McKinsey, Dr. Zbar trained on the Osler internal medicine service at Johns Hopkins Hospital.   He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his B.A. from Yale College.  Dr. Zbar is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.