Speakers
Dave Powell
Laura Haden-Smith
Rosemary Liu
Toby Richardson
Therapeutics and discovery track
For techbio companies, partnering with big pharma can be a key goal, either as the endgame, or as a step along the path to success. However, these organisations can be opaque to outsiders, and it may not be obvious what they are looking for in a partner. Our panel will help us unpack this so that you can better strategise your approach.
Dave Powell, PhD, is President of Drug Discovery at Relation, an end-to-end biotech developing transformational medicines, with technology at its core. At Relation, Dave leads experimental drug discovery efforts, including functional genomics, tissue profiling, and target validation, and plays a key role in shaping the company’s early pipeline and future modalities.
Dave is a seasoned R&D leader with more than 25 years of experience across GSK, Summit Therapeutics, and LifeArc, where he served as CSO and led a 150+ person team spanning biologics discovery, small molecule chemistry, diagnostics development, and data sciences. His career spans discovery through Phase 3 clinical trials, with particular strength in preclinical asset progression.
A progressive and collaborative leader, Dave is known for his ability to build and scale high-performing teams and for his laser focus on delivering science that makes a difference for patients.
Laura Haden-Smith is Director of Technology Business Development at GSK, based in London. The Technology Business Development team at GSK is responsible for identifying and acquiring platform technologies and tools that enable drug development from target discovery through clinical development. Laura's focus within the team is novel data generation, AI/ML foundation models, and target identification and discovery collaborations, where she leads the scoping, diligence, evaluation, negotiation and execution of these technology partnerships. Laura joined GSK in February 2024 and has worked alongside and in the Business Development team throughout, initially on competitive intelligence and deal intelligence support prior to becoming a deal lead. Prior to joining GSK, Laura worked in competitive intelligence and life sciences strategy. Laura received her MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge and a BSc(Eng) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town.
Toby is leading Search & Evaluation for the UK and the Nordics within Johnson & Johnson External Scientific Innovation. Before this, he led the identification, incubation, due diligence, negotiation, portfolio management and on-boarding of immunology innovation in EMEA, working in close partnership with the J&J's Immunology Therapeutic Area and Global Business Development. Prior to J&J, Toby was the Head of BD & Licensing at the Institute of Cancer Research, ranked as the leading higher education institute in the UK for research quality and impact.
Verena is Regional Head of Lilly Gateway Labs Europe, Korea and global lead of virtual Gateway Labs. Based in London, she connects Lilly with an entrepreneurial community that drives innovation and fosters deep scientific and drug development exchanges.
Prior to joining Lilly, Verena held dual national roles as Managing Director of the Accelerated Access Collaboration and Director of Innovation, Research and Life Sciences Strategy at NHS England, where she led cross-sector efforts with academia, industry, government and patient organizations to accelerate the adoption and spread of health innovation across England.
In these roles, Verena oversaw a broad and high-impact portfolio spanning clinical research, secure data environments, horizon scanning, strategic industry partnerships, digital therapeutics, and the adoption of innovative medicines and medtech. She also held national commissioning responsibility for key components of the NHS innovation ecosystem, including the Health Innovation Networks, Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and the NHS Innovation Accelerator.
Earlier in her career at NHS England, she held several senior leadership positions, including leading the Ministerially-commissioned review into digital transformation in the NHS; leading the NHS Transformation Strategy function; and driving system reform to establish Integrated Care Systems.
Verena has also worked with governments globally at the Tony Blair Institute, where she advised on health and life sciences strategies. She began her career as a health policy advisor in the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, before moving into healthcare management consulting in Australia and the UK, advising public and private sector clients on health system reform and service innovation. She is a graduate from the University of Sydney and the University of Oxford, and is a Non-Executive Director at Health Innovation East, a CW+ Trustee, and a Sciana Healthcare Fellow.