MORNING SESSION

7:00 am: BREAKFAST

7:45 am: Welcome

Brief Remarks by David Ewing Duncan, BioAgenda 2006 Summit Host

7:50 am: Fireside Chat: On Life Sciences Policy

A discussion with a seminal figure in genetics about the current status of life sciences issues, in conversation with host David Ewing Duncan.

Sydney Brenner,* PhD, Distinguished Research Professor of Biology, Salk Institute; Nobel Laureate

8:30 am: TOPIC: Darwin vs. God

Why do so many people not believe in evolution? Can ideology and science be compatible?

Moderator: Rodes Fishburne, Former Editor, Forbes ASAP Big Issue; Contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker; currently interviewing the world's leading scientists and theologians for a report commissioned by the John Templeton Foundation

William Hurlbut, MD, Bioethicist, Consulting Professor, Stanford University; member of the President's Council on Bioethics

Corey Goodman, PhD, President and CEO, Renovis; Professor of Neurobiology, UC Berkeley

Richard Milner, Associate in Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; author of The Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity's Search for Its Origins

Reverend David McAllister-Wilson, DMin. President, Wesley Theological Seminary

9:30 am: BioAgenda 2006 Innovator

David Sinclair, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Molecular Biology of Aging

"Molecules that extend lifespan: the possibility of radical new medicines"

BioAgenda Innovators are chosen for making extraordinary discoveries and innovations during the previous year that are likely to profoundly impact society.

9:55 am: BREAK

10:15 am: TOPIC: Drug Pricing

Do drugs cost too much? Are there other ways to pay for drugs?
Can the system for developing drugs be improved and made less expensive?
An interactive discussion and homework assignment.

Moderator: Greg Simon, JD, President, FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, part of the Milken Institute; former Chief Domestic Advisor to Vice President Al Gore

Joshua Boger, PhD, Founder and CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Kate Carr, President and CEO, Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC²), Affiliated with The Case Foundation

David Gollaher, PhD, President and CEO, California Healthcare Institute

Merrill Goozner, Author, The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of Drugs; Director, The Center for Science in the Public Interest

Edison Liu, MD, Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore; former Director of the Division of Clinical Sciences, National Cancer Institute

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: Attendees will be asked to send in comments about the current status of drug pricing - are prices too high, too low, just right? Why? Do you have ideas to lower prices? Selected responses will be read to the panel, and all responses will be posted on the website.

Co-Organized by FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating medical Solutions and the Milken Foundation

11:15 am: Science and Politics: The State of Science in Washington and the World

Comments from George Atkinson, PhD, Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State, in conversation with David Ewing Duncan

11:45 am:   BioAgenda "Great Debate"

Enhancing humans: how far do we go?

The pros and cons of being smarter, stronger, faster, disease-free… or immortal? The ethics, economics, law, and philosophy of perfecting and enhancing the human "machine."

A formal debate (like we used to have in high school)

Moderator: Moira Gunn, PhD, Host of National Public Radio's Tech Nation and BioTech Nation

Baroness Susan Greenfield, PhD, Professor, Oxford University; Director, The Royal Institution of Great Britain; Member, House of Lords

Ray Kurzweil, PhD, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Kurzweil Technologies; best-selling author of The Singularity is Near, When Humans Transcend Biology

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: Summit attendees will be invited to answer the Great Debate question: Enhancing humans: how far do we go? We will ask you to send in your answers, comments, and ideas on this topic; selections will be presented to the debaters for discussion, and all homeword feedback will be included on the BioAgenda website.

Co-Organized by NPR's Tech Nation

The BioAgenda Great Debate will be broadcast on Tech Nation to over 200 public radio affiliates in the U.S., 3 nationwide airings on NPR Sirius Satellite Radio, 3 airings to 133 nations via Armed Forces Radio, as well as over 100,000 podcasts via iTunes and the Internet.

1:00 pm: LUNCH

AFTERNOON  SESSION

2:30 pm: BioAgenda Challenge

A prominent leader in or out of life sciences will issue a challenge to a particular community (academia, Congress, business) about an issue the issuer feels needs to be reformed – and offers an innovative idea for accomplishing reform.

Frederick Frank, Vice Chairman, Lehman Brothers

Challenge: "The Pharmaceutical Industry Outlook or Look Out?"

2:50 pm: TOPIC: Is Big Pharma Dying?

4:30 pm: TOPIC: What the Future Holds: Chimeras? Synthetic Life?
Expanded Lifespans?

What Are We Creating, and Should We Ever Say No?

Moderator: Moira Gunn, PhD, Host of National Public Radio's Tech Nation and BioTech Nation

Richard Hayes, Executive Director, Center for Genetics and Society

Carol Kovac, PHd, General Manager, IBM Life Sciences

David Sinclair, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Molecular Biology of Aging

Gregory Stock, PhD, CEO, Signum Biosciences; Director, Program on Medicine, Technology and Society, UCLA; best-selling author of Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future

Co-Organized by UCLA's Program on Medicine, Technology and Society

5:30 pm:  Adjourn for the day

Evening  

7:30 pm:  Dinner

Dinner on your own at area retaurants, or join us for the optional film festival below, with "film food" available.