Major healthcare issues to be confronted at BioDundee conference

Global experts arrive in Dundee for summit

Global healthcare challenges and obstacles to the exporting of medical research and products will be debated when the 17th BioDundee conference gets under way today.

More than 100 delegates have gathered for the two-day symposium at the West Park Centre.

Issues to be touched on include valuebased healthcare, neglected diseases in the developing world, the preservation of innovative antibiotics for human use and the prevention of deaths from pesticide poisoning in rural Asia.

The last session today will focus on internationalisation, with Scottish Development International’s David MacCallum presenting on the topic of exporting in an increasingly complex world. However, the first day’s keynote address will be given by Scottish health secretary Shona Robison.

The second day of the conference will have a stronger commercial flavour, kicking off with a pitching competition for start-up and early stage biotech and life sciences companies.

Participants will receive immediate feedback on their plans and one will win a £500 cash prize to boost their company development.

The conference will close with a business, finance and regulation session with Andrew Powell of Asia BioBusiness and Global Scot, Mike Sullivan of InnovateUK, Kevin Taylor of Dupplin Investments and Jamie Beal of chartered accountants Henderson Loggie.

Mark Cook, director of government affairs with Medtronic UK & Ireland, said BioDundee gave a strong insight into the biotech field.

“The value of having world-class universities with cutting-edge facilities, great research capabilities and willing partners in a major teaching hospital cannot be underestimated,” he said.

“Dundee has everything a life science company could want from start-ups to multinationals like Medtronic.”

Picture: Kris Miller. The BioDundee conference takes place over the next two days.