LA’s temperate winters and sunny summers make it easy to see why LA is an attractive location for most occasions. With more than 100 pharmaceutical companies calling LA home and a raft of top of the line venues, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Los Angeles Convention Center hosts on average 300 events a year. A state of the art option is JW Marriott Los Angeles which is hosting From Cranial to Spine: An Overview of Neurosurgical Topics for the Advanced Practice Provider is organised by American Association of Neurological Surgeons (ANNS) in August.
9. Seattle, WA
Pharmaceutical big shots Bristol-Myer Squibb and Novo Nordisk both have a presence in the Emerald City. In addition, Seattle is very much considered a hub for global health with the headquarters of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Infectious Diseases Research Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Moreover, you have A-grade facilities such as the Washington State Convention Center, the Seattle Marriott Waterfront and the Bell Harbor International Conference Center to choose from. If that doesn't swing your vote, then the fish tossing at Pike Place Market or Rachel the bronze pig mascot might do it.
When you think of Chicago, you might automatically think deep dish pizza and sports teams with mixed track records, but would it surprise you to know that the Windy City employs more people in bioscience than either California and the east coast according to Ernst & Young. Pharma heavyweights Baxter, Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie and Takeda all have a presence there.
Chicago has a myriad of conference centres and event spaces. Particular highlights included McCormick Place which is the largest convention center in North America and hosting the upcoming American Academy of Ophthalmology’ Annual Meeting from 27th-30th October, the historic Navy Pier and the Fairmont Chicago.
If it was good enough as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, then I’d seriously consider hosting your next conference or event in Philly. With 15 leading pharmaceutical companies, 11 of which headquartered, Philadelphia is sure to meet all of your event planning expectations with many of the venues itself arguably being attractions in their own right. Upcoming events including the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre and 20th World Congress on Pediatric Oncology and Nursing.
Known for its sandy beaches, parks and warm climate, San Diego has seen a growth in pharma and biotech. GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, Takeda and Thermo Fisher have a presence in San Diego. In particular, areas such as La Jolla are home to offices and research facilities for biotech companies. It also plays host to events such as the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials Southern California on held on 26th-27th September.
San Diego also recently hosted the 17th San Diego BioPharma Conference & 6th Pacific Bio-Partnering by the Sino-American Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Professional Association held at the Hilton Del Mar.
Not surprisingly California features for the third time on our list with San Francisco leading from the front. The City by the Bay not only ranks 1st for innovative cities according to AT Kearney with the likes of Salesforce, Airbnb and Dropbox all calling it home, it also has some of the top pharmaceutical companies in the area such as Novartis, Bayer and Gilead Sciences. If you’re lucky enough to have a spare hour or two, be sure to check out some of San Fran’s delights such as Lombard Street, Alcatraz Prison and of course the Golden Gate Bridge.
Upcoming conferences are the Clinical Trials Patient Experience Summit 2018 12th-13th September at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Francisco and EBD’s Biotech Showcase 7th-9th 2019 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. The city also hosted JP Morgan’s 36th Annual Healthcare Conference .
As expected, our top location for pharmaceutical locations is Boston. With over 10 pharmaceutical and biopharma companies based in Cambridge alone. Bloomberg Business ranked Massachusetts the #1 state for innovation so it’s not surprising there's a strong startup scene with over 2000 based. The City of Champions is home to many of the global pharma giants including Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck, Biogen-Idec and Novartis.
The highlight of the pharma and biotech calendar this year was BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organisation) International Convention, held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. With 18,300 attendees, 7,000 companies and over 1,000 speakers, the convention definitely was inline with #MakingBIOHistory as Rob Wright of Life Science Leader noted.