BIO Buzz: MA Pavilion Day 1 Recap – All About the Patients

Patients are at the heart of the life sciences industry. The Massachusetts Pavilion was designed to highlight the patients this year, so we spent Monday celebrating them.

3:30 p.m. Legislator of the Year Awards

Each year, BIO honors legislators who actively support innovation and the growth of the biotechnology industry in the state where the convention is held. This year, BIO honored Speaker Robert DeLeo, Representative Steven Walsh, Senator Karen Spilka and Senator Michael Rodrigues.

During the award ceremony, the legislative leaders talked about the important collaborative work we do here in Massachusetts to help the patients. Representative Walsh shared his personal connection to the patient experience and told the biotech community, “You are literally saving lives…You are doing things that are truly heroic.”

4:00 p.m. Pavilion Welcome Program: Celebrate the Patient

At 4:00 we welcomed three of the Massachusetts Pavilion featured patients to share their stories.

Event speakers included:

• Governor Deval L. Patrick
• Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio
• Jeff Leiden, CEO, Vertex
• Glenn Pierce, Biogen Idec
• Dave Tuells, Multiple Myeloma Patient
• Kyle Plunkett, Hunter’s Syndrome Patient

Governor Deval Patrick opened the event by looking directly at our patient panelists and saying, “It’s about you. It has always been about you.” He then reminded the crowd that “everything we do here [at BIO] this week is to benefit patients and to ultimately find a cure.”

Kyle shared his experience with Hunter’s. He said that doctors expected him to live until 10 or 15 years old, but now at age 19, can thank his life-changing medicine and say, “I feel like I’m going to live my life.”

“[Massachusetts] is the hub of the best medical care,” said Sandra when asked to give advice to newly diagnosed patients, “I’d say, move here!”

Moderator Glenn Pierce also asked what the Patient Panelists would share with biotech executives. Sandra said, “Believe the patients, we live it every day.” Dave added, “We can be a really good data source if you want to pick our brains.”

Kyle said, “Thank you. That you keep doing what you’re doing gives us hope.”

We also had the opportunity to chat with cancer survivor John Coughlin, CEO of Advanced Instruments, Inc. See what he had to say:

Here’s our video recap of the day:

Stay tuned for more BIO videos – including a Patient Profile with Kyle!