Biosimilars Event Chairperson Not What I Expected

By Dan Schell, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

As the editorial director of Life Science Leader (LSL), I’m not the guy you see at conferences and trade shows; that’s the job of our Chief Editor, Rob Wright. Instead, I’m the one working behind the scenes coordinating with Rob and our other editors and writers on what articles will run and when. So it was unusual that I ventured out from our HQ in Erie, PA to attend the World Biosimilar Congress in San Diego recently. Am I an expert in biosimilars? No. But I was traveling with Life Science Connect’s newest (2+ years in tenure) editor, Anna Rose Welch who heads up our BiosimilarDevelopment.com, and she is becoming an expert in this field.

Although I’ve rarely traveled to shows since we launched LSL in 2009, I’m not unfamiliar with fulfilling this duty as an editor; I did it for six years prior to focusing exclusively on LSL. Still, there was one element of this biosimilars event that seemed foreign to me — the role of the chairperson Richard DiCicco.

Keep in mind, this was not a huge event; there were about 75 people in the single room dedicated to each of the presentations. And at the front of that room, introducing each speaker and presentation, was DiCicco.

Not having immersed myself in the biosimilars world, I was unfamiliar with DiCicco and the company he is the chairman and CEO of — Harvest Moon Pharmaceuticals. Thanks to a company fact sheet that was included in the conference materials, I quickly discovered that Harvest Moon offers a broad portfolio of biosimilars with comparability studies as well as 25 biosimilars that are ready to file with Phase 3 USA/EU data. Even without that information, though, it was evident immediately that DiCicco knew this industry inside and out.

Normally I expect a chairperson of an event to act simply as a moderator, introducing the speakers throughout the day. DiCicco did that, dutifully reading off the prepared bios for each person, but it was his additional comments and questions before and after each presentation that really caught my attention. He could be seen scribbling notes during each presentation, and if no hands went up immediately after he asked if there were any questions, he quickly would volley his own based upon those fresh notes. Sometimes he wouldn’t even wait to add his own comments or ask his questions before opening it up to the audience. In fact, he often seemed surprised when attendees didn’t jump to question the speakers, making you feel as though you were missing out on a huge opportunity. He would even challenge the audience to get involved, and when people would finally raise their hands, he often would know who they were or the name of their company. You got the impression he was well versed in the field, had done his homework on each presentation, and really was proud of what the event was offering. He was less moderator and more cheerleader/ringmaster. I liked that, and found his zealousness infectious and entertaining. When he unexpectedly announced at the end of the first day that he was prepared to offer a summary of all of the day’s presentations before everyone rushed off to the free food and alcohol waiting at the reception, most people stayed put.

Again, I’m not a frequent traveler to industry events, so perhaps this sort of behavior is commonplace. I recall a recent conversation I had with Rob Wright where he told me how some of the most memorable moderators at conferences he has attended were the ones who did more than just introduce panelists and ask preprepared questions. I suspect he would have appreciated DiCicco’s approach.