You're right, they have to talk to everyone--and not make assumptions that past conversations are necessarily a lock for anything. Here's why: the fiscal meltdown has change the climate for partnering, financing, and M&A. There is an undercurrent of fear at this meeting that is not like anything I have seen in several years. One statistic is that there are over 120 biotechs with less than six months of cash--Cortex is among them. Which means that every Big Pharma can step back and reconsider all of its plans, because they have a menu of options they could not have dreamt of a few months ago, And as one major pharma executive said--he's waiting for biotechs to begin to accept that their valuations are 50% of what they were before the "crash", and to accept offers based on these valuations, not on what they were previously.
Today I introduced the Cortex program with "the biggest CNS market I'd never thought about, central control of respiration." Which is true--but it is rough out there.
I literally had a BusDev guy I'd never met from another company come up and almost beg to be added as the 'eleventh' presenting company. And he kept asking--he's grabbing for a lifeline. Not that I make those decisions, and even if I did, I wouldnt have said yes.
From what I could see: Varney, Stoll, Coleman were actively engaged in lots of conversations--this is not a place where anything gets decided, but possibilities can get rejiggered in the minds of pharma companies, in terms of where they want to focus.
The good news? Every Big Pharma company I heard from (and I moderated a panel which included the neuroscience heads of Merck and JNJ) indicated that neuro/CNS is a priority (though Pfizer is restricting themselves to Alzheimer's and schizophrenia). As opposed to cardiovascular and metabolic, both of which have lost favor as BP partnering choices.
Cortex's program has a lot of appeal--but everything has been thrown back into flux, and not just for Cortex.
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