The 2024 Pitt Street Research Life Sciences Conference is coming up! And you’re invited!

The Pitt Street Research Life Sciences Conference is happening on September 19, 2024!

 

The Life Sciences sector in Australia and New Zealand continues to mature in 2024. In spite of a difficult market for small-cap stocks on the ASX, companies are making progress in the clinic and management teams are building on their learnings of the last decade to better execute on their development programmes. Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) and Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU) show what can happen once good science is fully commercialised.

This one-day event, featuring The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, Australia’s Federal Shadow Minister for Science as our keynote speaker, showcases a range of smart, locally built companies that hope to be the next Life Science success stories from Down Under.

Presenting at the Pitt Street Research Life Sciences Conference will be:

• Dr Richard Lipscombe, Managing Director of Proteomics International (ASX:PIQ)
• Dr James Garner, Managing Director of Percheron Therapeutics (ASX:PER)
• Mr Thian Chew, Executive Chairman of Invion (ASX:IVX)
• Dr Paul MacLeman, Executive Chairman of Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA)
• Ms Jenni Pilcher, Managing Director of Cann Group (ASX:CAN)
• Dr Hartley Atkinson, Managing Director of AFT Pharmaceuticals (ASX:AFP)
• Dr Steve Gourlay, Managing Director of Actinogen Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ACW)

 

Registration for this event is free.

The in-person event is hosted by Baker McKenzie, Level 46 of Tower One, International Towers, 100 Barangaroo Ave, Sydney.

Register for the in-person event Here!

Register to join us online Here!

 

Our speakers:

 

The Hon. Paul Fletcher MP

 

 

Paul Fletcher has been the Federal Member for Bradfield since 2009.From 2013 to 2022 he was successively a Parliamentary Secretary, Minister and Cabinet Minister. Apart from nine months as Minister for Social Services, Fletcher’s front bench service was largely in communications and infrastructure. He was Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts in the Morrison Government. Fletcher is now Shadow Minister for Science, Arts, Government Services and the Digital Economy.  Before politics Fletcher’s extensive private sector experience included eight years on the Senior Management Team at Optus.  Fletcher has dual first class honours degrees in law and economics from the University of Sydney University and an MBA from Columbia University in New York where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

 

Dr Hartley Atkinson

 

 

Dr Atkinson founded AFT Pharmaceuticals (ASX: AFP) in 1997 and remains its CEO. Before AFT, Dr Atkinson worked at Roche, the Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company, from 1989 to 1997 where he held positions as Sales and Marketing Director, Medical Director, Product Manager and Medical Manager. Prior to his work at Roche, Dr Atkinson was a Drug Information Pharmacist and Researcher at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Christchurch Hospital. Dr Atkinson is the author of several scientific publications. Dr Atkinson’s work has been published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Dr Atkinson was educated at Westlake Boys High School in Auckland and at the University of Otago, where he obtained his Master of Pharmacy with distinction in 1983 and his PhD in Pharmacology and Pharmacy in 1988 from Otago’s Christchurch Clinical School.

 

Thian Chew

 

 

Mr Chew is Chairman and CEO of Invion (ASX: IVX) and has been with the company since January 2017. He is also an Advisory Board Member at Stanford Medicine’s Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE). Mr Chew was previously Executive Director at Goldman Sachs (New York, Hong Kong), responsible for the firm’s proprietary investments. Prior to this, he was at Morgan Stanley’s Strategic Services Group (New York) and spent a decade at KPMG (Melbourne, Taipei, Sydney, Singapore), taking Director / Senior Manager roles across the Asia Pacific, including leading business transformation and post-merger integration programs. He has a Bachelor of Information Systems from Monash University, a Master of Arts in International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from UPenn’s Wharton School, where he was a Palmer Scholar. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (Schools of Business and Life Sciences) and previously qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

 

Dr James Garner

 

 

Dr Garner has been CEO of Percheron Therapeutics (ASX: PER) since August 2023, having served as a director since May 2023. He was previously CEO of Kazia Therapeutics (KZA) from January 2016 to Jun 2023. Dr Garner is an experienced Life Sciences executive who has previously worked with companies ranging from small biotechs to multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Biogen and Takeda. His career has focused on regional and global development of new medicines from preclinical to commercialisation. Dr Garner is a physician by training. He began his career in hospital medicine and worked for several years as a corporate strategy consultant with Bain & Company before entering the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Kazia in 2016, he led R&D strategy for Sanofi in Asia-Pacific and was based in Singapore. Dr Garner gained his Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours from University College London and his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Imperial College London in 1997. He gained an MBA from the University of Queensland in 2006. Dr Garner is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 

