IT’S WELL PAST THE TIME TO JUST SAY NO*
An ANOTHER Open Letter to the Biopharmaceutical Industry
and Its Investors
We can't believe it's 2016 2018 and we have to spend our time writing this letter, again.
This year during JPMorgan BIO week in San Francisco Boston there was yet another cocktail party in which
inappropriately clad women served as eye candy—this time not just as cocktail waitresses, but as topless
dancers on stage.
This time it was the LifeSci Advisors After Party“anti" party held each year on the Wednesday night of the
BIO International Conference, where young, female models were brought in to escort the guests on buses to
the Exploratorium and to mingle with the crowd.dancers performed topless on mini-stages on the dancefloor.
According to one person who was there, "There were several young women dancing on these pedestal stages—
topless and There were a lot of young women in their early 20s in the shortest dresses I've ever seen who were
obviously not part of the biotech crowd—with airbrushed body paint depicting the theme of “Resurrection
Ball” and the names of several sponsoring organizations. It was just degrading. And there were all these men
and women getting really drunk. I want to talk to people and have a did not attend expecting to have that many
professional conversations, but I definitely did not expect to find this type of “entertainment” there either. I just
didn't want to stay. It was just gross."
The After As the acronym reflects, the PABNAB (“Party At BIO Not Associated with BIO”) Party wasn't
affiliated with, organized by or endorsed by JPMorganthe BIO Innovation Organization (“BIO”).
This isn't the first time backward looking firms in the securities biotech industry have put women on show for
the titillation of their predominantly male clientele. Those events are common knowledge and some are widely
shared, if not celebrated, on the internet.
In fact, the official video of the 27th Annual ROTH Conference proudly flaunts its use of scantily clad female
dancers, who appear alongside cool male rock stars and skateboarders, and images of professionally dressed
businessmen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_Xvla_5lo
Remember the backlash over the LifeSci Advisors After Party during JPMorgan week in 2016? Remember the
first version of this letter published a couple weeks later and only updated slightly today?
Really people? REALLY??? Are we still working with people who think of women as chattel?
What compelling business rationale could there possibly be for that kind of entertainment?
It doesn't matter who, or what kind of company, organized these events. If biotech executives attend, they
endorse them. That reflects not only on them as individuals, but on us as an industry.
Indeed, Bloomberg Business saw fit to use the LifeSci After Party as a hook to out our industry's dismal lack
of diversity back in 2016. There have been a number of efforts since to continue the dialogue sparked by that
party—and the many that came before (and apparently, after!)—and to work to grow the diversity and the
respect within our industry. You would hope the outrage could end there, but by branding the half-naked
bodies of these young women, our colleagues/competitors/partners/industry veterans have managed to make it
worse.

 It's We acknowledged in 2016 that it was time for us, as senior women and men in the industry, to say
"Enough”.."So, how is it, in this world where #TimesUp and #MeToo have shown the spotlight on so many
industries, an “after party” sponsored by companies within our own industry features topless [female] dancers?
We shouldn't need to outline the myriad ways this is still wrong. But for those who need it spelled out, again:
It's not "fun" when you have need to insult half the human race to have it. It's certainly not business when the
smart, dynamic women in our industry are forced to choose between demeaning themselves and making
business connections.
We expect better of our industry, which prides itself on enhancing the health and wellbeing of others.
Why would any high-achieving woman (or man) want to work at a company that engages in or endorses that
kind of activity?
And how can any of us expect our daughters -- or sons -- to respect us and want to follow in our footsteps?
Let this Karen Bernstein and Kate Bingham’s letter be was a “shot across the bow to the entire industry” in
2016. WeMore than two years later, we, as leaders, and thousands of others at every level who don't feel
empowered to speak out, want demand change.
This is a message from all of us that actions like this, and the attitudes they betray, influence our decisions
about whether to join a company, leave a company, work with a company and invest in a company.
We don't need In 2016, Karen and Kate did not think they needed to give a full prescription of what every
company needs to do. But They left it at “a good place to start is by not hiring models.”
For those who could not extrapolate this advice themselves: this includes topless dancers.
And for those on whose deaf ears these not-so-subtle messages have landed: you probably do not want to have
your company’s logo painted on the naked skin of topless dancers at industry events. Or, ever.

Sincerely,
Kate Strayer-Benton

* The original “Open Letter to the Biopharmaceutical Industry and Its Investors” by Karen Bernstein
and Kate Bingham appeared in BioCentury (03 February 2016).
https://www.biocentury.com/time-just-say-no