'Spirit' of JPM lives on as other meetings muscle in on biopharma playground

Two weeks before the start of the 36th annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference, the annual gauge of life sciences investor sentiment, organizers caused a firestorm with their decision to bar media from the breakout sessions that follow canned presentations by 480 public and private companies over the four-day meeting. They relented 24 hours later, after media outlets took to Twitter to complain and stories in consumer press riled up retail investors, who publicly charged the forum with giving preferential treatment to institutional customers.