California Biotech Law Blog

According to an Associated Press report, Harvard researchers have been reviewing the recent rash of problems with approved drugs and have come to a "disturbing" conclusion: drugs that were approved by the FDA in a rushed timetable have had more problems than drugs that were approved on a more leisurely timetable.  The results of this research have just been published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and provide support for the researchers' conclusion.

The Associated Press explains as follows:

Deadlines were first imposed on FDA by a 1992 law that allowed drug makers to pay millions of dollars in fees directly to the cash-strapped agency so it could hire more reviewers and clear a backlog of pending drug applications. In return, FDA had to make a decision — either approve or reject — on 90 percent of all drug candidates within 12 months of their application, or lose money. The deadline was 6 months for drugs so novel or potentially lifesaving to be classified high-priority.  Congress tightened the deadline for most drugs to 10 months in 1997.

Amid concern about risky drugs, Harvard professor Daniel Carpenter took a closer look at the impact. First, he found approval is 3.4 times as likely in the two months leading up to the user-fee deadline as at any other time.  Drugs approved in that just-before-deadline period had a four-to five-fold higher rate of later being withdrawn or requiring serious safety warnings, compared with drugs approved faster — presumably slam-dunks — or those that miss the deadline, Carpenter concluded.

While the FDA is denying that an accelerated review timetable is responsible for the recent wave of problems with approved drugs, the New England Journal of Medicine report certainly suggests that the contrary may in fact be true. 

In light of this evidence, what should be done to protect the public? 

Two possibilities quickly come to mind: first, there is the option of bulking up the FDA staff to more effectively deal with accelerated review timetables, and second, there is the option of lobbying Congress to loosen the tight deadlines, so that the FDA has more time to do a more thorough review of new drugs.  Given the current budget deficit, the second option is likely more realistic.

Perhaps patients who are pursuing class action suits against Merck and other companies who have sold these problem drugs should redirect their efforts towards lobbying for new legislation in Congress to relax the current FDA approval deadlines.  Taking this action--rather than pursuing class actions suits--may very well be the step most likely to produce real change in order to best protect the public. 

The Practicing Law Institute event Handling Intellectual Property in Business Transactions will be held in San Francisco on April 30-May 1, 2007.  The event will cover the following issues:

• Strategies in creation of intellectual property assets;
• Obtaining ownership of intellectual property assets;
• Strategies for licensing of intellectual property assets;
• Trademark licensing and branding issues;
• Understanding and analyzing intellectual property assets;
• Maximizing the value of intellectual property assets;
• The impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and FAS 141/142 on IP issues;
• Critical open source issues; and 
• Protecting IP assets in the event of bankruptcy.

The event NanoBioNexus' Patenting & Licensing Nanotechnology--"Where Much Can Go Wrong if You Don't Get it Right" will be held at the Radisson La Jolla, 3299 Holiday Court, La Jolla, CA  92037 on April 26, 2007 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.  The speakers will include:

• Vicki G. Norton, Ph.D., J.D., Partner, Intellectual Property, IP Litigation, IP Counseling & Patents, Life Sciences, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Law Firm;
• Esther Kepplinger, Director, Patent Operations, IP Counseling & Patents, Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati Law Firm; and 
• Jane Moores, Ph.D.
  Interim Director, UCSD Technology Transfer.

 BayBio 2007  will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel SFO, 1177 Airport Blvd., Burlingame, CA  94010.  This conference will focus on Northern California's strength in life sciences product development and commercialization.

The event Life Sciences Law Institute will be held April 25-27, 2007 at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco, CA.  The program is designed to address the unique issues faced by in-house and outside counsel for pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, device manufacturers, academic medical centers, and healthcare providers who have relationships with the life sciences industry. Daniel Meron, General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, will give this year's keynote address. Following the keynote, Linda Freidman from Astellas, and Bruce Garren from Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will discuss The In-Box Issues for Biotech, Drug and Device General Counsels. Breakout sessions will include:

• Coverage, Reimbursement and Fraud and Abuse Basics for FDA Lawyers;
• FDA Basics for Healthcare Lawyers;
• Conducting Effective Internal Investigations and Managing the Whistleblower Threat;
• Postmarket Safety Issues for Devices;
• Recent Life Sciences Corporate Integrity Agreements: Consequences for Compliance Auditing and Monitoring;
• Medicare Part B Coverage, Billing and Payment for Drugs and Biologics Furnished in an Outpatient Setting;
• Global Compliance Challenges for Life Sciences Companies;
• Off-Label Promotion: Current Government Theories/Legal and Policy Defenses; and
• Pharmaceutical Industry Data: What Litigating and Compliance Attorneys Need to Know.

The teleconference event Winning Product Subsmissions--Find Out What the FDA is Looking For and How to Get Your Product Approved Sooner will be held on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST.  The audioconference will address the following:

• The importance and underlying principles of the FDA drug development process from Phase I through market approval;

• How to create adequate and appropriate FDA submissions throughout the drug development process covering CMC, Nonclinical and Clinical areas;

• What information about your new product should and should not be included in application packets;

• How to effectively prepare for, and communicate during, meetings with the FDA;

• The common pitfalls that lead to delays and non-approvable determinations ;

• How to maintain investor confidence throughout the review process;

• An overview of the different types of submissions from IND and IDE through marketing applications [NDAs, BLAs, PMAs, 510(k)s];

• Advice on how to communicate with the FDA during your development program and upon submission of your marketing application;

• Tips on the submission process — strategies for filing and how to avoid delays;

• The review process and related correspondence;  and

• What's new in compliance guidance documents.

The event UC Berkeley Extension: The Drug Development Process will be held April 23-27, 2007 at  the UC Berkeley Extension - Downtown Center, 425 Market Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, California U.S.A.  This four-day course will provide a thorough overview of all major activities involved in bringing a pharmaceutical therapy from discovery to market.  Topics will include the following:

• pharmacology,
• metabolism and pharmacokinetics,
• toxicology, pharmaceutical development and production,
• clinical trials and statistical support,
• current regulations and the approval process,
• QA/QC compliance,
• intellectual property,
• commercial development planning and strategic marketing,
• program management,
• financing, and
• FDA perspective on industry inspections.
  

The event  Biotech Demystified: The Science Behind the Business will be held at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management in San Diego, CA  on June 18th-21, 2007.  The program is designed toprovide executives and decision makers with a practical understanding of the basic science behind the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  Topics will include:

The event Tunnel Consulting Summit -  BioProcessing Throughout the Product Life Cycle  will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at Office Pavilion, 6920 Carroll Rd, San Diego, CA 92121from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event will cover the following topics:

This month's Bioscience Forum event, Community-Based Approach to Neglected Infectious Disease Research, will be held on Wed., April 18, 2007 from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Clarion Hotel, San Francisco Airport, 401 E. Millbrae Ave., Millbrae, CA  94030.  The featured speaker will be Dr. Barry Bunin, CEO & President of Collaborative Drug Discovery Inc.  His presentation will provide perspectives on a new type of web-database to help scientists more effectively develop new drug candidates from commercial and humanitarian academic drug discovery research.

The event Clinical Quality Assurance and Management Policy: Two Case Histories will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. by audio conference.  The event will look at two different case studies on clinical trials and what went wrong and how to avoid it, addressing the following:

• What corporate decisions occurred?

• Why did one site close down in response to the FDA enforcement action?

• Why does corporate management not share the clinical research or the regulatory perspective?

• What is the required corporate management CQA interface?

• Where and why did it fail?

• FDA sponsor obligations - what are they?

• What is the sponsor's liability and exposure for FDA enforcement action?

• How do the concepts of misconduct, fraud, and sponsor due diligence impact the FDA application of enforcement actions?

• How can CQA enable corporate management to empower the CQA function?

• What is the role of clinical project management and regulatory affairs in ensuring FDA compliant sponsor corporate management decisions?

The event Third Annual Venture Capital Awards will be held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on April 12, 2007 from 6 to 8 p.m.  The event will recognize and honor investments in women made in 2006, including the following: 

      •   Largest Percentage of Investments in Women CEOs
      •   Highest Number of Investments in Companies with a Woman CEO
             - current fund greater than $250M
      •   Highest Number of Investments in Companies with a Woman CEO
             - current fund smaller than $250M.

The sfAWIS April Networking Social will be held on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 in San Francisco, CA.  The event will be sponsored by Genentech and will take place at The Pub at UCSF, Mission Bay, 1675 Owens St., San Francisco, CA.

The event IBF's 18th  Annual Venture Capital Investing Conference will be held on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 through Friday, June 8, 2007 at the Four Seasons Hotel , 75 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103. 

The event 2007 Dean's Symposium: Exploring Proteins will be held on Friday, April 6, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at UCSD Mandel Weiss Theatre.  The event will cover the following topics: protein folding and function; protein assemblies and machines; and proteins within cells.

The event French-American Biotech Connection will be held Wednesday, April 4, 2007 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  The event will compare two successful approaches to fostering innovation in the life sciences.  The speakers will include as follows:

• François Ferré Ph.D., CEO, Althea Technologies, Member, Tech Coast Angel
• Luc Rousseau, Vice-Minister of Industry, General Directorate for French Enterprises
• Professeur Fabien Calvo Ph.D., Chairman, Hospital Saint Louis, Medicen bio-cluster
• Antoine Cournot, President EUCROF (European CRO Federation) and CEO, Therapharm
• Dr Catherine Lassale, MD, Scientific, Pharmaceutical and Medical Affairs Director, Leem
• Patrick Seroin, Attorney at Law, Fidal
• Jacques Warcoin, European Patent Attorney; European Trademark and Design Attorney, Cabinet Regimbeau.
  

On April 3, 2007, BIOCOM will hold a legislative roundtable with Congressman Bob Filner.  To RSVP or for more information about this event, please contact Faith Picking at fpicking@biocom.org.

Santa Clara Law School is going to be hosting a Blawgers Roundtable on Wednesday, March 28th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Wiegand Room, Arts & Sciences Building at Santa Clara University  The event will cater to Bay Area blawgers, but everyone is welcome.  I will be in attendance, as well as the following, who are confirmed:

Mike Dillon of Sun (see http://blogs.sun.com/Dillon)
Cathy Gellis (see http://www.cathygellis.com)
Eric Goldman of SCU (see  http://blog.ericgoldman.org)
Joe Gratzof Keker & Van Nest (see http://www.joegratz.net)
Chris Hoofnagle of Boalt (see http://choof.org/blog)
Cathy Kirkman of Wilson Sonsini (see http://www.svmedialaw.com)
David Levine of Stanford Law CIS (see http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/david-levine)
Colin Samuels (see http://www.infamyorpraise.com/)
Jason Schultz of EFF (see http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek)
Colette Vogele (see  http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/colette-vogele)

To attend,  please RSVP to Eric Goldman at egoldman@gmail.com.

• Perspectives from industry strategists and thought leaders;
• Business best practices and lessons learned from leading companies;
• Customer presentations about their experience with Oracle’s many application solutions; and 
• A unique networking opportunity with Partners, Industry Peers, and Oracle experts.
  

