Gordon Binder
Managing Director, Coastview Capital, USA
Founder & former CEO, Amgen Inc, USA

Gordon Binder, founder and former CEO of California-based Amgen, is among biotech’s most respected business minds, owing to his shepherding of Amgen to the world’s largest biotech today. Under his leadership, the breakthrough recombinant human erythropoietin (Epogen), treatment for anemia in kidney disease patients, became the
biotech industry’s blockbuster product with sales surpassing $2 billion in 2001.

Mr Binder has been chairman of both BIO and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and he is currently on the boards of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology and the American Enterprise Institute. In 2000, Mr Binder retired from Amgen but his clear biotech vision combined with his sharp financial mind led him to another new chapter in his career as he founded Coastview Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in biotech companies, where is he is
currently Managing Director. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in the biotech business, he won the 2005 Global Leadership Award by Biotechnology Roundtable.

 

Philippe Kourilsky
Chair of Molecular Immunology, College de France
Former Director General, Pasteur Institute, France

An eminent scientist and expert in molecular immunology and tumor immunity, Professor Kourilsky had a rapid scientific career both in the academic and corporate setting. He is the Chair of Molecular Immunology at the College de France and was formerly Director
General of the prestigious Pasteur Institute.

Professor Kourilsky was also a co-founder of Transgene, a gene therapy company based in France and was the President of Research of Pasteur Merieux Connaught (today Sanofi Pasteur) from 1993 to 1996.
A winner of several scientific awards, he has published over 300 publications, including two reports for the French government and two scientific reference books.
He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and l'Academia Europea.

 

Ansbert Gadicke
Founder & General Partner
MPM Group, USA

Dr Gadicke originally trained as a physician and subsequently held post-doctoral research positions at Harvard University and MIT. To gain business experience, Dr Gadicke then spent three years as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he worked with top management from pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and health
insurance companies, in the areas of business strategy, pharmaceutical product development, marketing, company valuation and acquisitions.

In 1992, Dr Gadicke left BCG & founded MPM. For some time, MPM continued part of the work Gadicke had done at BCG, ultimately recruiting one of its clients, Dr. Michael Steinmetz, the global head of Biotechnology at Hoffmann-LaRoche, to join the firm and to help raise the first venture fund, BioVentures I, in 1997. Nobel laureate, Dr. David Baltimore, was then recruited as the chair of the medical and scientific advisory board.

MPM capital is now one of the world's largest dedicated investors in life sciences with committed capital of more than $2.5 billion. MPM is uniquely structured to invest globally in healthcare innovation. In addition to its BioVentures family of venture capital funds, MPM invests in the public markets through its BioEquities hedge fund.

 

Catch journalist and TV presenter Lorraine Hahn "LIVE" at the BioMedical Asia opening plenary session at 9am on 15th April 2008, as she conducts a talk-show style interview session with BioMedical Asia's 3 prominent keynote speakers: Gordon Binder, Philippe Kouriksky and Ansbert Gadicke, who will be sharing their perspectives on the rising biomedical industry of Asia. Lorraine was formerly the host of CNN International's regional chat show "Talk Asia". She has also anchored CNN’s long-running Asia TV programme "CNN's Biz Asia" and hosted CNBC's flagship program "Business Tonight", "The Winners", "Talk of Asia" and NBC Asia Evening News.