The annual event every Rare Disease stakeholder waits for each year.

Following 4 years of success, the 5 ^th Annual World Orphan Drug Congress USA 2015 is once again growing. From humble beginnings as a small conference that brought together the few pioneers spearheading the progress in orphan drugs development it became known as the event that brought this community together. It is testament to how the industry has grown that now there are 3 simultaneous conference streams and an exhibition hall of over 40 stands at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. This is the one event biopharma, biotechs, government, patient groups and their partners need to attend for rare disease innovation – to learn, network and do business.

In 2015, World Orphan Drug Congress USA is packed with great content exploring clinical development, patient partnerships, regulatory approval, reimbursement, exploiting global trends, manufacturing, distribution, orphan drug business models and commercialization strategies. With out of the box speakers like Christoffer Nellaker, University of Oxford discussing the clinically relevant information that can be gathered from ordinary photos, innovation showcases, networking lunches and interactive roundtables, the event offers a truly inspiring environment to help the industry further their business.

To grow the breadth of the event even further and empower rare disease advocacy like never before, we are launching  Rare Disease Advocacy World. We also have our new Pitch & Partner session taking place on conference day one - Thursday April 23 ^rd . This session gathers of start-ups and academia who present exciting novel and innovative discoveries in orphan drugs to VCs, big pharma and large cap investors.

That’s not all! The organizers at Terrapinn will be kicking off 2015 with a bang. Recognizing the importance of focused learning, we put together a pre-conference workshop day. Each workshop is 4-hours focused on case studies, testimonies and a hands-on learning around one specific challenge, for example, Market forecasting for orphan & ultra-orphan drugs.

Facilitating this year’s discussion will be some of the brightest and recognized names within the industry.

Dr Henri Termeer, former CEO of Genzyme and the godfather of Orphan Drugs will be joining us via video to discuss the sustainability of the industry. Ed Pezalla, VP, National Medical Director for Pharmacy, Policy and Strategy at Aetna will be offering the payer perspective during our Great Debate. Pat Furlong, President and CEO, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, who is not only a member of our esteemed advisory board, but is also presenting at Rare Disease Advocacy World on What you need to know and do to gain a treatment or cure for your disease.

You should join us too. If you’re not, you’re missing out!