Advances in Biopharma Digitalization Presented at the 7th Annual Genedata Partner Symposium

Leading scientific, IT and business innovators in the biopharma industry discussed new R&D trends, with a focus on cell & gene therapies, and shared how they use the Genedata Biopharma platform to automate and digitalize their R&D workflows

May 11, 2021
Basel, Switzerland

Genedata, the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharmaceutical R&D, today announced the successful conclusion of the seventh Annual Genedata Partner Symposium, held over 3 days from April 13–15, 2021. At the global partner community event, Genedata customers presented case studies on how they apply the Genedata Biopharma Platform to digitalize R&D and discussed new trends and technologies for R&D automation. More than 300 attendees from around the globe participated in the invitation-only symposium, including major biopharma R&D organizations Abbvie, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, EMD Serono, Ferring, GSK, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Orion, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, Teva, and UCB. In addition, leading CROs and CMOs, including Ajinomoto, Octapharma, and Sartorius Stedim, as well as renowned biotechs such as Agenus, Aptevo, Biotalys, Genmab, Gritstone Oncology, Immatics, Kymab, and Morphosys were in attendance.  

“We are currently rolling out the Genedata software across all Biotherapeutics Discovery teams at BMS and I really appreciated the opportunity to learn about the successes and challenges of other Genedata customers who’ve been using the platform longer,” said Lore Florin, Ph.D., Director Antibody Generation at Bristol Myers Squibb. “In addition to the excellent presentations, the many demo sessions and the chance to talk to other participants about their experiences with deployment, user adoption, integration, and other important topics faced when onboarding an enterprise end-to-end solution made the event extremely interesting and productive,” continued Florin. For the first time in its 7-year history, the partner symposium was held in a fully virtual format due to ongoing travel restrictions, but still provided plenty of opportunities for attendees to meet and talk, a major highlight of the event.

“I’ve participated many times over the years and it’s exciting to see how the Genedata software platform has grown, as well as to get to meet the mix of scientists and IT managers joining from the many new pharma and biotech companies who adopt the platform each year,” said Ruo Steensma, Ph.D., IT Director, Business Technology Leader at Janssen. “It’s also fun to catch up with old acquaintances and learn about the cool ways they are using the platform.”

A special focus this year was on Cell & Gene Therapy (CGT) applications and how more and more customers use Genedata to digitalize and automate their CGT workflows. Presentations on using the Genedata platform to enable the design and testing of novel modalities, such as AAVs, CAR-Ts, and TCRs, were complemented by a dedicated CGT panel discussion on this exciting topic, and CGT demo sessions. 

“The Genedata Partner Symposium has become the not-to-be-missed event where our customers can showcase their work in front of their peers and discuss how they have deployed, use, and build their IT infrastructure on top of and around our platform,” said Othmar Pfannes, Ph.D., CEO of Genedata. “The number of participants has more than tripled since our last symposium, reflecting the massive and quickly growing adoption of Genedata’s Biopharma Platform. We are really proud to offer this unique opportunity for so many world-leading experts at top biopharma and innovative biotechs to learn how our platform can make biopharma R&D more efficient and how to apply it to new and exciting applications such as CGTs and next-generation vaccines. We will continue to work with our partners from around the globe and look forward to bringing them together again next year for another exciting event.”

Editorial Note: The following are among the topics featured at the Genedata Partner Symposium:

Pfizer - New Gene Therapy Workflows – AAVs and Beyond

GSK - Clone Batch Customizations in Genedata Biologics enabling New Automation Platforms

Janssen - High-Throughput Biopharma R&D in the Digital Age

Boehringer Ingelheim - Data Review Center – Optimizing Checks & Balances for Biophysical Data Entry

Novartis - Genedata Biologics @ Novartis – Pushing the Limits

Immatics - TCER^® Development at Immatics and Deployment of Genedata

Sanofi - Building onto Genedata Biologics – Integration Backbone for Sanofi’s R&D IT Infrastructure

Sartorius - Streamlining Cell Line Development Processes – Increasing Productivity by a Factor of Three

Octapharma - Genedata Biologics & Bioprocess Deployment: From Lead Discovery to Formulation

BMS - Connecting Biotherapeutics Across Two Heritage Companies: Our Journey to Extend Genedata Use

Merck - Integrating Biologics with Merck’s R&D Data Systems

Pfizer - Using Genedata Biologics to Improve Biotherapeutic Decisions

Sanofi - PEPP System and Genedata Biologics – High-Throughput Mid-Scale Production of Multi-Format Proteins