Medidata Collaborates with Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst to Educate, Share, & Network

Executives in the sector discuss the future of biotech in a post-pandemic world.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) is a leading location for companies to develop and commercialize cutting-edge therapeutics. The Stevenage Campus is home to more than 40 organizations, including a growing number of start-ups, and employs over 3,500 people. Located within the golden triangle and the academic centers of London, Cambridge, and Oxford, SBC was created to bring academia, biotech, and pharma companies together to drive advances in healthcare and medical research more effectively.

As part of Medidata’s Biotech Innovation Series, Medidata recently led a panel discussion at the Stevenage Campus alongside other life sciences executives to discuss the future of biotech companies. The panel included speakers from Galecto Biotech, Quell Therapeutics, and Metis Clinical and was chaired by Medidata’s Paul Finney. 

The panel discussed four key topics during the session:

• Outsourcing: The panelists discussed when it makes sense for biotech companies to outsource various clinical trial activities and how to maintain oversight when choosing to outsource.
• Collaboration: The panelists then talked about what effective communication between internal and external teams looks like; what a company might be trying to achieve when collaborating with partners; what problems can be solved through collaboration; and what the biggest obstacles are when collaborating.
• Compliance: The panelists shared their views on how to best navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment and what the limits are with regards to compliance in clinical trials. They also discussed how the pandemic has changed this environment and accelerated conversations and progress.
• COVID-19: Finally, the panelists explored how the pandemic has impacted the way biotech companies operate and whether the collaborations seen in response will continue going forward.

Click here to learn more about the event, and hear from some of the participants below. 

Panel Chair Paul Finney, Strategic Services at Medidata:

As the inaugural event of the series, we were inspired by the discussion, energy, and collaboration expressed by the panel. The panelists openly discussed how they’re driving momentum in the sector—sharing their challenges and how to overcome them. Much of the discussion centered around smart outsourcing strategies, utilizing vendors as partners, and leveraging their expertise. We also talked about how the industry and biotechs have adapted to challenges faced during the pandemic and the need to continue this type of innovation and strategy evolution. I’m excited to continue Medidata’s Biotech Innovation Series and expand the breadth of background and opinions in future discussions.

Panelist Zahir Rajiwate, Director Clinical Operations & Data Management at Galecto Biotech:

The event was very well organized with a good turn out from the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst community. The chosen topics were very engaging with the audience and relevant within the current biotech environment.

Sally Ann Forsyth, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst:

It was a pleasure working with Medidata to organize this informative and topical thought leadership event for our Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst occupiers, who have all expressed positive feedback since. The panel was engaging and shared diverse perspectives on a number of important topics that the biotech community is facing on a daily basis. We look forward to hosting similar events in the future and continuing to collaborate with Medidata.

About Medidata’s Biotech Innovation Series

The global biotech market continues to grow. 2020-2021 was a record growth year for the sector with an increase in funding by 39.6%. Partly due to COVID-19, the optimism in the sector has driven an acceleration in investments, private and public funding, deals, and IPOs. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) highlighted that the success rate for marketing authorization applications from SMEs has more than doubled from 2016 to 2020, growing from 40% to 89%.

How Can the Biotech Industry Keep Up the Momentum?

Medidata is hosting discussions around Europe to discuss the new opportunities and challenges that emerging biotech companies face in a post-pandemic era. The discussions focus on managing risk when outsourcing, optimizing drug development, and the ways that digital collaboration will change how biotech sponsors, CROs, and CDMOs work together in the future.

To learn more about upcoming events in the series or to join the discussion, reach out to Adrian Percin-Janda.