NIH Director Zerhouni to Address BIO’s Global Health Forum

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 15, 2002) – Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President Carl B. Feldbaum announced today that Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will address BIO’s Partnering for Global Health Forum 2002. The forum, Dec. 3-5, hosted in conjunction with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will bring together biotech industry leaders, potential funders, and international health experts to explore how biotechnology can improve global health and address neglected diseases of the developing world.

“BIO is very pleased that Dr. Zerhouni will share his vision of how the biotech industry can address public health challenges in the developing world at our forum,” said Feldbaum. “I commend the NIH’s continued efforts to tackle these tragic problems. BIO shares this commitment, and we hope that our industry and the NIH will be able to work together to integrate biotechnology into compelling responses to the world’s most intractable diseases including AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.”

Zerhouni will speak at the luncheon plenary session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. For more information on BIO’s Partnering for Global Health Forum, please visit www.bio.org. Press registration is now available and is complimentary for credentialed members of the news media. Press releases, conference updates and registration information are posted in the “Media” section of the conference Web site.

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

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