People, medicines and venture investments

April 6-10, 2015, Moscow hosted the 22^nd Russian National Congress “People and Medicines”. NovaMedica have actively participated in R&D part of its program and organized a symposium “Venture investments in Research and Development” chaired by Mikhail Getman, Vice President for Pharmaceutical Operations at NovaMedica.

Mikhail presented a report called “International investments outside Russia targeted at Russian R&D development”. He explained how venture capital can influence applied Life Science research programs, told about key factors driving venture companies’ investments into R&D, covered the topic of technology transfer methods and experience in pharmaceutical industry and gave an overview of NovaMeca’s experience in “planting” innovations in the Russian market.

Afterwards, the word was taken by Kristina Khodova, Head of Oncology/Immunology Division of Biomedical Technology Cluster of Skolkovo Foundation, who spoke about the support of innovative developments in Russia. What infrastructure had been created for venture market development in Russia, where to address innovative ideas, where to get experts’ help, consultations and mentor’s assistance, what is the procedure to obtain a grant and how to find investors, - these are some of the questions covered by Kristina in her speech.

Emil Gafarov, Senior Manager at RMI Partners, managing company of NovaMedica, described principles and specifics of venture investments in Life Sciences and shared his experience of work in one of the largest venture funds of the Eastern Europe. In addition, Emil presented unique women healthcare products developed by RMI Partners’ portfolio companies. In particular, he presented IO Systems, a breakthrough molecular diagnostics technology platform for infectious diseases developed a British company Atlas Genetics, and an innovative vaccine against NDV-3 developed by NovaDigm Therapeutics (USA). 

The 22^nd Russian National Congress “People and Medicines” brought together such participants as R&D and practical medical centers, educational facilities, pharmaceutical companies from all over Russia, representatives of governmental authorities and business circles and key opinion leaders. This congress is a prestigious place to share academic experience and significant achievements in various spheres of science and clinical practice, which always is a matter of great interest for academic and business communities.