DCAT Week, the premier business development event for companies engaged in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, will take place in March 2019 (March 18-21) with a slate of networking opportunities, education programs, and executive forums.

DCAT Week is hosted and organized by the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), a not-for-profit, member-supported global business development association supported by more than 500 member-companies composed of innovator- and generic-drug manufacturers and suppliers of ingredients, development and manufacturing services, and related technologies.

Business gets done at DCAT Week because the right people are there—92% of attendees are high-level decision makers, with one in four attendees being C-Suite executives.

The focus of this popular event is to provide a forum for high-level strategic meetings with key decision makers, timely education programs, and important networking opportunities. Reserved private business meeting spaces in eight Official DCAT Week Hotels offer the perfect venue for DCAT member companies to meet with their customers, suppliers and potential business partners. Throughout the week, industry education programs, executive forums, and networking events provide additional opportunities for attendees to stay informed and build their business network.

Monday: Business Intelligence & Monday Night Meet-Up
DCAT Week kicks off with the DCAT Member Company Announcement Forum. This fast-paced forum, attended by the industry press, is an exclusive venue for senior executives at DCAT member companies to present short, targeted announcements on major news from their companies impacting the pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain, including mergers and acquisitions (including post-M&A integration) and significant manufacturing expansions.

The focus on business intelligence continues in the afternoon with the Pharma Industry Outlook Program & Networking Reception that will begin with a pharmaceutical market overview by IQVIA followed a panel discussion of leading industry experts on the key market and policy issues in drug pricing and the industry impact, including on bio/pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers.

A new networking event, the 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 education. Proceeds from the event support DCAT’s scholarship initiatives, including DCAT’s participating as a Special Awards Organization for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Tuesday: Nobel Laureate Dr. Francis H. Arnold, Executive Insights, a Fun Run, & More
Tuesday will start off bright and early with the inaugural DCAT Week Central Park Run. Participants will be bussed to and from the park and enjoy a workout exploring NYC’s beloved park. In case of rain, the run will be rescheduled for Thursday morning.

Tuesday will also feature two Executive Insights Forums. Marc Casper, President and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, in Executive Insights I: A CEO View: Drug Development, Manufacturing, and New Technologies, will provide an inside view from the C-Suite on the key issues shaping the current and future direction of the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development. He will also provide insights on how partnerships in external development and manufacturing are evolving and what the future may hold.

A second program, Executive Insights II: The Future of Pharma/Biopharm Manufacturing and Supply, will feature on-stage interviews with executives from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Spark Therapeutics on the major drivers influencing pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply, including how technology and product mix will impact the future of supply lines and how pharmaceutical companies and manufacturing partners are meeting these opportunities and challenges.

A special DCAT Week Keynote Address will feature Dr. Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2018). Dr. Arnold, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry and the Director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018 for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes. She conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, which are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions, and refined the methods that are now used to develop new biocatalysts, which are applied in pharmaceutical synthesis, the manufacture of other chemicals, and in the production of renewable fuels. She will share her journey of innovation, including the key milestones—both the opportunities and challenges—that she has encountered and how she addressed them to achieve success. Dr. Arnold is only the fifth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

To wrap up the day, the DCAT Member Company Networking Reception is one of the largest networking events of the week with over 700 members in attendance. After a busy day of meetings, it is the perfect opportunity to catch up with colleagues before heading head out to dinners. 

Wednesday:  Women’s Networking Breakfast & Industry Education
The day begins early with the DCAT Women’s Networking Breakfast that will feature a presentation by Ellyn Spragins, New York Times bestselling author, speaker and founder of What I Know Now® Enterprises that will include a short presentation, self-discovery exercise for the audience, and an on-stage Letters To My Younger Self® exercise with a pharmaceutical executive.

The education program, Sourcing and Procurement: The Next Generation, will explore two topics. New Modalities: Considerations from a Fast-Paced Sourcing World will feature two senior executives from Celgene who will examine 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. 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 a multi-level approach that encompassed global strategic sourcing on selected categories, improved coordination in the sales and operations planning process to more efficiently manage active pharmaceutical ingredient global inventory, and innovation in talent management.

DCAT will also hold a specialized program designed for emerging pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical and their partners in drug development and manufacturing and supply. Emerging Pharma: Aligning Regulators, Investors and Suppliers to Assure Successful Drug Development will explore two topics. Managing Changing Regulatory Requirements from Pre-IND to NDA Approval is designed to help emerging pharma companies avoid a major pitfall in the development process by providing sufficient preclinical and chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) data to support the start of Phase I testing while ensuring flexibility for continued process and formulation improvements throughout clinical development and commercialization.  The second topic, How Investors and Other Parties Impact Emerging Pharma Development Decisions, will feature a panel of pharmaceutical executives (Pfizer and Artara Therapeutics), a venture capitalist (Deerfield Management), and development consultant (BioProcess Technology Consultants) to provide insight on the expectations of investors, pharmaceutical company partners, and other stakeholders on the issues impacting drug development.

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 pharmaceutical trade inside and with Canada. Speakers will discuss the impact of the new trade pact, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (i.e., NAFTA 2.0) on the US and Canada, including on intellectual property and the flow of pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical products. This 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.

Thursday: An elegant finale to DCAT Week
A black-tie tradition since 1926, the DCAT Annual Dinner held in the Grand Ballroom at the New York Hilton is an elegant finale to an incredible week of meetings, education and business networking. The over 2,000 DCAT members and their guests will enjoy an evening with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., professional race car driver, champion team owner, businessman, and one of the sport’s most enduring personalities. CP

Visit www.dcatweek.org for a complete schedule of programs and events.