The webinar event Hiring a Clinical Research Associate--What You Don't Know Can Hurt You  will be held on Tuesday, March 20, 2007; 1:00 - 2:30pm EST.  The program will address:

The event FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs Forum on Positioning Your Life Science Company for Outside Funding will be held on Monday, March 19, 2007.  The speakers will include:

• Facilitator Geetha Rao
• Panelist John Cornwell with a Life Science Angel perspective
• Panelist Ken Martin, Onset Ventures with a VC perspective
• Panelist David Miller Founder, InnoSpine, with an entrepreneurs' perspective

Registration is limited to entrepreneurs and investors and is $10-$15, plus $3 in fees.  Registration closes on March 16, 2007.

The bioe2e event Myelin Repair Foundation--Revolutionizing Medical Research will be held on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, 950 Page Mill Rd., Palo Alto, CA  94301.  The pre-reigstration discount is $25 for registration before midnight on Monday, March 12, 2007; registration at the door is $35.  The program will address:

• How was MRF able to attract the top researchers from around the globe to collaborate? 
• Why have they been so successful? 
• How did MRF raise funding? 
• What were the issues surrounding IP and interactions with University Technology Transfer groups?
• Also, how could this model be applied to other diseases? 

The presenters will include the following:

• Scott Johnson, President and Founder  Scott Johnson brings more than 20 years of experience in business, including President and CEO of three startups. Johnson led such companies as Thermatrix, a venture-capital-backed company that developed, patented and sold a highly-efficient thermal oxidation technology that destroyed hazardous air pollutants. He also served as President and CEO of Cinemation, an entertainment company headquartered in Hawaii. Johnson's first startup was SeparaSystems LP, a joint venture between DuPont and FMC that utilized advanced membrane technology for food processing. Before these entrepreneurial roles, Johnson was an executive at FMC Corporation and in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis. Johnson was diagnosed with MS in 1976.

• Russell "Rusty" Bromley, Chief Operating Officer   Rusty Bromley brings a unique combination of business experience in both academic and commercial research environments. His expertise includes the creation and protection of innovative technologies, business development, and marketing strategies for high tech and life sciences firms. Formerly he was CEO of LabVelocity, Inc., an Internet information portal for the life science research community. Prior to that he was CEO of Berkshire Holding Corporation, a privately-held, multinational manufacturer of contamination control materials for microelectronics and pharmaceutical production. Bromley's experience also includes 17 years with American Hospital Supply Corporation and Baxter Healthcare, in both the distribution and diagnostics businesses, culminating with seven years as President of the Burdick and Jackson Division. Bromley holds a degree in Biochemistry from Rice University.

• Ben Barres, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Ben Barres is Professor of Neurobiology and Developmental Biology and Vice-Chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.Dr. Barres's laboratory brings expertise in the development and function of glial cells in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). They have found evidence of several novel glial signals that induce the onset of myelination, the clustering of axonal sodium channels, the survival and growth of retinal ganglion cells, and the formation of synapses. Their work for MRF compliments Dr. Robert Miller's work on characterizing the processes related to myelination and identifying relevant glial-derived signaling molecules. To understand the interactions between axons and glial cells Dr. Barres's laboratory has developed methods to highly purify and culture neurons as well as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes (the glial cell types they interact with). The laboratory has developed a variety of novel methods to generate purified cell cultures that allow direct study of molecular interactions between the cell types and has considerable expertise in identifying and purifying these molecules.

The Second Annual Stem Cell Meeting will be held on March 12-13, 2007 at the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California, San Francisco.  This event is the premier international event bringing together world-renowned scientists at the frontier of embryonic and adult stem cell research with decision makers and thought leaders in policy, ethics, patient advocacy, finance, business, and media to explore the challenge and promise of the research and the compelling potential of emerging therapies.  The speaker list includes:

The event Clinical Trial Essentials--An Intensive Course  at the University of California Extension, Santa Cruz at the Cupertino Campus on March 12-16, 2007.  The program will examine the many facets of the clinical trial process.  The program instructors will include:

• EUGENIA BUDMAN, who has over 20 years of industry experience, in roles including clinical data management and programming, clinical operations, project management, finance, software installation and development. She is currently the manager of the Data Management, Biostats and Systems groups at Abbott Vascular.
• R. MICHAEL CROMPTON, J.D., M.P.H., who is a regulatory affairs professional with over 20 years of experience in the medical device industry. He has held senior management positions at medical device start-ups as well as multi-national medical device corporations and practiced law at a leading food and drug law firm.
• MICHAEL HUSTON, M.B.A., who is the president of Huston Associates, LLC, has more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry, from basic research to strategic drug development. Mr. Huston has directed project teams through preclinical evaluations, Phase 1-3 clinical studies, and numerous regulatory submissions.
• JACQUIE MARDELL, B.A., who has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience in both large and small companies. She has a broad background in planning, implementation and analysis of Phase 1-4 clinical trials and has lead teams in the preparation and execution of clinical development place in a wide range of therapeutic areas.
• JEAN MASONEK, RN, B.S.N., who has worked in drug safety for a large multinational pharmaceutical corporation and mid-sized and small biotech companies in the Bay Area. She is currently drug safety manager at a small pharmaceutical company on the peninsula.  
• FRANCES A. MCKENNEY, M.S., who is the director of GCP compliance at Genitope. Ms. McKenney has 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry working for both sponsor/manufacturers and a CRO.
• TAMMY MORTON-TAYLOR, M.S., who is a clinical project manager for Bailer Research, a contract research organization specializing in cardiovascular medical devices. She has 16 years of research experience, with more than 10 years devoted to coordinating, monitoring and managing clinical trials.
• NANETTE NANJO-JONES, M.B.A., who is the former director of contracts and proposals/business development for ICON Clinical Research, is now an independent outsourcing consultant. She has more than 12 years of experience in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry, from financial analysis to clinical-site budget negotiation and contracts management.
• EDWARD ROZHON, Ph.D., who is the senior manager of clinical trial management at Genentech and was formerly the associate director of development planning and program management at PPD Development. Dr. Rozhon has 18 years of pharmaceutical experience in preclinical and clinical areas of drug discovery and development.
• PETER SHABE, M.S., who is president of Advance Research Associates, Inc., a contract research organization (CRO) providing data-management and biostatistical services to medical-device, biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

The event Startup-U SFO: Building a Clear & Significant Product Roadmap with Eric Walcyzkowski will take place on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 11:45 a.m. at DLA Piper Rudnick, 153 Townsend Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94107.  This program will address how entrepreneurs put together a clear product roadmap on how to get their products to market, focusing on the following:

• Defining the product that you would build to target that market
• Sizing the market
• Estimating the cost to develop and sell the product, and calculating a rough ROI
• How to take into account your team’s experience, and the learning curve
• Understanding the competition, and differentiation.

The featured speaker is Eric Walczykowski of Deloitte Ventures.  The registration cost is $5 (member) or $15 (affiliate/non-member), plus a $1.50 credit card processing fee, and includes event and lunch, available through advanced online registration. A $10 or $20 fee is collected at the door.

The event CALBIO/Annual Dinner 2007 will take place on March 6, 2007 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the San Diego Marriott & Marina, 333 W Harbor Drive, in San Diego, CA. CALBIO will provide a forum to learn from the experts and discuss best strategies for aligning FDA/CMS strategies. The topics include the following: 

• The Crucial Alignment between the FDA and CMS;
• Financing your Innovation from Global Sources; NIH Funding: Will the new Congress stop the trend of declining budgets?; and
• Drug Manufacturing: Quality Compliance, Process Execution and Manufacturing Excellence.

CALBIO will also present a first hand report from the world's top pharmaceutical companies of what exactly they are looking for in their upcoming licensing agreements, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions in 2007.

The event IBC’s 18th International Antibody Development & Production Successful Upstream and Downstream Processing Approaches will take place from February 28 – March 2, 2007 at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, CA. This forum explores every critical stage of process and product development and is designed to help companies of all sizes accelerate their antibody therapeutic programs. The registration deadline for this event is December 15, 2006.  For more information, contact IBC at  800.390.4078 (telephone); 941.365.0104 (fax); reg@ibcusa.com.  The Priority Code is B4155BPIEM1.

The event Federal Circuit Judges Come to California will take place on February 27, 2007 at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, 4375 Admiralty Way in Marina del Rey, CA. The judges will provide a brief commentary on the latest initiatives of the Court, including technology enhancements. Topics will include:

• Decision Making and Effective Advocacy at the Federal Circuit;
• the New Federal Circuit Mediation Program;
• "What's Up with the Supreme Court?"; and
• Patent Litigation: Perspectives of the Trial Courts.
  
  
  

The event BIOCOM February Breakfast Meeting:  Getting Your Ship in Shape: Moving with the Currents will take place on February 22, 2007 from 7:00 - 9:00 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 6450 Carlsbad Blvd., in Carlsbad, CA. This meeting will address charting a destination such as:

• taking a business public;
• searching for a partner or looking to get acquired; and
• planning for other paths to commercialization.

The teleconference  Adverse Event Reporting in Clinical Trials: How to Minimize Your Liability by Working With Investigators will take place on December 14, 2006 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. EST. The cost is $299 per listening site, and the persenter will be Stephen Schwartz, director of clinical services for Solaris Research Corporation.  This presentation will cover the following issues:

• How to avoid underreporting—and equally dangerous overreporting;
• The role of evaluating study patient AEs; and
• Which specific events are considered “adverse” and which should be reported. 

To register, call toll-free at 800-688-2421.

The event Nanotechnology in Cancer Research will take place on November 30, 2006 from 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, Goldberg Auditorium in San Diego, CA. The conference will help determine how Centers for Nanotchnology Excellence ("CCNE") will make a difference in the future. San Diego-based Nano Tumor Center leaders will share the progress on research projects and plans for commercialization.

The event Working Together: Strategies for a Successful Partnership will take place on November 9, 2006 from 3-6:30 p.m. at the San Jose BioCenter, 5941 Optical Court in San Jose, CA. This roundtable discussion will provide an opportunity to get to know the concepts of "Identify, Strike, & Manage" with a specific emphasis on the process Genentech and Eli Lilly engage in for partnerships. The panelists will include:

*Camille D. Samuels, Managing Director, Versant Ventures;

* James Chubb, Partner, ProPharma Partners;

*Anton Gueth, Senior Consultant, Vantage Partners, Former Eli Lilly Director of Alliance Management;

*Robert Cohen, Senior Director-Oncology Strategy, Business Development, Genentech; and

*Peter Condon, Senior Manager, Business Development, Genentech.

IBF and SRI International will be gathering the players who are rebuilding and refueling the funding pipeline at the 14th Annual Bio Investing Conference on November 8th, 2006 located at SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. This conference will provide a platform for leaders in bio investing to discuss who is funding early stage, mid stage and later stage companies. Hear the latest initiatives in Bio Investing from the most active investor. Please use discount code "S-CBLB" to receive a discounted registration rate of $695. Please note: This is a $700 savings off the regular registration rate of $1395. This discount may not be combined with any other offers.

The event CONNECT's Hall of Fame Award Luncheon will take place on November 8, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Royston, one of the founding fathers of San Diego's biotechnology industry, will be honored for his professional and personal contributions to the region's thriving scientific and business communities.

