As promised, here is Part 2 of our blog coverage on the BIO International Convention currently ongoing in San Francisco. Here are a few more insights on the talks we attended and highlights of other coverage from top biotech journalists and media outlets.

Keynote with Dr. Bennet Omalu and Will Smith on “Concussion”

If you haven’t seen the movie Concussion, add it to your watch list right now. It’s certainly at the top of mine after listening to Nigerian-American doctor Bennet Omalu share his story about how he single-handedly changed the way the National Football League (NFL) and the world views concussions and brain science.

In this keynote address, Dr. Omalu sat down with actor Will Smith, who portrays Dr. Omalu in the movie, to discuss how knowledge and truth precipitates evolution. Because of his passion for seeking the truth, Omalu’s autopsy of former NFL player Mike Webster led to the first diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Omalu’s main message was that faith and science go hand in hand. “Faith searches for truth and science searches for truth. There is no end to truth.” He also emphasized that while the truth can be inconvenient, it’s worth pursuing because truth is empowering.

For Will Smith, portraying Dr. Omalu in Concussion, was both an honor and a duty. As a parent of a son who plays football, he was compelled to tell this story and share this knowledge with parents around the world. Smith was so motivated to take on Omalu’s character that he even watched Omalu conduct four autopsies so he could really understand both the man and the science behind CTE.

This dynamic conversation was the highlight of BIO, and you can read more details about it in this article by Eleena Korban of BIOtechNOW. 

Fireside chat with US FDA Commissioner Robert Califf

Robert Califf, the Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, sat down with Steve Usdin, the Senior Editor with BioCentury, to discuss the most important topics facing the FDA right now. Here are some of his main points:

• FDA will focus more on patient engagement. Califf said that patients should be involved from the beginning and not just be the recipients of the end product. He also touched on risk tolerance for patients and that it can vary based on disease. The FDA wants to engage patients, advocacy groups, and industry on this topic so that patients can make more educated decisions about their treatment options.

• The cost of clinical trials is going up 3-4 times the consumer price index which is not sustainable. Califf suggested that we can use integrated health systems and already available data from electronic medical records and patient registries to reduce the costs of large clinical trials. He commented, “The question is, can you create a different playing field that would radically reduce the cost of clinical trials while actually getting us better data about what people really care about and solve their problems related to the use of our products. I think we are close to that point now.”

• Califf mentioned the FDA’s role in President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative as a step towards radically accelerating the rate of drug development. The FDA is partnering with the NIH to create a cloud-based workspace where genetic information on disease can be stored, shared, and studied.

• Lastly, Califf mentioned how the FDA is creating a virtual center of excellence for cancer research as part of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. He said that the FDA needs to do a better job of collaborating across its different product centers and that drug devices and biologics will be brought together starting first in the oncology space, and then eventually rolled out to other disease areas. On the clinical side, they will focus on patient involvement and the needs of cancer patients.

More coverage on the FDA fireside chat from BIOtechNOW

 Final Thoughts

While BIO ends today, the partnerships, conversations, and innovation certainly will not. In just four short days, the vibrant and eager atmosphere of BIO has transformed this year’s theme of Imagination into one of hopeful reality. Curing disease and saving lives might not be in the immediate future, but after what I’ve seen at BIO, I’m confident that the groundwork has been laid out to accelerate us down this path.

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Other #BIO2016 coverage

• Keynote: A look at the 2016 Presidential Election

• Statnews: It’s the war of the tchotchkes as drug makers vie for attention at biotech bash

• MedCity News: BIO 2016 Concussions, Ali, FDA and synthetic biology