Covid-19 Vaccines in Record Time
Thursday, Feb 4, 2021
A conversation with scientists and industry experts from both sides of the Atlantic
organized by the German Consulates of Boston and San Francisco as well GABA California and GABC Boston
As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into 2021 and vaccination campaigns are underway, we want to discuss what lies ahead with leading experts from industry and academia, the US and Germany. While science has amassed a truly amazing and unprecedented amount of knowledge about SARS-CoV2 and the biotech industry has produced first vaccines in record time, many questions remain:
How and when will vaccinations bring us back to normal? What are the greatest (remaining) challenges in vaccine distribution & development? What questions do still need to be answered about the vaccines? What industry bottlenecks should we expect? How to choose between the many vaccines in development? Why can we quickly produce billions of vaccine doses, but still struggle to provide a sufficient number of COVID tests? Can SARS-CoV2 change and evade vaccination efforts? What are the current best therapies and prospects for those who contract the virus? What have we learned for the next pandemic?
Welcome German Consuls General Nicole Menzenbach (BOS) und Hans-Ulrich Südbeck (SF)
Panelists
- Johannes Ahrendts, Head of strategy at GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance
- Antony Blanc, Chief Business Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, CureVac AG
- Andrew Bulpin, Executive Vice President, Process Solutions, MilliporeSigma, the life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
- Melanie Ott, Director, Gladstone Institute of Virology, Professor, Department of Medicine, UC San Francisco
Moderator:
- Jan Hartmann, Vice President, Head of Medical Affairs, Clinical Development & Medical Safety Haemonetics
Format: Virtual Panel Discussion
Platform: Zoom Webinar
Length: One hour
Date: Thursday, 10AM PST | 1PM EST | 7PM CET
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Speakers
Johannes Ahrendts, M.D., Head of Strategy, Performance and Transformation at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Geneva, Switzerland).
Dr. Johannes Ahrendts, M.D., leads the strategy team at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that vaccinates half the world’s children against some of the deadliest diseases. Gavi is also co-leading the COVAX Facility, founded to guarantee fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for every country in the world. COVAX will facilitate the rollout of two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses over the next year, reaching people in 190 participating countries and economies, regardless of their ability to pay. Prior to joining Gavi, Johannes was a project leader in the Healthcare and Social Sector practices at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Berlin. He advised some of the world’s leading pharma and global public health clients with a focus on strategic/corporate development (e.g. portfolio strategies, go-to-market approaches) and organisational effectiveness. A neurologist trained at Charité Berlin, he holds a doctorate degree from the medical school of the University of Freiburg (Germany).
Antony Blanc, Chief Business Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, CureVac AG
Antony Blanc, PhD joined CureVac in December 2020 as Chief Business Officer and Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, he served biotech clients in Europe as an Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company. Between 2009 and 2017, he developed deep and broad cross-functional expertise in vaccines by serving in several senior roles at GSK Vaccines, including leading strategic marketing, strategic pricing, joint ventures and the integration of the Novartis Vaccines business unit. From 2000 to 2009, Blanc held leadership roles at several biotech companies, such as Chief Business Officer at Synosia and Head of Biopharma at Syngenta. Mr. Blanc started his career at the strategy consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1994, focusing on pharma and biotech. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and a BS.c. in Biochemistry from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Andrew Bulpin | Executive Vice President, Process Solutions, MilliporeSigma, the life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Andrew Bulpin Executive Vice President of Process Solutions at MilliporeSigma. In this role, he oversees strategy, product management and marketing, research and development, contract manufacturing and testing services, as well as the Process Solutions commercial teams. Before this role, Bulpin was head of the Process Solutions Strategic Marketing & Innovation team. Prior to that, he served as Global Head of Sales for the Pharmaceutical Chemical Solutions business. Bulpin joined the company in 2006 as vice president of the Upstream Processing business and later assumed leadership of the Services and Solutions business. Prior to joining the company, Bulpin worked at Serologicals Corporation in a number of sales and marketing roles, both in the U.S. and Europe. Bulpin holds a doctorate in organic chemistry from the Université de Caen, France, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sussex, England. He also worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australian National University, Australia
Jan Hartmann, M.D. | Vice President, Head of Medical Affairs, Clinical Development & Medical Safety Haemonetics
Member, Board of Directors of the German-American Business Council of Boston
Dr. Hartmann leads the global Medical Affairs, Clinical Development & Medical Safety teams at Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE: HAE), a global medical technology company focused on delivering innovative hematology solutions to drive better patient outcomes. Prior to his current role, Dr. Hartmann was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he was an Associate Partner in the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Practice. His leadership and expertise spanned across functional topics (Medical Affairs, Medical Strategy) as well as therapeutic areas (Hematology, Respiratory). Dr. Hartmann concluded his medical studies at the University of Munich and received his medical license in Bavaria, Germany. He holds a doctorate in medicine from the University of Freiburg and was a research scholar at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr Hartmann is an alumnus of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung).
Melanie Ott, Director, Gladstone Institute of Virology, Professor, Department of Medicine, UCSF
Melanie Ott, M.D., Ph.D. is the director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco. She studied under Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen in Heidelberg/Germany and has been recognized for her contributions to HIV Cure research and the pathogenesis of hepatitis C and Zika virus infections. Since January 2020, she has pivoted part of her efforts to SARS-CoV-2 research. This work is focused on infectious SARS-CoV-2 and harnessing the host response for new therapeutics. Her lab also develops new rapid diagnostics based on CRISPR and mobile phone technologies. Melanie is currently advising Gladstone and the University of California San Francisco on their COVID responses and was recently named one of the most influential women in the Bay Area by the SF Business Times. She is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM).
This event is a cooperation between
