If you read my blog entries, you know I love to write. Nevertheless a conference that in 2 days inspires me to jot 60 pages of notes must be something. This happened at the first ever ‘Partnering for Cures’ at the NYC Millenium Broadway this week (www.partneringforcures.org). I have attended and presented at partnering meetings principally designed for biotech and pharma. But Partnering for Cures was the ‘partnering meeting from a parallel universe’ where the majority of presenters were from foundations – many participants living with the condition they are vying to find a cure for. WE – foundations – were the main event – and biotech and pharma came to hear what we are accomplishing, most of us on limited budgets but all of us with the same commitment and drive. This made for a very lively and interactive meeting with a packed agenda, little space to breathe (since over 600 attendees registered, at least half again as many as expected) but lots of new ideas to capture.
The Children’s Tumor Foundation presentation was well received with a decent sized audience (especially given the agenda’s opportunity to be in at least 4 places at once!). It was taped so if possible we hope to make it available on our website soon. We met with a number of new potential collaborators from both the biotech/pharma and other foundations. A number of the discussion panels were terrific, and there was a unique opportunity to hear back-to-back from 40+ other foundations the models they are implementing to find a cure for their disorder. The timing to learn from others is perfect for NF as we look back on the significant progress that both the Foundation and the NF community at large have made in the last couple of years, and as we map out future steps and goals.
Given the amount of information that came out of Partnering for Cures, I will be doing a couple of blog pieces in the next week focused on different areas and topics – so watch this space.