The event Deep Ocean Bacteria as a New Resource for Antibiotic Drug Discovery will take place on November 7, 2006 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. at the offices of CONNECT at 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite A124, La Jolla, California 92037. UCSD Professors Victor Nizet and William Fenical will speak on deep ocean bacteria as a new resource for antibiotic drug discovery.

The event Play by the Rules: Equity Compensation Strategies and New Rules will take place on November 2, 2006 from 12 - 1 p.m. Topics to be discussed will include the different types of equity incentive awards that a company could use to attract and keep new talent; the general tax implications for the recipient; and the mechanics of creating and issuing these awards. The speaker of this event will be Julia Vax, Director, Business Department, Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin.

The event Neuroinflammation Symposium will take place on November 2, 2006 from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. at Johnson & Johnson PRD, 3210 Merryfield Row, in San Diego, CA. The speakers will include:

*Floyd Bloom, M.D. - Scripps Research Institute and Neurome, Inc., who will be speaking on "New Approaches to Neurodegenerative Disease Models".

*Lawrence Steinman, M.D. - Stanford University, who will be speaking on "A Long and Winding Road: The Quest for Antigen Specific Therapy of Autoimmune Disease".

*Linda Watkins , Ph.D. - University of Colorado, who will be speaking on "Listening and Talking to Neurons: Clinical Implications of Immune & Glial Regulation of Pain".

*Wolfgang J. Streit , Ph.D. - University of Florida, who will be speaking on "Role of Microglia in Neuronal Regeneration and Degeneration".

The event First Annual Orange County Medical Device Forum will take place from November 1 - 2, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency Irvine in Irvine, CA. Leading medical device companies, start-ups, and research leaders from nine UC campuses will gather to discuss promising technology applications and emerging trends in opthamology, cardiology, medical imaging, and other medical device applications.

The LES Professional Development Series event Advanced Valuation Skills will take place on November 1-2 at the Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, CA. The registration cost is $1750 for members and $1995 for non-members. The course is a continuation of the skills taught in the Fundamentals and Advanced Valuation courses and will cover Discounted Cash Flow Methods, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Real Option valuation methods.

The event Microarray Technologie will take place from November 1-3, 2006 from 8:30 a. m. - 4:30 p. m. at 6925 Lusk Blvd., in San Diego, CA. This three-day course sponsored by UCSD will provide an overview of microarray and gene-chip technologies with the final component being a thorough analysis of image processing and statistical considerations for processing of array images and data mining.

The event, Oncology Leaders Forum 2006, will be held October 30-November 1, 2006 at The Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA. The topics include government; industry and analyst perspectives on market potential and what it will take to commercialize novel combination and mono therapies for oncology; and a five-year forecast of market size and potential opportunities for oncology therapeutics in US and globally.

The event Transition to Industry Career Symposium for Graduate students and Postdocs will take place on October 28, 2006 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at Biogen Idec, 5200 Research Place, in San Diego, CA. Discussions concern the local life sciences industry and how to market to industry. Provides the opportunity to interact with and seek out information from local companies. For more information, contact email biotech@workforce.org.

The event New and Emerging Causes of Birth Defects will take place on October 27-28, 2006 at UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA. This timely conference will address the environmental causes of birth defects. Key topics include: anticonvulsant medications, maternal diabetes, and isotretinoin and Vitamin A. Presenters hail from eight of the world's premier medical institutions representing both the U.S. and Australia. For more information, contact UCSD at (800)711-5030.

The interactive audio conference Is Clinical Trial Noncompliance Allowed to Happen? will take place on October 27, 2006 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by publishers BioWorld Today and Medical Device Daily and is $299 per listening site. The conference will examine issues regarding compliance with the key focus on steps and programs to ensure compliance. The speaker will be Tamera Norton Smith, PhD, MT(ASCP), President and Senior Consultant at Norton Audits Inc.

Session X of the Women's Technology Cluster Venture Catalyst Program, Angel Funding, will take place on October 27, 2006 from 8 to 10:15 a.m. at Fenwick & West LLP's offices at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The speakers will include Jaleh Daie, Band of Angels; Allan May, Life Science Angels; Susan Preston, Kauffman Foundation; Laura Roden, Angels Forum; Steve Stephansen, Sand Hill Angels; and Randy Williams, Keiretsu Forum. The registration price for the event is $27.17 (the registration price for the full series is $172.00).

The event New and Emerging Causes of Birth Defects will take place on October 27-28, 2006 at UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA. This timely conference will address the environmental causes of birth defects. Key topics include: anticonvulsant medications, maternal diabetes, and isotretinoin and Vitamin A. Presenters hail from eight of the world's premier medical institutions representing both the U.S. and Australia. For more information, contact UCSD at (800)711-5030.

The event Simon Ramo Distinguished Lecture: The Changing Pharmaceutical Industry will take place on October 26, 2006 at 4 p.m. at the Keck Graduate Institute, Building #517, 535 Watson Drive, in Claremont, CA. The guest speaker of this event is Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, who is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Merck & Co., Inc. For more information, contact the Keck Graduate Institute at 909-607-7892 or events@kgi.edu. http://www.kgi.edu/x4156.xml.

The morning group BIOCOM Orange County CFO Breakfast will take place on October 26, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. -10:00 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Road in Irvine, CA. This event is open to only industry CFOs: the discussion involves issues facing CFOs in the life sciences.

A BIOCOM Purchasing Event will be held on October 26, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. at BIOCOM's offices at 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza Seven, San Diego, CA 92121. For more information, please contact Kelly Aranaz at Karanaz@biocom.org or 858.455.0300 ext.100.

The purchasing group event BIOCOM 401K - Lunch and Learn will take place on October 26, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at BIOCOM in San Diego. For more information, contact Kelly Aranaz at Karanaz@biocom.org or
858.455.0300 ext.100.

The event the Learning Consortium: Project Management That Works will take place on October 25, 2006 from 7:45 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. at The Rady Center for Executive Education at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA. This session covers the key concepts for executing projects in today's complex information and knowledge-intensive settings. Topics include: How to mitigate technical and market uncertainty and how to manage the social aspects of project execution. For more information, contact Karen Cordero at kcordero@ucsd.edu.

The event Extraterritoriality: Divided Claims, Divided Lands will take place on October 25, 2006 at 275 Middlefield Road, in Menlo Park, CA. The discussion relates to the extraterritorial application of U.S. patent law, multiple party/divided claim issues and extraterritoriality and associated planning issues.

The event Hands-on Bioinformatics Computer Workshop will take place on October 25, 2006 at OpenHelix, LLC in San Francisco, CA. This is a hands-on computer workshop sponsored by the UCSC Bioinformatics Group. The introductory tutorial will cover the topics needed to effectively use the powerful, free, publicly-accessible UCSC Genome Browser tool, including: basic functionality of Genome Browser searching and BLAT use, Table Browser use, creating and using Custom Tracks, and an introduction to the Gene Sorter. For more information, contact nsirohi@openhelix.com.

The event Connecting People to Company Success will take place on October 25, 2006 from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. at the Radisson Hotel La Jolla, 3299 Holiday Court, in La Jolla, CA. For more information, contact Joanna Cuevas at (858) 882-8033 or jccuevas@ucsd.edu.

The Licensing Executives Society Silicon Valley Chapter will be holding a luncheon event on IP Transactional Intermediaries: Who are they and what do they do? will be held on October 25, 2006 from 11:30-1:30 at Benson Parlor at Santa Clara University. The speakers include Ron Epstein, CEO of IPotential, and David Smith, Founder of TYNAX.

The event New Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses will take place on October 24, 2006 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at the San Diego Marriott La Jolla, in La Jolla, CA. NCI SBIR & STTR Director Michael Weingarten will discuss funding opportunities available to small businesses to support research and development in the areas of anti-cancer agents, biomarkers, nanotechnology, proteomics, pharmacodynamics, and many more areas of interest to the NCI. In addition, Dr. Piotr Grodzinski will present an overview of the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer.

The 7th Annual Early Stage Investing Conference will take place on October 24-25, 2006 at The San Jose Marriot, San Jose, CA. This conference affords an atmosphere where the community as a whole can expand their knowledge base and network with Venture capital industry leaders on how they are adjusting their activities and plans in this promising venture capital market. The participants in this event include Advisory Board Chairman Terry L. Opdendyk, General Partner, NSET Ventures; Conference Chairman Vincent M. Occhipinti, Managing Director Woodside Fund; and Advisory Board Members Mark Perry, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates; Ravi Mohan, General Partner, Shasta Ventures;
Bob Williams, General Partner, Bay Partners; Kip Sheeline, General Partner, Levensohn Venture Partners; Ajit Nazre, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; and Gary Little, General Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures. For more information, contact IBF (Cathy Fenn) at (516) 765-9005, Ext. 21 or e-mail: cathy@ibfconferences.com.

The event the 3rd Global Pharma R&D Summit will take place from October 23-25, 2006 at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, CA. This world-class conference brings together up to 300 leading Drug Discovery & Development professionals. Topics include: the future role of the FDA, pandemics, personalized medicine, biomarkers, and nanobiotechnology. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Edward Abrahams, Executive Director, Personalized Medicine Coalition; Dr. Klaus Stöhr, Senior Advisor, World Health Organization Initiative on Vaccine Research; Dr. Mahdi Fawzi Executive Vice President, Preclinical Development Wyeth Research; Dr. Jim Bristol, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Discovery, Pfizer; Elizabeth Kerr, Ph.D., Director, SciTech Markets, Apple Computer, Inc.; Dr. Ian MacLachlan, Chief Scientific Officer, Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc.; Dr. Jeffery Schloss, Co-Chair, Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative, National Institutes of Health; Dr. Arthur Horwich Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine; Dr. Sunney Xie, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University; and Dr. Claudio Carini, Global Head of Translational Medicine and Head of The Biomarker Alliance TM, MDS Pharma Service. For additional information, call Shiva Khosrawan at (416)214-3400

The 8th Annual Nobel Science and Appreciation Gala will take place on October 21, 2006 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. The event will be co-hosted in partnership with BIOCOM and the Life Sciences Summer Institute, and in conjunction with the Consulate of Sweden, and will honor the region's scientificexcellence. For additional information, contact Shaye Testagrossa at stesta@biocom.org or 858-455-0300.

Session IX of the 2006 Women's Technolgy Cluster Catalyst Program, Term Sheet Negotiation, will take place on October 20, 2006 from 8 to 10:15 a.m. at Fenwick & West LLP's office at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The speakers for this event will be Christine Herron, Omidyar Network; Cindy Padnos, Outlook Ventures; and Rob Dellenbach, Fenwick & West. The event will prepare early stage companies for the negotiation of a term sheet in the final stages of securing funding. Registration is $27.17 (the registration price for the full series is $172.00).

The conference The Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa will take place on October 20, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. Presenters will share exciting stem cell research initiatives, cutting-edge research, and discuss the scientific, ethical and business challenges that lie ahead. This marks one of the first events put on by the San Diego Institute for Regenerative Medicine. This is an invitation-only event as space is extremely limited.

