PARIS, FR / ACCESS Newswire / September 28, 2026 / On October 29-30, 2026, the Berkeley Policy Institute’s Eira Initiative will host a major international conference titled “Competing for the Cure: Intellectual Property, Innovation Policy, and Biopharmaceutical Ecosystems” at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris.
The two-day event will bring together top economists, legal scholars, industry leaders, and policy architects in the life sciences to present ground-breaking empirical and policy research on how intellectual property rights, pricing controls, artificial intelligence, and trade frameworks impact biopharmaceutical innovation worldwide.
The conference takes place at a critical juncture for the life sciences, addressing international trade developments, patent reforms, pricing policy, ecosystem competition, and the evolving role of IP assets across major biopharma markets – including Europe, China, India, Japan, and the United States.
High-Level Keynotes & Policy Fireside Chat
The conference program features keynote addresses by Mark Schankerman (London School of Economics) and Yann Ménière (Chief Economist, European Patent Office).
A headline Fireside Chat with Nicolas Petit (European University Institute), Kamil Kiljanski (European Commission), and Hon. Peter-Anthony Pappas (US International Trade Commission), moderated by Bowman Heiden (Gothenburg Univ. & UC Berkeley), will translate empirical findings into actionable policy strategies.
Key Conference Sessions & Featured Research:
- Day 1, Panel 1: IP Rights and Biopharmaceutical Ecosystem Design Features research on IP-backed collateral lending post-2022 (“The Great Biotech Reset”) by Christine McDaniel (World Bank) and network mapping of pharma innovation systems by Angelos Stenimachitis (Univ. of Essex / Compass Lexecon), commented by Mark Schankerman (LSE).
- Day 1, Panel 2: Patent Term, Tax Incentives, and Biopharmaceutical Innovation Features findings on Supplementary Protection Certificate eligibility by Satyaki Chakravarty (Università Cattolica), Australian patent pendency dynamics by Gaétan de Rassenfosse (EPFL), and the impact of orphan drug tax credits by Simona Gamba (Univ. of Milan) and Laura Magazzini (Sant’Anna), commented by Margaret Kyle (Mines Paris – PSL, CEDP).
- Day 1, Panel 3: Reinvigorating European & Global Ecosystems Explores structural shifts beyond the “blockbuster” drug development model by Andrea Dugo & Oscar Guinea (ECIPE), open strategic health sovereignty by Timo Minssen & Gabriela Maria Lenarczyk (Univ. of Copenhagen), and foreign R&D burden-sharing in trade deals by Alden Abbott & Satya Marar (Mercatus Center), commented by David Bosco (Univ. Aix-Marseille).
- Day 1, Panel 4: Price Controls, Pricing Policy, and Biopharmaceutical Innovation Features analysis on European price controls by Duane Schulthess (Vital Transformation), international price control comparisons by Stephen Ezell & Sandra Barbosu (ITIF), and the impact of value-based pricing on drug development by Katharina Blankart (Bern Univ. of Applied Sciences), commented by Jamie Simpson (C4IP).
- Day 2, Panel 1: IP Rights and Global Biopharmaceutical Markets Examines pharmaceutical global value chains by Walter Park (American Univ.) and the development of the Indian pharma ecosystem by Chirantan Chatterjee (Univ. of Sussex) & Aniruddh Bhaskaran (Carnegie Mellon Univ.), commented by Nikolaus Thumm (OECD).
- Day 2, Panel 2: China’s Biopharmaceutical Ecosystem: Policy Insights and Global Implications Analyzes Chinese IP and other reforms in biopharma by Can Huang (Zhejiang Univ.), Chinese IP policy evolution by Mark Cohen (UC Berkeley), and China’s global biopharma rise by Dan Prud’homme (Florida Intl. Univ.) & Tao Bai (Univ. of Queensland), commented by Sharon Belenzon (Duke Univ.) and Jonathan Barnett (USC).
- Day 2, Panel 3: Artificial Intelligence, Pandemics, and Biopharmaceutical Drug Development Examines patent strategy considerations for AI drug discovery by Laura Fè (Murgitroyd) & Alice Norga, and the impact of public health outbreaks on innovation by Xixi Hu (UBC), commented by Jonathan Barnett (USC).
Event Details & Registration
- Dates: October 29-30, 2026
- Venue: Maison de l’Amérique Latine, 217 Bd Saint-Germain, 75007 Paris, France
- Format: In-Person Conference
- Registration Link: In-Person Conference Registration
To view the complete agenda, speaker line-up, and paper abstracts, please visit https://eirainitiative.org/events/
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
EIRA Initiative / Berkeley Policy Institute
Email: karla.soler.riba@eirainitiative.org
Website: https://eirainitiative.org/events/
SOURCE: EIRA Initiative
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