Some thoughts from BIO 2010 (or how not to handle media)

May 6, 2010 – 2:26 pm by Chris

It’s been a hectic two and a half days in Chicago at BIO 2010, the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual convention. I’ve interviewed people from Scottish Enterprise and Berlin Partner about their efforts to attract life sciences investment in their regions; sat down with experts from Deloitte and Ernst & Young to discuss the findings revealed in their recent reports about the biotech industry; gotten updates on Amgen’s pipeline and the company’s science education programs from Dr. Joseph Miletich, senior VP of research and development; spoken with Dr. Michael Yeomans, senior VP, head of global business development & licensing for Bayer Schering Pharma, and Dr. Michael Heerde, head of strategy and business development for Bayer in China, about Bayer’s partnering efforts; interviewed Peter Greenleaf, president of MedImmune LLC; attended an FDA town hall where Commissioner Margaret Hamburg spoke; and sat in on two other sessions, one looking at how FDA will be implementing biosimilars legislation, and the other on the challenges of trying to communicate pharmaceutical and healthcare information to patients, when in some areas of the world journalists can be charged with advertising unauthorized medical products (the writer of the linked article, Peter Pitts of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, moderated this panel).

Then there have been the people I have run into who know me from Twitter or who have read Med Ad News or R&D Directions, and the interesting characters I have run into on the exhibit floor, like the FBI agents stuck away in the corner of the hall. Agent William So, from the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, was there to promote the FBI’s efforts to make bioscientists more aware of how their research and labs could be suborned by terrorists.

Oh, yes, and I got to see former U.S. Vice President Al Gore speak during yesterday’s keynote luncheon. Yes, the same keynote luncheon that was closed to the registered media except for five minutes at the beginning of the session, where the reporters were trotted in, and then trotted out again. Luckily, I was able to prevail on Amgen’s corporate communications department, who graciously provided a ticket for me as the company’s guest. I sat at a table at the very front of the room with Amgen people as well as the company’s other journalist guests, Clive Cookson, science editor for The Financial Times, and Moira Gunn of NPR’s Biotech Nation program.

It was a shame other members of the media were not as lucky, because Mr. Gore is a phenomenal and passionate speaker, who managed to weave concerns about climate change and its threats on civilization, security, and human health with hope that the biotech industry could provide solutions to these problems. The rest of the media also missed speeches from Genentech Chairman Art Levinson, who received the 2010 Biotechnology Heritage Award; Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was honored as governor of the year; and Robert Klein, chairman of the Governing Board for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, who received the 2010 Biotech Humanitarian Award. There were also the speeches from BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood and Chairman Stephen A. Sherwin, M.D., who is chairman of Ceregene Inc. And there was also the heartwarming video showing the story of Corey Haas, who was successfully treated in a gene therapy trial for congenital disorder that leads to blindness.

Amgen had asked that I not actually report from the event, and I honored the company’s request. My Tweetstream was silent. I did not take any cell phone photos. I did take some notes in a pad (as did Ms. Gunn and Mr. Cookson), but that was about it.

But here was the irony. All around me, even at my table, there were people using their smartphones to take video and pictures of the speech, Tweet out their thoughts and observations, and post their pictures and video online. In this day and age, anyone can be a “journalist on the spot.” These people weren’t accredited media, but they wanted to share their own impressions of the event, so they did, in spite of the announcement to turn off all cell phones and wireless devices (an executive would sooner chop off his or her own hand than not check their messages on their iPhone or Blackberry every five minutes).

People were doing the same thing at the Bill Clinton/George W. Bush keynote luncheon the day before. That’s one that I couldn’t get into; my contact at J&J didn’t get back to me about my request for a pass for the event. (In the end, it worked out better for me anyway, as I got to visit healthcare advertising agency AbelsonTaylor while I was in town.)

Now, I can understand BIO’s reasoning for not wanting the accredited media in these sessions; the convention is a private event, and full convention attendees, paying the full price for that access, would have had a tougher time getting into the very popular keynote sessions if journalists - who get to attend the convention for free - were hogging up the seats. In the end, though, what did BIO accomplish with its media ban?

From the grumbles I heard in the press room yesterday and this morning, all that seemed to be achieved was a whole lot of ill will. And some of those journalists may not be back next year, which means exhibitors will have a smaller group of media to promote to. Although BIO is a networking event, it is also a way to get a company into the spotlight.

BIO may have shot itself in the foot with this one. It will be interesting to see what happens next June in D.C., where the 2011 BIO convention will be held.

Me? I’ll be there. With a full round of meetings, probably. And if BIO’s policy continues and I can’t find anyone to guest me into the keynotes, I know of several fine restaurants in D.C. Perhaps you’ll join me.