Dr Steve Gourlay

 

 

Dr Gourlay has been CEO of Actinogen Medical (ASX: ACW) since March 2021. Dr Gourlay has more than 30 years of experience in the development of novel therapeutics and brings considerable skills and experience to Actinogen as the company moves into further clinical development of its lead compound Xanamem. Formerly the founding Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at US-based Principia Biopharma Inc., Dr Gourlay was responsible for the supervision of multiple pre-clinical, first-in-human, Phase 2 and 3 clinical trial programs in orphan immunological diseases, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. The data generated by these trials, and Dr Gourlay’s roadshow presentations, supported a successful Nasdaq IPO of Principia Biopharma in 2018. Principia Biopharma was subsequently acquired by Sanofi for US$3.7bn in 2020. Prior to Principia Biopharma, Dr Gourlay was a Partner at GBS Venture Partners, the Australian specialist life science and healthcare venture capital firm, where he contributed to the success of multiple clinical stage therapeutic companies including Elastagen, Spinifex and Peplin. Before GBS, and after a post doctorate in clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Genentech, Inc. in the areas of pharmacoepidemiology and early clinical development. Dr Gourlay has significant drug regulatory experience with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) at many levels, including filing more than 10 Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, achieving several orphan drug status approvals for his Company’s product(s), and completing several biologics license applications. Dr Gourlay is based in Sydney and holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Melbourne, a PhD in Medicine from Monash University, an MBA from Macquarie University and is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP). He is also a specialist physician in general internal medicine.

 

Dr Richard Lipscombe

 

 

Dr Lipscombe has been Managing Director of Proteomics International (ASX: PIQ) since he co-founded the company in 2001. Before Proteomics, Dr Lipscombe was a post-doctoral scientist in molecular immunology at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, and Manager of the Protein Analysis Facility at the University of Western Australia. Dr Lipscombe is a highly practised business manager and protein chemist, expert in analysing biomolecules using proteomics techniques. Dr Lipscombe has international experience gained over a 30-year period in Australia, the US, and the UK, including work in hospital and academic laboratories and commercial organisations. His career has focused on the translation of innovative technology into commercial products and services, and he has helped raise over $40 million for academic and corporate initiatives. Dr Lipscombe, originally from the UK, completed his MA in Chemistry at Oxford University in 1990 and his PhD in Immunology at the University of London. Dr Lipscombe is well published in peer review journals, and holder of several patents.

 

Dr Paul MacLeman

 

 

Dr MacLeman has been Executive Chairman of Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX: ILA) since January 2020. He has been Chairman of AdAlta (ASX: 1AD) since April 2013. Dr MacLeman brings decades of experience across the life sciences sector, including veterinary practice, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, biotechnology, diagnostics, and finance. He has expertise in capital raising, business development, technology commercialisation, and drug development. He has founded life sciences start-ups in the biologics area and worked in investment banking. Previously served as Managing Director and/or CEO of several VC funded, ASX, Nasdaq and TSX listed companies undertaking a number of IPOs. Dr MacLeman was educated at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science. He has an MBA from Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Management and two post graduate engineering qualifications from RMIT and the University of Wollongong. Dr MacLeman is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

 

Jenni Pilcher

 

 

Ms Pilcher has been CEO of Cann Group (ASX: CAN) since April 2024 and a director since September 2020. Ms Pilcher was CFO of Whispir (ASX: WSP) from November 2021 to January 2024. Ms Pilcher has spent the majority of her 25-year career in CFO and Company Secretary roles, her most recent being the Global CFO and Company Secretary of medical imaging software company Mach7 Technologies (2016 to 2021). Before this, she was the CFO of ASX-listed biotech companies Alchemia and Mesoblast. Ms Pilcher has also held finance positions within global hospitality organisation Spotless Group Ltd, international pharmaceutical group Medeva plc, the consumer goods company Cadbury Schweppes plc, and the professional services firm PwC. Ms Pilcher has a Bachelor of Business majoring in Accounting from Massey University in New Zealand.

 

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