The event will be live-streamed on our Facebook page and Youtube channel, details see: fb.me/e/5UzthxZ5M

Funding for early-stage biomedical innovation has become more difficult to secure at the same time that medical breakthroughs seem to be occurring at ever-increasing rates. One explanation for this counterintuitive trend is that increasing scientific knowledge can actually lead to greater economic risk for investors in the life sciences. While the Human Genome Project, high-throughput screening, genetic biomarkers, immunotherapies, and gene therapies have had a tremendously positive impact on biomedical research and, consequently, patients, they have also increased the cost and complexity of the drug development process, causing investors to shift their assets to more attractive investment opportunities. In this talk, Prof. Lo will describe how new business models and financing strategies can be used to reduce the risk and increase the attractiveness of biomedical innovation so as bring new and better therapies to patients faster.

Andrew W. Lo is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, director of MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering, and principal investigator at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His healthcare-related research interests include new financial engineering tools and business models for drug and device development and healthcare delivery, statistical methods for incorporating patient preferences into the drug approval process, and predicting clinical trial outcomes via machine learning techniques. He is a co-founder and director of BridgeBio Pharma, a co-founder and chairman QLS Advisors, a director of Roivant Sciences, and a member of the NIH/NCATS advisory board. His awards include Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships; the Paul A. Samuelson Award; the Eugene Fama Prize; the IAFE-SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year; the Global Association of Risk Professionals Risk Manager of the Year; one of TIME’s “100 most influential people in the world”; and awards for teaching excellence from both Wharton and MIT. Dr. Lo received his B.A. in economics from Yale University and his A.M. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.