BVMA celebrates its 25th symposium anniversary with an astronaut, “men who made history” and new board members

During the general assembly on Thursday, November 23^rd, the BVMA members elected a new board. Dr. Dagmar Chase (Clinrex), chairmen of the board since 2001 and Dr. Michael Gierend (medicomp), member of the board since 1997, resigned after leading the BVMA with great commitment for many years.

New chairmen is Martin Krauss from FGK Clinical Research who is looking forward to his new task and challenge. Ralf Freese from CTC North will be his representative and Dr. Yvonne Rollinger from OmniComm will be the third member of the board. MLM wishes the new board all the best and good luck for his first term of office.

With accordance to the renewals in the upcoming GCP Guideline the keynote speech in the afternoon was given on the topic of risk management and was given by Prof. Ulrich Walter, ex Astronaut. In a very descriptive and impressive way he outlined the main aspects of successful risk management. The second part of his presentation was an incredible journey around the world with beautiful pictures from outer space.

In the evening the BVMA symposium officially started with a welcome reception at the hall of fame at the “Deutsches Museum”.  Surrounded by busts and portraits of men with “outstanding achievements in natural history and technology” all attendees enjoyed a fabulous networking evening underlined with live music and a magicican. Many used the opportunity to have a look at the department of pharmacy which was open during the night and gives insight on the history and state of the art of drug development.

The 25^th symposium on Friday November 24^th was well attended with 320 people and this year’s overall topic “Patients first” put emphasis on those being incapable of giving consent, with a special focus on Alzheimer’s disease. Views from the regulatory, ethical and patient representative perspectives were  outlined and gave great insight in a very complex topic.

The symposium is always a good opportunity to get updates on current guideline changes/updates and so was this year’s with talks e.g. about the new “First in Human” guideline and the new radiation protection law.
Overall the programme was once more well composed and a good mixture of lectures, discussions and time to network.

We will probably back next year!