The event Biotech Golf Network will take place on October 20, 2006 at Maderas Golf Club. The Corporate Challenge is the Biotech Golf Network's annual one-day, team tournament. Teams of four compete for the Biotech Golf Network Cup. Trophies awarded to the biotech company and vendor company with the lowest score. Prizes are awarded for specific hole contests, such as hole-in-one and longest drive. The tournament includes lunch, dinner, an awards banquet, and a prize give away.

BayBio's Meet Your Candidate will be held on October 19th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. at Cepheid 904 Caribbean Drive, in Sunnyvale, CA This program will provide an opportunity to meet with a Bay Area freshman candidate for the California State Assembly, Jim Beall, and to discuss important policy issues that will have a tremendous impact on life sciences companies as they work to navigate a difficult regulatory environment, secure capital, and struggle to find qualified employees for a rapidly growing workforce. To participate the meeting, RSVP to cdraper@baybio.org at least 24hrs before each event.

The CIO Institute will take place from Oct. 18-20, 2006 at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business in Berkeley, CA. The curriculum focuses on strategy creation and leadership development with Fortune 100 CIOs and UC Berkeley's world-renowned faculty. Participants will gain access to the expertise and tools required to lead effectively at the enterprise level. The speakers for this event include Todd Pierce, VP of Corporate IT Genentech; Cheryl Smith, CIO Institute Co-Chair, Former EVP & CIO, McKesson Corporation; and Cliff Dodd, SVP, CIO and CAO, Kaiser Permanente.

The workshop QPCR Hands-on Training Program will take place from October 18-20, 2006 at 552 Del Rey Avenue, in Sunnyvale, CA. The qPCR technique is widely used for gene expression analysis in biomedical research and pharmaceutical development helping the detection of nucleic acids with precision. Genome sequencing offers new possibilities to diagnose diseases and detect pathogens in biological samples such that the molecular diagnostics field is growing fast.

The 2006 BIO InvestorForum will be held on October 18-19, 2006 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The event will feature select company presentations, dynamic panel discussions and keynote talks on clinical strategy and product development along with insights on exciting new therapies and investment opportunities on the horizon. The general registration cost for BIO members is $1095 before 10/4/2006 and $1395 after 10/4/2006, and the cost for non-BIO members is $1595 before 10/4/2006 and $1895 after 10/4/2006.

The event Strategies for Rapid Development of Pharmaceutical Formulations will take place on October 18, 2006 at 6 p.m. at The Clarion Hotel, 401 East Millbrae Ave, Millbrae, CA. The discussion involves recent approaches for streamlining formulation development for Phase I FDA submission of small molecule drug candidates. Using case studies, formulation strategies for several therapeutic areas, including rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and cancer will be described. The speaker is Jeffrey Bibbs, CEO, CSO and Co-Founder, Pharmatek.

The event the Third Biennial UCSD Innovators' Showcase will take place on October 17, 2006 from 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, 2300 Expedition Way, in La Jolla, CA. The showcase features exhibits of licensed UCSD technologies, industry licensees, and exhibits from the Division of Arts & Humanities. For more information, call 858-822-1053.

The event Managing Growth while Maintaining Quality, sponsored by the San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum, will take place on October 18, 2006 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at the Salk Institute in San Diego, CA. The CEO of eStudySite will discuss how the software-based protocol to qualify emergency room patients for clinical studies, shortens the time required to enroll patients into a clinical study and can optimize the time it takes to complete studies.

The BIOCOM breakfast event, Talent Retention Strategies That Work: Industry Success Stories, will take place on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM in a location to be determined in San Diego (North County). The speakers will include Greg Lucier, President & CEO, Invitrogen Corporation; David Broad, VP and GM, Oceanside Product Operations, Genentech; and Rich Ranieri, Sr. VP Human Resources, Neurocrine Biosciences.

The breakfast discussion Talent Retention Strategies That Work: Industry Success Stories will take place October 17, 2006 from 7:00 a.m. -9:00 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 6450 Carlsbad Blvd. in Carlsbad, CA. San Diego Life Science executives discuss the importance of finding and keeping good talent while establishing a corporate culture that can lead to the growth of an industry.

BayBio's Meet Your Candidate will be held on October 16th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. at FivePrime Therapeutics, 1650 Owens Street Suite 200, in San Francisco, CA. This program will provide an opportunity to meet with a Bay Area freshman candidate for the California State Assembly, Fiona Ma, and to discuss important policy issues that will have a tremendous impact on life sciences companies as they work to navigate a difficult regulatory environment, secure capital, and struggle to find qualified employees for a rapidly growing workforce. To participate the meeting, RSVP to cdraper@baybio.org at least 24hrs before each event.

The event the SABPA Orange County/Los Angeles Life Sciences Conference will take place on October 14, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology Building ("CalIT2") at UC Irvine, in Irvine, CA. This premiere annual event is for entrepreneurs, scientists, industry executives, investors and policy makers in the biomedical industry in Southern California and Pacific Asia. However, all interested individuals are invited. For more information, contact Michael.Reed@bipc.com or 858 509 7318.

The event CBA Annual Conference: Future of Biotechnology: Convergence of Biology and Engineering will take place on Saturday, October 14th from 1 to 6 p.m. at Stanford University, Clark Center Auditorium. The event is free for Chinese Bioscience Association and Chinese Institute of Engineers members, and general registration is $20.00. The speakers will include: Nancy Chang, PhD Chairman of Board, Tanox; Patrick Y. Yang, PhD Executive Vice President, Genentech; Jinlong Chen, PhD Vice President of Biology, Amgen; Ken Fong, PhD VC, founder of Clontech; and Andrea Chow, PhD Vice President, R&D Microfluidics, Caliper Life Sciences.

Session VIII of the 2006 Women's Technology Cluster's Catalyst Program, Due Diligence Process and Package, will be held on October 13, 2006 from 8 to 10:15 a.m. at Fenwick & West, LLP's offices located at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The event will explain the due diligence process and describe what will be needed to go through the process. The speakers will include: Jeff Karras, Levensohn Venture Partners; Angelos Kottas, Woodside Fund; Prashant Shah, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners; Risa Stack, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; and Lisa Kenkel, Fenwick & West. The registration price for this event is $27.17 (registration for the full series is $172.00).

The BIOCOM Purchasing Group Event will take place on October 11, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at BIOCOM's offices, 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza Seven (Main Lobby), San Diego, CA 92121. For information, contact Kelly Aranaz Karanaz@biocom.org or 858.455.0300 ext.100.

The seminar Tech Depot Lunch and Learn will take place on October 11, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at BIOCOM, 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza One, in San Diego, CA. Tech Depot will share how it can help create a superior business technology purchasing experience through using the extranet, customizing an online catalog, software licensing solutions, and product searches. For more information, contact stesta@jangomail.com.

The event The Future of Healthcare Investing: What's Hot/What's Not in Biotech, Medical Devices and Healthcare Services will take place on October 11, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, 5101 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara, CA. Panelists include: Marty Felsenthal, General Partner, Salix Ventures; Bryan Roberts, Managing General Partner, Venrock Associates; and Kevin Wasserstein, Managing Director, Versant Ventures.

BayBio is holding a Life Sciences Entrepreneur and Investor Roundtable on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Cabana, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306. The event will feature a roundtable format and allow entrepreneurs to interact with investors and get feedback on their business plans. Early-bird registration is $40.00 through October 5th, and on-site registration is $50.00.

BayBio's Meet Your Candidate will be held on October 9th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. at Genitope Corporation, 6900 Dumbarton Circle, in Fremont, CA. This program will provide an opportunity to meet with a Bay Area freshman candidate for the California State Assembly, Cathleen Galgiani, and to discuss important policy issues that will have a tremendous impact on life sciences companies as they work to navigate a difficult regulatory environment, secure capital, and struggle to find qualified employees for a rapidly growing workforce. To participate the meeting, RSVP to cdraper@baybio.org at least 24hrs before each event.

The event Business Aspects of Regenerative Medicine will take place on October 10, 2006, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Marriott San Diego La Jolla, 4240 La Jolla Village Drive, in La Jolla, CA. This all-encompassing stem cell research panel discussion includes the embryonic stem cell bank created by Medical Research Council ("MRC") in Britain and the pace of stem cell research in this country. For more information, contact Chris Steinhardt at 619-235-8550 or csteinhardt@kmob.com.

The event 14th Annual BioPartnering Europe Investing in Global Partnerships will take place from October 8-10, 2006 at the QEII Conference Centre in London, United Kingdom. BioPartnering Europe attracts the support of leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, financial and service companies who have all contributed to making this one of the leading independent partnering events in the world. BIOCOM members receive 10% off registration.

The Bioe2e Annual Funding Fair will be held on October 7, 2006 at Genentech Hall, UCSF Mission Bay.

Session VII of the 2006 Women's Technology Cluster Catalyst Program, Effective Investor Relations, will take place on October 6, 2006 from 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. at Fenwick & West LLP at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The speakers for this event will include: Philip Korn, Silicon Valley Bank; Monica Morse, Cargill Ventures; Lisa Reeves, SAP Ventures; JoAnne Miller, Nokia Ventures Organization; Joy Weiss, Dust Networks; and Cynthia Hess, Fenwick & West. This event will cover how to generate investor interest that will result in a term sheet. The registration price for this event is $27.17 (the registration price for the full series is $172.00).

The seminar Obtaining Orphan Drug Designation in Europe will take place on October 6, 2006 in San Francisco, CA. Chiltern International sponsors the event with speaker Patricia Lovell-Hoare who has more than 15 years experience in clinical research and International Regulatory issues. For more information, contact seminar@chiltern.com.

The seminar BioFocus will take place on October 6, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites, 150 Anza Blvd., in Burlingame, CA.

The San Diego Tech Transfer Forum will take place on Friday, October 6, 2006 at a venue to be determined. The event is being hosted by BIOCOM, CONNECT, and Pfizer.

The event Frontiers of Clinical Investigation - Host Defense 2006: From Bench to Bedside will take place on October 5-7, 2006 at 4 p.m. at the Estancia Hotel, La Jolla, California. This year's symposium will look at innovative approaches to bridge laboratory investigation to clinical research in Host Defense. For additional information, contact Continuing Medical Education at ocme@ucsd.edu or 858-534-5753.

The event 2006 Entrepreneur Venture Conference will take place on October 5, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus, 1065 La Avenida Street in Mountain View, CA. Sponsored by The Women's Technology Center, it is the premier event for women-led companies seeking investment from VCs. Presenting companies will have the opportunity to pitch to over 200 venture capitalists, providing a valuable opportunity to secure funding.

The breakfast program NYSE Roundtable - The Future of the Biomedical Industry in An Era of Globalization will take place on October 4, 2006 at the NYSE, 845 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA The panel will discuss the future of the biomedical industry to companies, research institutions, and the investment community.

The next Women of Bioscience Happy Hour will be held on October 3rd from 5:30-8:00 p.m. at the La Jolla El Torito at 8910 Villa La Jolla, La Jolla, CA 92037.

