COG West Coast 2023 Meeting Review

November 2023 saw Pharmaceutical Business Conference Group host their first annual regional meeting for West Coast USA (COG West Coast), this was the fourth in the annual global series of meetings following the success of COG UK in February, COG New England in April, and COG Europe in October. The meeting took place in Burlingame, San Francisco.

The COG series focuses on addressing operational challenges faced by the clinical trial community on a regional basis, with meetings held in regional hubs across the US and Europe. Attendance was open to biopharma trial sponsors, study sites, patient advocacy organisations, solution providers as well as wider health and academics.

The San Francisco Bay Area is long established as a hotbed for biotech innovation and clinical research in the USA. Some 3,400 life science companies call the area home, with multinationals, start-ups, virtual organisations, and everything in between engaged in a healthy balance of fierce competition and cross-industry collaboration to bring new treatments to market.

Silicon Valley’s influence is strong, fostering substantial VC investment, and combining with one of the highest standards of living in the US to attract top talent to the region. The Bay Area is home to 2 of the world’s top 10 universities, developing local and international human capital that feeds into the life science ecosystem.

​Across the 2 days, there were numerous interactive sessions, including panel debates and an onstage interview. These included a lively discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical trials, to discussing the global trade compliance implications for the supply of drugs for clinical studies.

We are proud to have featured a programme of presentations from small, medium, and large Biopharma, as well as key suppliers, and industry-leading consultants.

Panel Discussion: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Clinical Trials. (Left to Right: Nicole Powell of SDC, Arla Yost of Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rajbir Singh of Meharry Medical College, and Meghan McKenzie of Genentech)

Conference Chair Kalyan Obalampalli of ClinAI wowing the audience with a magic trick!

Todd Reul of Pfizer, sharing his thoughts on How to Leverage Vendors/ CROs

Dana Leff Niedzielska of August Research, sharing the key Clinical Outsourcing Trends of 2023

Unlike many other events in the bay area the COG welcomed meeting welcomed over 65% of attending companies from active trial sponsor or research organisations, with key international players such as Genentech and Pfizer represented, and bay area local attendees from the likes of Terns Pharmaceuticals, Cytokinetics, and Kinnate Biopharma.

Of those who attended, 79% were Director level or above, and 21% sitting in other Senior Management roles.

COG West Coast will return on an annual basis with the next edition taking place in October 2024, returning to Burlingame!