Crown's first European symposium to focus on use of Translational Platforms in oncology drug discovery

Jan 15 2015

Key Opinion Leaders to discuss the use of Translational Platforms in accelerating Oncology Drug Discovery and the evaluation of Novel Treatment Candidates into the Clinic

Crown Bioscience, Inc., a leading global drug discovery and development service company, has announced its first European symposium, detailing the use of Translational Platforms including Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) models in oncology drug discovery and development. The conference will be held on Wednesday 11^th February, at the headquarters of One Nucleus in Cambridge, UK and will welcome experts from renowned pharmaceutical companies and prominent academics working in oncology. To register for the event, contact Crown at [email protected].

Due to the significant time and financial costs associated with drug discovery, the global pharmaceutical industry is increasingly focusing on the use of modelling for the purposes of evaluating effective drug candidates prior to entering full clinical trials. By fostering a greater understanding of the Translational Platforms available and the role of PDX models in the development of new and novel drug candidates in oncology, the symposium aims to foster a greater understanding of the considerable benefits offered by pre-clinical screening technology.

Crown’s symposium will feature many highly respected speakers from a wide range of prominent and renowned organisations from across the globe including Dr Anne Vaslin-Chessex, Sr. Scientific Officer at Debiopharm International S.A., Dr Aaron Cranston, Head of in vivo Pharmacology at Mission Therapeutics, Dr Mischa Houtkamp, Senior Scientist, Genmab, and Dr Hazel Jones, Head of Combination Therapies, CRUK. The chairman for the event will be Dr Martin Page, former Global Head of Oncology Research at Johnson & Johnson PRD and will include presentations from key opinion leaders including Professor Gary Middleton, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Birmingham, Dr Karl Butterworth, Lecturer in Translational Radiation Biology at Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Rajendra Kumari, CSO at Crown Bioscience UK Ltd.

Dr Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience, stated:

Crown is committed to facilitating the advancement of therapeutic discovery and development in the field of oncology. PDX models offer an extremely relevant screening platform for novel treatment compounds to development companies providing significant time and financial savings. This symposium is a fantastic opportunity for experts in the academic and pharmaceutical development fields to come together to promote growth and education regarding recent advancements in the pre-clinical arena.

He continued:

We hope that conferences such as this one will allow for those working at the forefront of oncology research and development to pool their invaluable experience and knowledge of cancer drug discovery to significantly advance our understanding of the disease and how to fight it.

PDX models have become increasingly relevant in drug discovery over recent years, primarily due to the severe escalation in financial costs and the constant evolution of both disease and treatment. With the discovery of ever more complex disease subtypes, pharmaceutical companies are developing correspondingly complex novel drug candidates and are experiencing greater pressure to validate their compounds before entering clinical trials. Pre-clinical screening allows developers to minimise losses on ineffective or unsafe therapeutics whilst yielding accurate predictions of performance in the clinic. PDX models are a highly cost-effective and efficient platform with which to test prospective drug candidates and offer relevant information which can then be used to make informed decisions on which candidates are promoted into the clinic.