The program Financial Analysis for Non-Financial Executives will take place on October 2-6, 2006 at UC Berkeley Center for Executive Development, in Berkeley, CA. Registration closes September 20, 2006. These programs are designed to help executive, whether a CEO or a Venture Capitalist, make sound financial and managerial decisions. For more information, contact Bart Decker at 510-642-9167 or bsd@haas.berkeley.edu

BioNetwork 2006 will take place at The Ritz Carlton at Laguna Niguel, CA on October 2-4, 2006. This venue is designed to meet your next partner and how to make your next partnership work. The speakers at this event include: Scott Foraker, Vice President of Licensing at Amgen; Iain Dukes, Vice President, Scientific and Technology Licensing, GlaxoSmithKline; Mark Dennish,Vice President, Business Development - Asia, Bristol-Myers Squibb; Robert Wills, Vice President, Alliance Management, Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Varavani Dwarki, Vice President, Alliance Management, Global Business Development, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; and Paul Medeiros, Vice President, Global Licensing, Schering-Plough Corporation.

The program Financial Analysis for Non-Financial Executives will take place on October 2-6, 2006 at UC Berkeley Center for Executive Development, in Berkeley, CA. Registration closes September 20, 2006. These programs are designed to help executive, whether a CEO or a Venture Capitalist, make sound financial and managerial decisions. For more information, contact Bart Decker at 510-642-9167 or bsd@haas.berkeley.edu.

The symposium Innovations in Light Microscopy will take place on September 30, 2006 at Byers Auditorium, Genentech Hall, UCSF Mission Bay 600 16th Street in San Francisco, CA. This event will celebrate recent advances in light microscopy. Investigators at this symposium use advanced light microscopy to tackle the complex subcellular dynamics that are at the heart of several fundamental questions in cell biology. The event will also feature the opening of the Nikon Imaging Center for advanced light microscopy at UCSF.

The event Bay Area Biotech - Faster, Cheaper and Better: The Future of Drug Development will take place on September 29, 2006 from 7:30 to 10:00 a.m. at Argent Hotel, 50 Third Street, San Francisco, CA. Bay Area biotech leaders and innovators discuss how economic imperatives are reshaping the industry and how new models of success are emerging for new drugs and new drug companies. The speakers will include: Ted Love, CEO, Nuvelo; Jack Anthony, CEO, Pharmix; Regis Kelly, Director, QB3; and Rod Ferguson, Managing Director, Panorama Capital.

The workshop Premarket Approval (PMA) and 510(k)Premarket Notification Workshop will be held on Thursday, September 28,2006 from 8:30 to 5:30 at the offices of Latham & Watkins, LLP at Corporate Plaza II, 12363 High Bluff Drive, Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92130.

The BIOCOM Legislative Roundtable with State Assemblywoman Shirley Horton will take place on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the BIOCOM Boardroom, 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza Seven in San Diego, CA. To RSVP, contact Faith Picking at fpicking@biocom.org. The roundtable is complimentary for members. Lunch will be served.

The event the Union City Biotechnology Symposium will take place on September 28, 2006 at City Hall, 34009 Alvarado Niles Road in Union City, CA, and will discuss biotech developments and opportunities with 150 life science professionals from around the Bay Area. The speakers will include Dr. Ken Aron, VP of R & D, Abaxis, Inc, and Dr. Christopher Thornberg, Senior Economist, UCLA Anderson Forecast. For more information, contact cfriday@ci.union-city.ca.us.

BIOCOM's Annual Facilities Reception will take place on September 27, 2006 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at BIOCOM 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza One, San Diego, CA. To attend, RSVP to Katie Hansen at khansen@biocom.org by September 25, 2006. This event is open to BIOCOM and IFMA members only.

The seminar BioImmersion: Biotech for Non-Scientists will take place from September 27-29, 2006, from 8 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at 5650 El Camino Real, in Carlsbad, CA. The seminar presents the scientific concepts, vocabulary, tools and applications that drive the industry. The topics that will be covered include the following: Industry Overview / DNA / RNA Basics / Genomics / Proteomics / Stem Cells/Drug Discovery and Development / Cell Signaling / Immunomics / Vaccines Nanotechnology / Therapeutic Strategies / The Future. For additional information, contact 760-602-0772.

The event Connect with CONNECT will take place on September 26, 2006 at 5-7 p.m. at Wilson Sonsini's office in San Diego, CA. Represented at the event will be the majority of San Diego's tech and biotech industry clusters, from scientific start-ups to sophisticated public companies, as well as their supporting service providers.

The event Downstream Technology Forum La Jolla will take place on September 26, 2006 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA, and will focus on purification technologies. The conference is designed for individuals from research and development, manufacturing, process engineering, quality assurance and compliance who have an interest in new technologies for biopharmaceutical processes. For further information, contact Patricia Stancati at patricia.stancati@sartorius.com or 1-800-368-7178, x8428.

The Berkeley Finance Series is holding the event CIMA at Berkeley: Certified Investment Management Analyst will take place from September 25-30, 2006 at U.C Berkeley in Berkeley, CA. The Berkeley Finance Series is a new portfolio of executive development programs aimed to keep top executives, CEO'S and Venture Capitalists informed and improving their results for the coming year. For more information, contact Susan Quinn at quinn@haas.berkeley.edu or 510-643-6153.

Session V of the 2006 Women's Technology Cluster Catalyst Program, Owning the Financials, will take place on September 22, 2006 from 8 to 10:15 p.m. at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP at 2475 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA. The speakers for the event include: Pamela Contag of Xenogen; Kathy Conte of Hercules Technology Growth Capital; Ilan Zipkin of Prospect Ventures; and Laureen DuBuono of Thermage. The registration price is $27.17 (the full registration price for the series is $172.00). The session will focus on the terms and skills needed to create a defensible financial picture of an early stage company.

The event Gene Acres 2006: Building Successful Life Sciences Facilities will be held on Thursday, September 21, 2006 from 8 to 5 p.m. at the San Mateo Marriott, 1770 South Amphlett Blvd., San Mateo, California 94402. Registration prior to the event is $295 for members and $395 for non-members; on-site registration is $320 for members and $420 for non-members. Keynote speakers are Dr. Cynthia Robbins-Roth, the founder of BioVenture Publishing Inc. and BioVenture Consultants, who will address issues arising from the growth of Northern California biotechnology; G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill and Company, who will provide insight into his anticipated changes in the industry in the coming year; and Reinhard Hanselka, President of Integrated Engineering Services, who will deliver an update on the changing California codes.

The Silicon Valley Chapter of LES is holding its monthly luncheon on the topic Some Revenue and Tax Consequences of Cross-Border Patent Licensing and Enforcement at Mariani's Inn & Restaurant, 2500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The speakers are Paul Di Sangrio and Dennis S. Corgill of Mayer, Brown, Rowe, and Maw, LLP of the firm's Palo Alto office. The registration fee is $40 for members and $45 for non-members, if received before September 15, 2006.

BIOCOM's September breakfast program, The Search for Sustainable, Predictable Growth, will take place on September 20th, 2006 from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. at the La Jolla Marriott in La Jolla, CA. Ron Dollens, Retired President and CEO, Guidant Corporation, will speak, describing his experiences in creating strategic alliances and address the following medical industry challenges:

* Why growth needs to be predictable as well as sustainable
* Why are some sources of growth rewarded more aggressively
* Gross Margin growth provides insight to value creation
* Impact of Health Policy on Industry consolidation
* Health Policy is more important than science in determining therapy innovation.

The event Intellectual Property, Licensing, Spin-outs & Related Business Affairs of Non-Profit Organizations will be held on September 19, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego, CA at 3777 La Jolla Village Drive. The speakers will include Craig Dionne, President and CEO of Genspera, Inc.; A. Stephen Dahms, President and CEO of the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Medical Engineering; and Vasu Pestonjamasp, Ph.D., Managing Director of Bio-I.P. Management Co.

The next meeting of the BioScience Forum will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Clarion Hotel, 401 East Millbrae Avenue, Millbrae, CA. The speaker will be Robert I. Blum, President of Cytokinetics. The registration fee is $45 before September 16th and $55 on site. Students receive a discount.

Session IV of the 2006 WTC Catalyst Program, Positioning Science in a Commercial Context, will take place on September 15, 2006 from 2:00 to 3:45 p.m. The speaker for this event include Geoffrey Duyk, MD, PhD, TPG Ventures; Pierre Cassigneul, Xdx, Inc.; and Ashley Dombkowski , MPM Capital. The registration price is $27.17 (registration price for all events is $172.00).

The San Diego Consortium for Systems Biology will be hosting the event RNAi Screening on the Mesa on September 15th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Trustee's Room at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies. The speakers will include Sumit K. Chanda, PhD, Group Leader, Division of Cellular Genomics, The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation; Anthony P. Orth, PhD, Group Leader, Gene Core, The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation; Pedro Aza-Blanc, PhD, Director, Functional Genomics, The Burnham Institute for Medical Research; Christina Buchanan, PhD, Technical Application Specialist, Ambion; Arumugham Raghunathan, PhD, Sales Development Manager- Advanced Technology Group, Qiagen Inc.; Peter Welch, PhD, Director of Research and Development, Invitrogen Corp.; Edward J. Weinstein, PhD, Principal Biologist, Functional Genomics Department, Sigma-Aldrich Corp.; Troy Moore, PhD, Chief Technical Officer, Open Biosystems; Loren Miraglia, Principal Investigator, Division of Cellular Genomics, The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation; and Amy Kiger, PhD, Assistant Professor, Universtiy of California, San Diego.

Session III of the 2006 Women's Technology Cluster Catalyst Program, Patent Protection/IP Strategy, will be held on September 15, 2006 from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. at the offices of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP at 2475 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304. The speakers at this event include Scott Wolf, Prospect Ventures; Karl Handelsman, CMEA Ventures, and Casper De Clercq, US Venture Partners. Registration at this event is $27.17 (registration is $172.00 for the full series).

A BIO CEO Presentation Workshop will be held on September 15, 2006 at the offices of Latham & Watkins at 140 Scott Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025. The purpose of the workshop is to enhance the presentation skills of executives who have been chose to present at a BIO investor or venture capital meetings. The workshop is free of charge for one representative from any company selected to present at a BIO investor or venture capital meeting. For all other participants, the cost is $295.

BayBio will be holding a BioBQ on Thursday, September 14, 2006 from 5:00-7:30 p.m. at UCSF Mission Bay campus, 600 16th street, 94608. The event will tour the UCSF Mission Bay campus and enable networking with life sciences industry executives, bioentrepreneurs, researchers and faculty, life science practice professionals, financiers and service providers. The advance registration cost is $15.00 and $20.00 on site.

The BIOCOM event Bench to Business and Beyond will take place on September 14th, 2006 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at BIOCOM's offices at 4510 Executive Drive Plaza 7, San Diego, CA. The event will explore how academia's innovative technologies are fueling the growth and success of the region's life sciences companies. The speakers of this event will include: Karen May-Newman, Chair, Mechanical Engineering Department, San Diego State University, and Jackson Streeter, Chairman and Founder, PhotoThera.

