From June 29th-30th, a group of leading cancer experts will conduct the conference, “Unlocking the potential of Cancer Vaccines,” hosted by Biorbis in Cambridge, MA. A number of industry specialists assisted in the creation of the conference, including companies and organizations such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck Serono, the National Cancer Institute, Dendreon Corp, IRX Therapeutics, Pfizer, the FDA and more.
Biorbis, a company that organizes global conferences for the life sciences community, intends to support the pharmaceutical industry with its conferences in order to hasten advancement for the benefit of patients, an aim especially beneficial for sufferers of the rapid progression diseases, such as mesothelioma cancer. The Cancer Vaccines conference marks the first commercially concentrated event on the subject. The two-day agenda addresses the essential developmental challenges for improving the way in which we develop therapeutic cancer vaccines.
Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive cancer in which malignant cells develop in the lining of the chest, abdomen or heart, and it is most often caused by asbestos exposure. The disease is typically treated with traditional medical methods: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or a combination of the three. However, the post-diagnosis mesothelioma survival rate is highly unfavorable, ranging from six to eighteen months and rarely longer.
Traditional treatments, including mesothelioma surgery, usually work only to slow the disease. The need for cutting-edge, aggressive treatments is obvious, and cancer vaccines could be the next big step.
Mesothelioma clinics, such as the UAB Mesothelioma Clinic in Birmingham, AL, have already taken an active interest in the possibilities of cancer vaccines. Among other laboratory research, scientists at UAB are experimenting with the creation of a vaccine that would stimulate the immune system to attack mesothelioma tumors.
Research such as that of UAB is essential for the aim of the Cancer Vaccines conference in Cambridge. The conference will take this research to the next step: finding ways to conduct effective clinical trials, strategic planning to avoid experimental redesign, minimizing risk and time used in securing vaccine approval, as well as addressing specific scientific issues regarding the vaccine.
The two-day conference is packed with presentations and workshops, including “Transforming Clinical Setbacks into the Design of Better Studies: From Retrospective to Prospective” led by Dr Richard Harrop, head of Clinical Analysis at Oxford Biomedical; and “Accelerating the development of cancer vaccines: identifying and applying the correct biomarkers” led by Dr Samir Khleif, chief of the Cancer Vaccine section at the National Cancer Institute.
Other confirmed speakers include noted experts such as Dr Ramy Ibrahim, Medical Director of Oncology and Global Clinical Research at Bristol-Myers Squibb; as well as Chairman of the conference, Dr Peter Bross, Medical Review Officer in the Office of Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy at the FDA; Dr Jean-Yves Bonnefoy, Vice President of Research and Development at Transgene; and Dr Harpreet Singh, Chief Scientific Officer at Immatics Biotechnologies.
Additional information can be found at http://www.health.uab.edu/11263/TKC/12270/?secondaryEntryId=1564&goto=singleSecondaryEntry&directory-query=*&txc-more=4103.
