It’s reasonable to expect that a company’s business development activities should directly relate to—and support—its overall portfolio strategy.  However, companies vary in the degree to which business development actively contributes to the portfolio strategy development, and often that strategy focuses on the commercial potential of the internal pipeline.  Once pipeline gaps are identified, efforts shift to involve business development to help fill those gaps.  If the two functions remain separated, business development can often find it difficult to align newly acquired assets with the investment priorities of the development pipeline.  A successful approach incorporates considerations of business development opportunities simultaneously with asset prioritization decisions of the internal pipeline.  In practice, aligning strategy with implementation can be easier said than done, and different companies apply different organizational approaches to achieving this goal.  This session explores the link between portfolio strategy and business development and discuss common approaches for tackling this challenge.