The event Creating Virtual Value:A $527 Million Buyout of Angiosyn by Pfizer will be held on Sept 13th at 7:00 p.m. at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's offices at 950 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA. David Mack, a partner at Alta Partners, will discuss the successful development of Angiosyn and its sale to Pfizer. Also speaking will be Ian Edvalson, who helped broker the transaction with Pfizer

Session II of the 2006 WTC Catalyst Program, Business Strategies That Attract VC's, will be held on September 8, 2006 from 2:00-3:45 p.m. at Pillbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP's offics at 2475 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA. The registration price for this event is $27.17 (the price is $172.00 for the full series). The speakers for this event are Albert Cha, MD, Vivo Ventures; Carl Simpson, Coronis Medical Ventures; Shawn Singh, Cato Bioventures; Craig Taylor, Alloy Ventures; and Claire Kinlaw, PhD, Developmental Products, Inc.

The Opening Night Reception for the 2006 Women's Technology Cluster Catalyst Program will be held on September 7, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. at Fenwick & West's offices at 801 California Street in Mountain View, CA.

Report on Bioscience Alliances in Silicon Valley will be held on June 7, 2006 at Crowne Plaza Cabaña in Palo Alto. Topics include: Major strategic and technology deals in the past 6 months, alliances and their role in biotech research, venture Capital investment and brokering alliances; Doing business with educational entities and the Productization effort; Getting through clinical trials and its effect on the bioscience alliance; Review of associations such as BioE2E and BayBio in the Biosciences industry and how they are helping to drive the maturation process in biosciences. The event is sponsored by the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) - Silicon Valley/NorCal Chapter.

The conference BioImmersion will be held from June 28-30th, 2006 at the Embassy Suites, 150 Anza Blvd, Burlingame, CA 94010. The course introduces and explains the basic biological concepts that are the basis for biotechnology.

The 2006 Venture Forum will be held on June 28-29, 2006 at the San Jose Hilton & Convention Center. The event is heralded as the nation's largest showcase of seed and early-stage companies.

The conference Assay Development & High Throughput Screening will take place on June 22-23, 2006 at the Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The event will focus on new development in Cell Based Assays and HTS Screenings (New reporter systems, High contents screening, Channels, Yeast: genetic and enzymatic), In vitro Assays and Screening, Applications in Drug Discovery (Target identification and validation, Biomarkers and Diagnostics application), and Data collection and management. Presentations will be given from organizations such as Merck, Eli Lilly, Roche, Pfizer, AstraZeneCa, Amgen, Chiron, GE Global Research Center, Serono and many more. For more information contact Rania Hafez at raniah@gtcbio.com

UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley will teach a course on Bioscience Business Development: Building Value, which begins June 22-23, 2006. This is an exciting array of intensive courses covering the breadth of the bioscience field. From discovery to clinical to market and beyond, the organization helps busy professionals rapidly gain the knowledge they need to keep pace with the dynamic industry. The speakers for this year's event will include: Ginger Dreger , J.D., M.S., who heads the biotechnology patent prosecution group in the Silicon Valley office of Heller Ehrman; Harold (Hal) Etterman, MBA, who has over 25 years of experience in Finance, Operations and Information Technology, including over ten years serving as a CFO, COO and interim CEO; Carolyn Feamster , MBA, Vice President, Business Strategy & Analysis at Clearview Projects; Thomas L. Gutshall , Chairman as well as Co-Founder of Cepheid in 1996; Michael G. McCully , M.S., Director at Recombinant Capital (Recap); and Herwig von Morze , Ph.D., an international patent consultant with 27 years of corporate patent experience in Europe and the United States.

The 10th Annual Proteomics Conference: Beyond Genome will take place on June 19-21, 2006 at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA. The conference will feature programs on Protein Biomarkers for Cancer; Tissue Proteomics-Based Cancer Biomarker Discovery; Analysis of Peptides Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Integrating Genomic and Proteomic Data for Biomarker Discovery; Virtual Mass Spectrometry and the Discovery of Biomarkers; Comparative Proteomics and Genomics Studies for the Discovery of HIV Biomakers; New Proteome Profiling Approaches; High-Throughput Molecular Dissection of an Age Supressing (Klotho) Signaling Pathway using a siRNA Kinome Library and Protein Microarrays; Molecular Network Analysis using Reverse Phase Protein Microarrays for Patient Tailored Therapy; Global Profiling of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Activity with Ultra-Sensitive ChemiCal Probes; and Proteomics for Target Identification/Validation. The keynote speakers will include: Dr. Pearl S. Huang, Vice President, Biology, Oncology and Proliferative Disease at GlaxoSmithKline, and Dr. Ellen G. Feigal, Director, Medical Devices and Imaging, The Critical Path Institute.

BayBio2006 will be held on June 15, 2006 from 8:00am - 5:00pm at San Mateo Marriott, 1770 South Amphlett Blvd., San Mateo, California 94402. The conference will highlight the Bay Area's strength in life sciences product development and commercialization.

The UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley will teach a course on Personalized Medicine: Scientific, Regulatory and Business Dimensions from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m. June 15-16th at the USCS extension classroom campus in Cupertino, CA. The instructors for this course will include: Audrey Erbes, Ph.D., a life science business development and marketing consul­tant who has more than more than 25 years of managerial experience in marketing and business development in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries; Nancy Mize, Ph.D., has more than 15 years experience in biotechnology with extensive experience in novel genomics and proteomics applications, innovative technology implementation, and expertise in pharmacogenomics and pharmacoproteomics; and Mary Alice Yund, Ph.D., who has done research in developmental genetics at UC Berkeley and consults in technology assessment and market research for the biopharmaceutical industry. The program will also feature the following guest speakers: Pierre Cassigneul, president and chief executive officer of XDxInc; Elizabeth Mansfield, PhD, is the Director of Regulatory Affairs at Affymetrix, Inc.; and Kareem Saad, MBA, general manager of the world-wide business development activities for the InnovationXchange Network, USA (IXC) and formerly an executive for R&D with IBM's Information Based Medicine business unit.

The BIOCOM June Breakfast will be held on June 14, 2006 from 7-9 a.m. at the LaJolla Mariott in San Diego, CA.

The workshop Introduction to FPLC - Theory and Practice will be held June 10, 2006 at Ohlone College Campus in Fremont, CA. The workshop offers an understanding of Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) in a research or industrial setting. Includes the theory of protein purification, the wide range of research, analytical and preparative use, instrumentation used for FPLC, Calibrating and maintaining the instrumentation, analyzing data and interpreting results.

The second event in the Women's Technology Cluster Life Sciences Breakfast Series, Conducting Clinical Trials Abroad, will be held on June 8, 2006 at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, 50 Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA. Increasingly, life science companies are conducting their clinical trials outside of the US. This trend has its attractive upsides for companies in terms of cost, speed and potential funding opportunities, but it also brings unique issues to the clinical trial process and US government approach. Hear the advice, successes and failures from four experts with experience conducting trials abroad. Speakers will include: Elizabeth Song, PhD, Vice President, Business Development, EGeen International Corporation; Scott Harris, MS, RAC, Regulatory Affairs / Drug Development Consultant; Maria Mei-Lai Chiam, BPharm, MBA, Nucleus Network; and Claire Kinlaw, PhD, President, Developmental Products, Inc.

The Third Annual Bay Area Symposium on Modulatory Small RNA's will be held on June 8, at 2006 Byers Auditorium, Genentech Hall, UCSF Mission Bay, San Francisco, CA.
The symposium will explore the rapidly expanding field of RNA-modulated gene expression including miRNAs, RNAi, antisense, RNA editing, splicing, viral RNA function, and oligonucleotide-based applications.

The IBF Conferences International Business Forum presents The 17th Annual Venture Capital Investing Conference to be held June 7-9th, 2006 at The Renaissance Stanford Court San Francisco, CA. This is the Premier Industry Gathering for Venture Capitalists & Institutional Investors, and boasts an unparalleled history with regard to quality of program and seniority of speakers and attendees.

The seminar From Idea to Company -- How to Finance, Structure and Protect your Fledgling Life Sciences Company will be held on June 6, 2006 at Cooley Godward, LLP, 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA. The seminar will address how to set up your new life sciences company from the idea stage, to angel funding, venture financing, stock options, intellectual property protection, technology transfer, licensing terms, dealing with big pharma, and employment issues. The seminar is free but space is limited. RSVP.

Biomedical Workshops for Engineers/Non-Biologists will be held June 5-9th, 2006 at the Girvan Institute of Technology, 3940 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara, CA. These full day workshops are geared towards Engineers and non-Biologists who want to catch the Biomedical Wave, transition their current strengths/skills into the Biomedical industry and get entrenched in the Biomedical Industry. June 5 (Monday) - Medical Devices: The Art, The Science & The Business; June 6 (Tuesday)- Medical Terminology for Engineers & Non-Biologists; June 7 (Wednesday)- Human Physiology & Anatomy - for Engineers & Non-Biologists; June 8 (Thursday) - Cardiovascular System -Diseases & Devices for Non-Biologists; June 9 (Friday) - Biomedical Wave Workshop-Opportunities for Non-Biologists. For more information about the event or to register, contact 408-569-9521 or sudhi@medtechbridge.com.

The Elective on the VC Firm for the Venture Capital Executive Program will be held on May 26, 2006 at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The program will address the following: opportunity recognition and selection, valuation and financial modeling, deal term structure, new venture due diligence analysis, and corporate strategies such as venturing, spin-outs, and acquisitions.

8th Annual C21 BioVentures: The Lifescience Private Equity Conference will be held on May 23-25th, 2006 in Monterey, CA at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa. The event will showcase the very best early-stage bioscience companies to investors and potential partners, and industry leaders will discuss the trends and issues that are driving the lifescience sector's growth.

The Venture Capital Executive Program will take place at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business on May 22-25, 2006. The course will address venture capital funding issues in multiple industries, including the biotech industry.

CALBIO 06: California's Life Science Conference and Annual Dinner will be held on Thursday, May 18th, 2006 from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the San Diego Mariott & Marina, 333 W Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101. The keynote speaker for the event will be Judy Woodruff, CNN contributor and consultant.

The Neurotech Investing and Business Conference will be held on May 18, 2006 at the Westin, San Francisco in Milibrae, CA. The conference will feature panels on such topics as: "Investing in Neurotech," "Advances in Brain Imaging and NeuroInformatics," "The Memory Market," "The Future of Neuropsychiatry and Specialty Pharmaceuticals," "Are Neurodevices the Next Cardio?" and "Corporate Partnering and Licensing in Neurotech."

Women's Technology Cluster will be hosting the First Annual WTC Angel Investor Colloquium on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 in San Francisco, CA. The program is designed to help individuals, particularly women, to gain the financial literacy required to become an angel equity investor.

Allicense 2006 will be held on May 2-3, 2006 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The 10th anniversary forum will attempt to re-examine the many aspects of the highly beneficial interdependence between research centers, biotechnology start-ups, integrated biopharmaceutical firms and established pharmaceutical companies. Confirmed speakers include Richard T. Clark, CEO of Merck & Co; Scott Foraker, VP of Licensing for Amgen; Joseph McCracken, Vice President, Business & Commercial Development, Genentech; and Dr.Thomas A. Picone, Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Schering Plough.

The Innovation Accelator @ UCSF will host the Global Life Science Innovation Competition on April 21, 2006. Up to 25 teams will compete for cash awards, and dine with judges and sponsors, including venture capitalists actively engaged in financing early stage life science companies.

