DCAT Week, the premier business development event for the pharmaceutical development and manufacturing industries, will take place in New York City from March 18 – 21, 2019. Attended by thousands of C-suite and senior executives, DCAT Week provides forums for high-level meetings, networking and industry education. DCAT Week is organized and hosted annually by the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), a not-for-profit, member-supported, global business development association whose corporate members include innovator and generic drug companies and suppliers of ingredients, development and manufacturing services, and related technologies.

DCAT Week ’19 will offer a variety of industry education programs featuring on-stage interviews with leading pharmaceutical executives, panel discussions and case studies.

New for DCAT Week ’19 is a special DCAT Week Keynote Address featuring Dr. Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2018) and the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry and Director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Arnold will share her journey of innovation, including the key milestones—both the opportunities and challenges—that she encountered and how she addressed them to achieve success.

The Executive Insights series will present on-stage interviews with leading pharmaceutical executives. Executive Insights I: A CEO View: Drug Development, Manufacturing, and New Technologies will feature Marc Casper, President and CEO, of Thermo Fisher Scientific who will provide insights on the current and future direction of the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development. Executive Insights II: The Future of Pharma/Biopharm Manufacturing and Supply will feature executives from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Spark Therapeutics who will address the major drivers influencing pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply, including how technology and product mix will impact the future of supply lines and how manufacturing networks will be managed and the impact on insourcing/outsourcing decisions and criteria.

The ever-popular Pharma Industry Outlook program will begin with an in-depth pharmaceutical market overview by IQVIA followed by a panel discussion by industry experts on the key market and policy issues in drug pricing and the industry impact, including on bio/pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers.

Sourcing & Procurement: The Next Generation will examine two topics. New Modalities: Considerations from a Fast-Paced Sourcing World will look at considerations in strategic sourcing for evaluating capabilities, mitigating risk, scaling and maturing a supplier ecosystem to support cell and gene therapies while managing traditional modalities in small molecules and biologics. The second topic, New Tools Toward Robustness, Efficiencies and Risk Management in Sourcing, will look at one company’s approach in driving productivity and performance improvements through new initiatives in global strategic sourcing, improved coordination in the sales and operations planning process for managing global inventory of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and innovation in talent management.

Emerging Pharma: Aligning Regulators, Investors and Suppliers to Assure Successful Drug Development is a special program designed to assist emerging bio/pharma companies and their development partners to resolve key factors that influence the nature, pace, and cost of product development. Managing Changing CMC Regulatory Requirements from Pre-IND to NDA Approval will feature executives providing actual company experiences on how to determine the optimal amount of information to provide to regulatory authorities for initiating clinical trials while ensuring flexibility for continued process and formulation improvements.
The second topic, How Investors and Other Parties Impact Drug-Development Decisions, will have a panel of pharmaceutical executives, a venture capitalist, and development consultant to discuss how Emerging Pharma Companies can manage investors’ expectations surrounding cost and time, and identify the key regulatory and scientific issues in drug development that may impact investor decisions. 

Inside Canada: NAFTA 2.0: Trans-Border Trade and the Impact on Pharma Manufacturing and Supply, will provide industry insights on the key issues impacting pharmaceutical manufacturing, supply, and trade inside, and with, Canada. Topics include the impact of the new trade pact, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (i.e., NAFTA 2.0) on the US and Canada, the key issues on intellectual property and the flow of pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical products. This education program is provided by DCAT to deliver information of a regional focus through a special partnership with Pharmed Canada, a Montreal-based health industries manufacturing and R&D outsourcing network.

In addition to its industry education programs, DCAT Week offers a variety of exclusive networking events for its member companies. Monday Night Meet-Up: Networking with a Dash of Trivia gives attendees the opportunity to connect with colleagues and friends and test their knowledge during a casual trivia competition while supporting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. On Tuesday, the Member Company Networking Reception will be attended by more than 700 member representatives and is conveniently scheduled in between the day’s business meetings and the evening’s customer dinners. Now on Wednesday morning, the Women’s Networking Breakfast provides connection, community, and a shot of inspiration from professionals both inside and outside the industry. This year’s guest speaker is Dr. Patti Fletcher, author of Disrupters: Success Strategies from Women Who Break the Mold.

Further information on DCAT Week ’19 programs and events may be found here: www.dcatweek.org.