Two weeks ago, the biopharma industry gathered in Vienna, Austria, for BIO-Europe. Tens of thousands of one-on-one meetings were organized between innovators and out-licensors with top pharma companies and venture capitalists eager to partner and invest. 

For the large pharma firms, it’s a chance to learn about new science and keep tabs on evolving assets. For smaller biotechs, though, it can be three-days of high-pressure networking where a lot is riding on making the right pitch to the right company at just the right time. Get it right, and you walk away with a clear path forward and the cash to fund it. But get unlucky and you might find yourself with few options in the New Year.

This year, we decided to follow one biotech heading into their first BIO-Europe partnering conference. We met with DISCO Pharma three times over the last month to follow their BIO-Europe journey:

• Before the event to learn about the science behind DISCO and understand what their goals were heading into BIO-Europe. 
• At the event itself to talk about how the partnering meetings had been going and how the event had shaped up for DISCO. 
• A week after BIO-Europe had closed, diving into the follow-up activities and learning about the next steps for this German biotech.

I hope you enjoy my conversations with Ajla Hrle, Chief Business Officer at DISCO, and this behind the scenes look at BIO-Europe from an innovator’s perspective.

02:25          Preparing for BIO-Europe

16:51           On the floor at BIO-Europe

22:23          Following up from BIO-Europe

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To dive deeper into the topic: 

• BIO-Europe partnering: Australian biotech companies share their experiences
• Practical partnering at BIOSPAIN: on the ground with biotech innovators ready to take the next step
• Biotech in Vienna: a budding life science hub