The event Non-VC Funding of Biotech Startups: Individual Investors, Private Funds, and Investing Groups will be held on April 5, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at Cooley Godward, 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1130. The event will feature panelists who will discuss their experiences with investing in life sciences companies:their investment philosophy; the value they provide beyond funding - advice, guidance, management, network, future funding; what is expected from companies when they approach these investors; what is required in order to be considered for an investment; their evaluation and due diligence process; their typical investments; how they interact (and sometimes co-invest) with VCs; what are their typical/common structures of investments and key terms; their involvement in bridge and advanced financings; and the most common mistakes companies make when approaching these investors. The moderator is Rivka Sherman-Gold, Ph.D., MBA, Yodan Ventures. The panelists are Wally S. Buch, M.D., Band of Angels; Andrew Farquharson, MBA, The Angels' Forum/Halo Funds; Lowell E. Sears, MBA, Sears Capital Management; and Rivka Sherman-Gold, Ph.D., Life Science Angels, Band of Angels.

Women's Technology Cluster will be hosting the Second National Venture Capital Awards on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at the Computer History Museum at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA. The event will recognize the women who are leading venture-funded companies and the venture capital firms that are funding them.

The event From the Laboratory Leadership will begin on March 30, 2006 and will run on April 20, 2006, May 5, 2006, and May 19, 2006 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will be held at BIOCOM, 4510 Executive Plaza Seven San Diego, CA 92121. The Leadership Edge has partnered with BIOCOM to deliver a unique management and leadership development program designed to help managers in a Life Sciences company to successfully deliver on the organization's goals.

The BIOCOM March Breakfast Meeting will be held on March 29, 2006 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Mariott, La Jolla.

Module Three of the Third Annual Global Bioexecutive Program, Global Product Marketing & Management, will be held on March 28-31, 2006 at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The module will address such issues as branding and launch, pricing and reimbursement, and new trends and technologies.

The event Grow Your Revenues Without Venture Capital will be held Thursday, March 23, 2006 from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the offices of Financing Partners, 275 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. The event is a workshop specially designed for early stage or small companies who don't have a dedicated sales and marketing team at their disposal.

NanoBioNexus and Morrison & Foerster LLP will be sponsoring the event Nanofabrication: What Can Self-Assembly do for Nanotech Applications? on Thursday, March 23, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at Morrison & Foerster, 12531 High Bluff Drive, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92130. the event will focus on creating nanoscale architectures through molecular recognition and self-assembly. The speakers will include Mihri Ozkan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of California Riverside, and Cengiz S. Ozkan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Riverside.

The Elective for the Third Annual Global Bioexecutive Program, Managing Scientists and Technical Staff, will be held on March 17, 2006 at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The module will address such topics as what scientists learned in graduate school, what scientists need to know to succeed in business, transforming single contributors into team players, overcoming impediments to productivity in research and development, negotiating skills for scientists, conflict resolution, dealing with difficult people and situations, and developing effective professional development programs for technical staff.

The event Harlan Lunch & Learn: Polyclonal Antibody Production will be held on Thursday, March 16th, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the BIOCOM/McGraw Conference Room, 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza 7, San Diego, CA 92121. Topics will include antigen development, in-vivo model options and purification /conjugation methods pertaining to polyclonal antibody development.

The event Specialty Pharmaceuticals--Licensing & IP Strategies for Faster Value Creation will be held on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Marriott La Jolla, Salons A & B, 4240 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego. The program will examine the next step for the specialty pharma business model. Speakers will include Laurent Fischer, President & CEO of Ocera Therapeutics; Bob More, Partner of Domain Associates; Karen Dow, Partner at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP; and Richard K. Masterson Jr., VP of Global Commercial Development at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. The moderator is David Palella, President of BioScience Ventures, Inc.

The event Specialty Pharmaceuticals--Licensing & IP Strategies for Faster Value Creation will be held on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Marriott La Jolla, Salons A & B, 4240 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego. The program will examine the next step for the specialty pharma business model. Speakers will include Laurent Fischer, President & CEO of Ocera Therapeutics; Bob More, Partner of Domain Associates; Karen Dow, Partner at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP; and Richard K. Masterson Jr., VP of Global Commercial Development at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. The moderator is David Palella, President of BioScience Ventures, Inc.

The University of California Extension in Silicon Valley Cupertino, CA will hold Clinical Trials Essentials: An Intensive Course on March 13-17, 2006. The course will focus on elements of clinical trial design and management, including drug and device development processes, trial design, regulation of clinical research, roles and responsibilities of key players, trial monitoring, data management, safety reporting, and the business of clinical research.

The Inaugural Stem Cell Meeting will be held on March 12-14 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The event is the premier international event bringing together world renowned scientists at the frontier of embryonic and adult stem cell research with decision makers and thought leaders in policy, ethics, patient advocacy, finance, business, and media to explore the challenge and promise of stem cell research and the compelling potential of emerging therapies.

The event Molecular BioProducts: VWR and Nalge Nunce BioProducts Lunch & Learn will be held on Thursday, March 9th from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. at the Molecular BioProducts Main Offices, 9880 Mesa Rim Road, San Diego, CA 92121. The event will examine new products for cell culture and cell-based research.

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter will be holding the 15th Annual Vendor Night on March 9, 2006 between 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

The U.S. Commercial Service, San Francisco will hold an Asia Biotech Webinar on March 8th, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. PST, which will take a look at prevailing strategies for the Asian market, best practices, strategic alliances and partners, market prospects and prudent steps needed in order to succeed overseas.

The event BIO Intellectual Property Counsel's Committee Spring Meeting will be held on March 8-10, 2006 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The event will provide a discussion on topics such as the PTO's proposed rule changes, patent reform suggestions, and technology transfer concerns. Registration is limited to BIO members.

California Life Sciences Day at the State Capitol will be held on March 7, 2006 in Sacramento, CA. The day will kick off with a breakfast at the California Chamber of Commerce, California Room, 1215 K Street, 14th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

The event California's Stem Cell Initiative: Confronting the Legal & Policy Challenges will be held at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law on March 2-4, 2005. The three-day conference will focus on such issues as "Getting Intellectual Property Rights Right: What Model Should Be Adopted," "How Can the State Recoup its Investment (or should it?)" and "The Political Process and Stem Cell Research: How Did We Get Here and What Can We Learn?" The event will provide up to 14.5 hours of MCLE credit.

The 2nd International Conference on Stem Cell Research and Therapeutics will be held on March 2-3, 2006 at the San Francisco Airport Mariott in Burlingame, CA. The keynote speaker is Jeffery D. Kocsis, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurobiology, Yale University Associate Director, PVA-EPVA Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Senior Research Career Scientist, Department of Veterans Affairs.

Cooley Godward will be sponsoring the CEO Summit 2006 on Thursday, March 2, 2006 from 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. at the Omni San Diego Hotel, 675 L. St., San Diego, CA 92101. The event is invitation only and will will provide life science chief officers (CEOs and CFOs) and the BIOCOM Board of Directors the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to their companies and to interact with each other. The keynote speaker will be Billy Tauzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ("PhRMA").

The Second Module of the Third Annual Global Bioexecutive Program, Outsourcing the Value Chain, will be held on March 1-2, 2006 at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. The course will address alliances and partnership strategies as well as the execution of those strategies.

The Dedication Ceremony for the SDSU BioScience Center will be held on March 1st, 2006 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the SDSU BioScience Center, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182. Stephen L. Weber, President, San Diego State University and Patrick J. Papin, Interim Dean, College of Sciences will host the dedication ceremony.

Law Seminars International will be sponsoring the conference Calculating & Proving Patent Damages on February 27-28 at Crowne Plaza Union Square in San Francisco, CA.

The San Francisco Association for Women in Science will be hosting the event Power Tools to Maximize Career Success: A Workshop to Promote Professional Development on February 26, 2006 from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Genentech Corporation, Genentech Gateway Campus, Bldg 83, Rm 1A, 611 Gateway Blvd., South San Francisco, CA. Dr. Gail Schechter will be speaking.

The event The Role of Marketing in the BioScience Industry will be held at Squire Sanders in Palo Alto, CA at 6:30 p.m. on February, 24th, 2006. The event will explore the integral role of certain marketing/business functions from marketing research to business development in building a successful bioscience company. For more information, contact ysyang@stanford.edu or slcheng1@yahoo.com.

The event The Secrets of My Success for Building Value will be held on the 23rd of February, 2006 from 7 a.m.-9 a.m. at the Grand Pacific Palisades, 5805 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, California 92008. Leaders at San Diego bioscience companies will discuss how they build value for their companies and investors.

The Licensing Executives Society's Silicon Valley Chapter will be hosting the event Corporate IP Management Obligations and Responsibilities in the Post SOX World on Wednesday, February 22, 2006. The speaker for this event will be Gary Bender of Ernst & Young.

The LES 2006 Winter Meeting will be held in Pasadena, CA from February 22-24 at the Pasadena Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel.

The US/Japan Biobridge event will be held on February 22nd, 2006 at 7:30 a.m. at the Weaver Center, University of California San Diego. The event will address business trends and opportunities between Japan and the United States.

The BIOCOM Science Education Network Kickoff Meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 from 3:30-5:00 p.m. at Biogen Idec, 5200 Resarch Place, San Diego, CA 92122. The Science Educations Network will be a series of quarterly meetings designed to bring together those educators who are involved in the advancement and promotion of scientific education (from all academic levels- K-12, Community College, 4-year College and beyond) with representatives from San Diego's Life Sciences Community.

The Cambridge Healthtech Institute's 13th International Molecular Tri-Conference will be held February 21-24, 2006 in San Francisco, CA at Moscone North Convention Center.

Module One of the Third Annual Global Bioexecutive Program entitled Managing Risk in Development & Commercialization will be held February 8-10, 2006 at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. The course will address the R&D and Pre-Clinical Testing Phases, the Clinical Testing Phases, and the Commercialization Phases in drug development.

The Women's Technology Cluster will be sponsoring the International Symposium on Stem Cell Collaboration on February 7, 2006 at the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California San Francisco, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA. Panel topics for the symposium will include building a common language; who must be at the table for the successful creation of the industry; the role of advocacy and nonprofit organizations; who must participate for the successful commercialization of research; an international review and perspective; and breakthrough research.

The Silicon Valley Chapter of LES will host the event Licenses in Bankruptcy on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 from 11:30 p.m -1:30 p.m. at Mariani's, 2500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. The speaker will be Larry Engel of White & Case LLP.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati will be sponsoring BIOCOM's Monthly Breakfast at the La Jolla Marriott on January 25, 2005 from 7:30-9:00 a.m.

The Association for Laboratory Automation is sponsoring the event Lab Automation 2006 at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California from January 21-25, 2006. This event will focus on emerging laboratory technologies, and will feature such plenary speakers as Kurt Wurtrich, Ph.D., Professor of Biophysics, Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland and Cecil H. Ida M. Green Professor of Structural Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA USA; Harold Craighead, Ph.D., Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics, Charles W. Lake, Jr. Professor Engineering, Co-Director, Nanobiotechnology Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; William S. Rees, Jr., Ph.D., Program Manager of HSARPA's Chemical Countermeasures Programs; Ruth West, Director of Visial Analytics and Interactive Technologies, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego, CA; and E.L. Kersten, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Despair, Inc.

