Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is to co-host ‘Horizons in Cancer Drug Discovery’ – a meeting of minds of academia, the pharmaceutical industry and investors to discuss innovative methods of cancer drug discovery.
The event will be held from 1–2 April at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, and features a stimulating programme of presentations, a panel discussion and numerous networking opportunities.
‘Horizons in Cancer Drug Discovery’ is the topic of Edinburgh BioQuarter’s Annual Conference 2015, and is designed to drive an exchange of ideas on new strategies for innovative drug discovery. It will also explore the potential for alliances between academia, small and medium enterprises, biotech, pharma and funders.
Several top researchers from the ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust will be presenting at the event, including Professor Workman, who will discuss ‘Drugging the cancer genome’, and Professor Julian Blagg, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit, who will present on ‘Phenotypic screening in cancer drug discovery: grail or graveyard?’.
Professor Johann de Bono, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the ICR and an honorary consultant at The Royal Marsden, and Dr Udai Banerji, Leader of the Clinical Pharmacology and Trials Team at the ICR and an honorary consultant at The Royal Marsden, will also be giving talks on ‘Improving the odds with rational clinical drug development’ and ‘Opportunities and challenges of picking combinations of PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway inhibitors’, respectively.
Professor Workman said: “We need to do much more to encourage collaboration between pioneers in academia and colleagues in industry to achieve real innovation in cancer drug discovery and big gains in cancer survival. I’m pleased that the ICR is playing such an active role in drawing together leaders in the various aspects of drug discovery and development, and hopefully firing the imagination of investors and funders.
“I am keen that the conference can act as a forum for the exchange of exciting scientific ideas and inventive new models for working together across different sectors, and also help catalyse networking opportunities that turn those ideas into reality.”
You can read more about Professor Workman’s views on innovative approaches to drug discovery in his blog.