The global landscape is transforming rapidly. We're witnessing a significant shift in US policies, the continued rise of China and increasing trade and regulatory disruptions. The panel seeks to explore how these geopolitical changes impact the European pharma and start-up business model and discuss strategies for navigating this changing world order. We try to consider the impact on research & development and the industry as a whole.

Our panel consists of Board members and entrepreneurs faced with the evolving pharmaceutical landscape. They express their personal opinion, not the one of the organizations they are affiliated with.

Moderator: Dr. Matthias Staehelin, Chair BioValley

Panelists:

Bill Burns – Chairman Molecular Partners & AMR Action Fund

Bill Burns is currently Chair of Molecular Partners, AMR Action Fund, Vestergaard, and Vice Chair of Mesoblast. He has held numerous leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry throughout his career, including serving as CEO of the global Pharmaceutical Division of Roche. He has also served on the main boards of Roche, Genentech, and Chugai and as lead non-executive director of Shire Pharmaceuticals and the smaller biotechnology companies Crucell, Biotie, and Okairos. He previously served on the Wellcome Trust Board of Governors and as a Trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research in London.

Damien Catoir - EVP & General Counsel Servier

Damien Catoir joined Servier in 2023 as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary and is a member of the Group's Executive Committee. Damien Catoir has more than 15 years of experience in banking and in major law firms, both in France and in the United States. He joined the corporate world in 2018 within the ATOS Group as General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Directors and guided ATOS in the negotiation of strategic partnerships major contracts and significant M&A transactions. He also piloted complex litigations and important corporate reorganizations.

Damien Catoir is a member of the New York and Paris bars. He holds a Master in Management from ESSEC Business School and studied at the École Normale Supérieure. He also holds a Master's degree in General Private Law from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School in the United States.

Veronica Gambillara - Chair Minervax and Partner Pureos Bioventures

Veronica serves since 2024 as Chair of MinervaX ApS, a privately held Danish biotechnology company developing a novel, prophylactic vaccine against Group B Streptococcus (GBS). She joined the Pureos Bioventures team as a Partner in 2022. Other current Board positions include Memo Therapeutics and AnaCardio. She has been a founder CEO of GlycoEra, a Zurich-based company with a glycoengineering platform for novel antibodies in autoimmune diseases, oncology and neurology. She was also a co-founder and the CEO of LimmaTech Biologics, a spin-off of GlycoVaxyn to service GSK. Before that, Veronica was in the executive team of GlycoVaxyn developing innovative vaccines for infectious diseases. She was instrumental in the acquisition of the company by GSK in 2015. Veronica is a bioengineer with a PhD in life science from the EPFL Lausanne.

Kelvin Stott – CEO Amporin Pharmaceuticals

Kelvin Stott CEO founded Amporin Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss biotech company developing amyloid pore inhibitors for degenerative diseases. He has 20 years of experience in pharma R&D, portfolio management, and venture capital. Most recently, he was Head of R&D Portfolio Management at CSL (2022-2024), where he oversaw a $1 billion R&D budget. Prior to CSL, he spent over four years as Director of Portfolio Management at Novartis (2016-2021), optimizing their global drug development pipeline. He also founded Senexis, a biotech company focused on Alzheimer's drug development. His career includes positions at Sensyne Health, PwC, Quantelium Group, Merck Serono, Inventages, McKinsey & Co., and academic research roles. He studied in Cambridge (UK) and at the Michigan Medical School.

Please register for the event via the following button by Tuesday, 12 August 2025. Places are limited, early registrations have priority.