The San Francisco Association for Women in Science is sponsoring the event Power Tools to Maximize Career Success: A Workshop to Promote Professional Development on Saturday, February, 26, 2005 from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. at Genentech Corporation, Genentech Gateway Campus, Bldg 83, Rm 1A, 611 Gateway Blvd, South San Francisco, CA. Dr. Gail Schechter will be the speaker.

The UC San Diego Extension will be holding the series Biomedical Product Development beginning Tuesday, January 10, 2006 from 3-8 p.m. The course will run from January 10, 2006 through March 28, 2006 and take place each Tuesday from 3-8 p.m. The topics to be covered include: product development, management responsibility, quality system, contract review, design development and control, intellectual property, document and data control, among other issues.

Cambridge Health Talk's Fifth Annual Pep Talk Conference will be held January 9-16, 2006 at the Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California.

The BioScience Forum will be sponsoring the event Year End Wrap Up: State of the Industry on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. The event will be held at The Clarion Hotel, 401 East Millbrae Avenue, Millbrae, CA. Scott Morrison, U.S. Life Sciences Director for Ernst & Young, Palo Alto, will be speaking.

The 2005 Medtech Breakfast Series sponsored by Women's Technology Cluster will be sponsoring the event New Frontiers in Radiotherapy,on December 14, 2005 from 7:30-10:00 a.m. at Tomlinson Zisko, 200 Page Mill Road, Second Floor, Palo Alto California, 94306. Speakers for this event will include Lauren Selmeier, VP Channel Marketing, Accuray Incorporated and Karla Knott, Acuity Business Unit Manager, Varian. The event will address such issues as the next frontier in radiotherapy, the new avenues being explored to increase accuracy and impact, new developments to reduce treament time, and insights from genomics that can help in developing improved methods.

LES San Diego will be holding its holiday party on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at Il Fornaio Restaurant, 1555 Camino Del Mar, Suite 301, Del Mar, CA 92014. The event is being sponsored by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and SAIC.

The Biotechnology Roundtable, the Harvard Business School Alumni Association, the National Venture Capital Association, and BIOCOM will be hosting the 2005 Holiday Reception for the Life Sciences Community at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club on December 13, 2005 from 6-9 p.m.

BIOCOM will be hosting the an event Legislative Lunch and Learn: Preservation of Industrial Land with Marney Cox on Monday, December 12, 2005 at the BIOCOM Boardroom from 12:00-1:30 p.m. Marney Cox, Chief Economist, SANDBAG, will be presenting on the collocation and the preservation of industrial land in San Diego.

The event CONNECT: Most Innovative Product Awards 2005 will be held on Friday, December 9th, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Hilton La Jolla Torry Pines, 10950 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. The event will honor local innovation across multiple industries, including the biotech industry.

The event BayBioNEST's Holiday Soiree for the Bioscience Community will be held at NASA Ames, 943 NASA Parkway, Moffett Field, CA from 6:30-9:30 on Thursday, December 8, 2005.

The BIOCOM December Breakfast Meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Marriott La Jolla , 4240 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037. The guest speaker will be Rolf Benirschke, a member of the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame in 1997, San Diego Hall of Champions and the Academic All-America Hall of Fame.

Cooley Godward LLP will be hosting the event Accelerating Clinical Trials with Biomarkers on December 6, 2005 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., which will be held at its offices at 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1130. The workshop will focus on the incorporation of biomarkers into clinical trials, biomarker discovery, biomarker assay development, and biomarker validation. The confirmed speakers for this event include Mark McCamish, M.D., CMO, Perlegen; Pamela Contag, Ph.D., President, Xenogen; Robert McCormack, M.D., Veridex; Nancy Mize, Ph.D., Pacific BioDevelopment; and Cameron Carter, M.D., Director, Imaging Research Center.

The UC San Diego School of Medicine, the J. Craig Venter Institute, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, CalIT2, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will be sponsoring the event Celebrating a Decade of Genome Sequencing. The Symposium will be held on Tuesday, December 6, 2005 at the Price Center Ballroom at the USCD campus.

The San Jose Business Journal will be hosting the Venture & Technology Conference 2005 on Friday, December 2, 2005 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The conference will include 2 keynote speakers, a panel discussion, and the opportunity for companies to give a five minute pitch to venture capitalists in a breakout room.

BIOCOM will be holding its Monthly Legislative Roundtable Series on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 at the BIOCOM Boardroom from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Breakfast will be served. Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña of San Diego's 76th Assembly District will be participating in the roundtable event.

The Silicon Valley Chapter of Licensing Executives Society and the Women in Licensing will be holding their annual holiday party on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 6 PM at Stanford University's Schwab Center in Palo Alto, California.

The next meeting of the San Diego Biotech Discussion Group will be held on November 30, 2005 at 5:30 pm at Élan Pharmaceuticals. The sponsors for this event are Pharmatek and Cato Research.

The event International Licensing, sponsored jointly by the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society and the IP Society, will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 between 11:30 and 1:30 PM at The Eagle Room, Bldg. 943, at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. The speakers will be Emily O'Conner of USCIB and Richard Horton, attorney at Minter Ellison.

WorkIt.com will be holding its Annual Silicon Valley Mixer on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 from 6:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Fenwick & West Silicon Valley Center at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The event will celebrate the people involved in Silicon Valley startups, including the entrepreneurs and investors.

The Second Annual Law Seminars International Conference: Running the Race With Biotechnology will take place on November 17-18, 2005 at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California, and will provide an overview of current legal issues in the biotech industry.

California's Healthcare Policy Forum, sponsored by the California Healthcare Institute, will be held November 17-18, 2005 in San Francisco, and will bring together executives from biomedical device and pharmaceutical companies, leaders from academic research institutions in California, and state policymakers to discuss public policy challenges facing the bioscience community's work and needs.

The event The Checkered Past and Promising Future of Antibody Therapeutics will be held at on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. in the Clarion Hotel, 401 East Millbrae Avenue, Millbrae, California. C. Geoff Davis, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Research at Abgenix will speak, examining the technological breakthroughs that have elevated monoclonal antibodies to the forefront of biologics.

The event U.S.-India Synergy in Life Sciences will be held on Saturday, November 12th from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel, 401 E. Millbrae Avenue, Millbrae, CA 94030. The one day symposium will address cost and value arbitrage in the therapeutics and diagnostics areas related to reseach and development, manufacturing, clinical development, and market opportunities.

The event Biotechnology Law 2005 will be held November 15, 2005 at the PLI California Center in San Francisco, CA. The event will address the latest developments in patents, as well as advice on structuring biotech startups, the proper valuation of biotech and pharma inventions, tax implications for biotech deals, and critical ethical issues in biotechnology today.

The BayBio Pantheon Awards will be presented on November 10, 2006 at 6:30 at Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA. The awards ceremony will recognize excellence in the local biotech community.

The Biotech Investing Conference will take place on November 2-3, 2005 at the Westin San Francisco Airport at 1 Bayshore Highway, Millbrae, CA 94030, and will address such issues as investing opportunities in the current biotech market, opportunities in biotech deal flow, and new models for funding R & D/university spinouts.

The event Trans-National License Patenting, sponsored by the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society ("LES"), will be held on Wednesday, October 26, 2005 from 11:30-1:30 PM at Cooley Godward LLP, 3175 Hanover Road in Palo Alto, CA.

The event The Patenting of Life Forms: 25 Years since the Chakrabarty Patent will be held on Wednesday, October 26th from 6:00-8:00 at Palo Alto Research Center ("PARC") , 3333 Coyote Hill Rd., Palo Alto, CA. The speakers will include Mark E. Andrews, BioTech Nation, National Public Radio; Mark Bosse, Gilead Sciences; Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty, University of Illinois at Chicago; George Elliot, Technology Center 1600, USPTO; Elizabeth Howard,Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe LLP.

BioNetwork 2005 will be held on October 24-26th at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel, CA, and will address current issues in corporate partnering for the biotech industry. The event is also intended to facilitate potential corporate partnership opportunities.

The BioInvestor Forum 2005 will be held on October 19-20 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA, and will explore current trends in and opportunities in the biotech industry.

The Bioscience Forum will be held on Tuesday, October 18th through Thursday, October 20th, 2005 at two California Locations, the Clarion Hotel in San Francisco at 401 East Millbrae Avenue, Millbrae, CA and at the University of San Diego, Institute of Peace and Justice. The Symposium will present the latest information from the USPTO Examining Group 1600, which deals with Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, and Organic Chemistry, and will provide the most current information from the USPTO regarding a variety of issues, including registration practice, electronic filing of patent applications, sequence listings, and other matters.

A roundtable event for BIO and Bay Bio members on regulatory and reimbursement policy will be held on Monday, October 17th at 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the BayBio Offices at 395 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 117, South San Francisco, CA 94080. The roundtable will focus on the industry's policy agenda in Washington and BIO's capital formation agenda with a specific focus on Sarbanes-Oxley and stock option expensing as well as its comprehensive tax legislation. For more information contact Jodie Rothschild or Laura Cornachio at BIO, 1225 Eye Street, Suite 400, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, 202.962.6630.

The Life Sciences Entrepreneur & Investors Rountables will be held on October 11, 2005 from 5:30 to 9:30 at the Crowne Plaza Cabana, 4290 El Caminor Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306. The event will promote networking between bioscience entrepreneurs and investors.

The event Biotech in San Francisco: Development Issues and Opportunities will be held on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. at Genentech Hall (Mission Bay) at the Main Auditorium, 600 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94143. The speakers will include Jesse Blout, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Workforce and Economic Development, Warren S. Browner, M.D., M.P.H, the Vice President Academic Affairs and Scientific Director for the Research Institute at California Pacific Medical Center, and Gail Maderis, Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. The panel will discuss the future for biotech in the Bay Area and some of the advantages for biotech development in the Bay Area. The event is sponsored by Foley & Lardner.

The event Stem Cell Research: Charting New Directions for California will be held October 1-2, 2005 at the Renaissance Parc 55, San Francisco.

Bay Bio's Gene Acres 2005 will take place on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at the San Mateo Marriott, 1770 South Amphlett Blvd., San Mateo, California 94402, and will address facilities and operations issues facing life sciences companies. Speakers will include 19th District California State Assembly Member Gene Mullin, who chairs the California Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology; Dr. Michael Friedman, the President and Chief Executive Officer for the City of Hope; and G. Steven Burrill, the Chief Executive Officer of Burrill & Company.

The Building and Managing Patent Portfolios in the Life Sciences workshop will be held on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at Hilton San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, CA. Barton W. Giddings, Ph.D., a Senior Patent Counsel at NPS Pharmaceuticals, and Kevin B. Laurence, a partner at Stoel Rives, LLP, will direct the workshop.

The Latest Thinking on Attacking/Defending Patent Rights in the U.S. Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Markets Conference will be held on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at the Hilton San Franciso Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, CA and will address current issues in defending and challenging pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. The speakers will include partners from various law firms in California, including a Jones Day partner who is one of my former Pennie & Edmonds LLP colleagues, Anthony Insogna.