A fresh take on biotech?

The self-appointed “coolest” biotech conference was well attended: nearly 200 participants swarmed into the rather dark event location that serves as a  club on the weekends – right next door to the world-famous Moulin Rouge in Paris’ red light district Pigalle. While French was the lingua franca on the floor, on stage, the debates were held in English. Former President of France Biotech and Managing Director Life Sciences for Truffle Capital Philippe Pouletty held the keynote address on how biotechnology is changing the world. The panels touched on some of the “freshest” current topics in biotech. Sanofi sponsored a panel on the future directions in rare diseases. The noon panel debated how microbial resistance can be overcome, while a late afternoon panel discussed personalised medicine. 

There were three so-called fireside chats throughout the day: face to face interviews on selected topics. In the morning, Thomas Hanke from Evotec (formerly  TeGenero) discussed the entrepreneurial spirit across Europe and what it takes to build a success story. In the afternoon, Marc Delcourt, Co-founder and CEO of French-based Global Bioenergies chatted about the latest advances in synthetic biology, followed by Eva-Lotta Allan, CBO of British Immunocore, who talked about the potential of immuno-oncology. “Ten years from now, immuno-oncology will treat 50% of all cancers,” Allan said. 

After lunch, five young European entrepreneurs took the stage to present their start-ups in a battle. Xavier Duportet was able to take the trophy home. The founder and CEO of Eligo Biosciences explained how his start-up is creating ultraprecise antibiotics that will leave the human microbiome intact. His tool: the genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9.