First Philadelphia Region Event a Networking and Skill Building Success!

On May 13, 2008, thirty-two ASAP members and guests gathered half-way between Philadelphia and Princeton on the banks of the Delaware River in historic New Hope PA, for an evening of networking and skill building.  Mirroring the mission of the national ASAP organization and the ASAP BioPharm Council, this regional group in the greater Philadelphia area met to interact on topics of mutual professional interest--and built this particular session around the increasingly important issue of alliances in the biopharmaceutical sector. 

Sponsored by the NY/Tri-State Chapter of ASAP, the meeting kicked off with Ken Spero of Humentum stepping the group through an interactive simulation of an alliance challenge in the form of a “Simulette,” one of the alliance competency-building resources available through the ASAP BioPharm Council.  The crowd split up into small working groups to open the case study, which was then directed along a computer-driven decision tree by the audiences’ responses input via an electronic keypad voting system.  After cracking the case, the ASAP Philadelphia group declared victory and rounded out the event with a discussion of the CA-AM certification program and an evening of networking.

The greater Philadelphia life science cluster represents a growing healthcare hub and a center of biopharm-related alliances.  Stretching from Wilmington in the south through Philadelphia and on to Princeton in the north, this region has 5 medical schools, 120 hospitals, is home to 15 pharma companies, and is a region in which 11 of those leading pharma companies have located their headquarters operations.  Look for more activity by the ASAP BioPharm Council in the Philadelphia area in the near future.  Contact Harry Atkins CA-AM (atkins.harry@endo.com) if you have ideas for events, or if you would like to be contacted directly for future ASAP Philadelphia Region events.