Bionest Hosted Discussions at the Burrill Personalized Medicine Conference

Panel at the Conference illuminated pathways toward developing innovative personalized medicine products and building commercial success

NEW YORK & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bionest Partners, a strategy and management consulting firm for the life science industries, and a leader in personalized medicine (PM) strategy consulting, was invited to participate in the 8th Burrill Personalized Medicine Meeting, a key annual event in the world of PM held at San Francisco on September 13 and 14, 2012.

“First Generation PM Companies – Where are they now? What can we learn?”

At the event, Dr. Sean X. Hu, Head of Bionest USA and Managing Partner, the invited speaker from Bionest, hosted a group of senior managers from leading molecular diagnostics (MDx) companies in a panel entitled “First Generation PM Companies – Where are they now? What can we learn?” In addition, Dr. Hu served as an “expert host” during the “Conversations with Experts” Luncheon session and shared his expertise on how best to evaluate PM drug and diagnostic product strategies, and, optimize decision-making and implementation.

The panelists shared how their company strategies led to their success to-date, and discussed their views on the key trends and factors in the MDx industry that would impact their future success. Dr. Hu commented: “The trend towards PM is inevitable yet remains highly challenging. A great deal of valuable learning emerged from our discussions at this Burrill conference.”

“For diagnostic companies, it is critical to leverage their core strengths and carefully place their bets by targeting specific unmet clinical needs before, at the time of, or after medical / drug intervention decisions. Depending on whether an MDx company develops a Laboratory-developed test (LDT) or an IVD kit, one must understand and effectively address specific challenges related to its business model, as well as regulatory, pricing, market access and other commercialization aspects across key geo markets.”

Dr. Hu continued, “For pharmaceutical companies, there is more to PM than simply knowing whether or not and how to incorporate patient stratification biomarkers (as companion diagnostics) into their drug’s clinical development and commercialization strategies. Some cutting edge players have already begun to think beyond companion diagnostics and leverage other kinds of Dx products (e.g. disease diagnosis / definition, prognosis etc.) to enhance the value of their drug assets.”

Bionest is a powerhouse in PM strategy consulting, serving the pharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotech and medical device industries. It is experienced in addressing a broad spectrum of challenges, from development and commercialization strategies for individual drug assets, diagnostics and other related products, to corporate level PM business models, commercialization capability building, R&D and commercialization business processes, and organizational structure.

Bionest has been driving thought leadership on PM, with many publications on the strategic, commercial and scientific aspects of PM. For more details, please visit www.bionest.com, and navigate to section Strategic/Practices/Personalized Medicine Strategy.

For further discussions with Dr. Hu and his Bionest team on PM strategies, please contact him at [e-mail].

About Bionest Partners

Bionest Partners provides strategy consulting services exclusively for the life science industries to help pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotechnology, and medical device companies and their shareholders maximize the value of their assets and investments. The company, founded in 2003, has a broad client base with over 100 clients ranging from large established companies to biotech start-ups and private equity firms, such as Pfizer, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, BiogenIdec, Millennium, MedImmune, Idenix, ProStrakan, Stallergenes, Innate Pharma, Genfit, Jubilant, Sequenom, Axa Private Equity, Blackstone, Candover. The company focuses on providing actionable strategies through its expertise in management consulting, including corporate, franchise, portfolio and product commercialization, organizational and marketing strategies, due diligence, surrogate management, as well as entry into European and US markets. Bionest has offices in Paris and New York, and a global network of consultants and associate members deployed to address specific client assignments and geographical markets in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific.