CED Biotech Forum

CED'S BIOTECH FORUM: TRANSLATING CLINICAL NEEDS INTO COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES

03/16/2009 05:30:00 PM - 03/16/2009 08:00:00 PM

Date: March 16, 2009
Time: 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Pre-registration: $25 CED members, non-members $40
On-site: $25 CED members, $45 non-members
Location: North Carolina Biotechnology Center RTP, NC - Directions 
Register Online Today via myCED.

The use of translational clinical research to identify unmet medical needs leads to commercialization of new therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices.

By creating opportunities for clinicians and entrepreneurs to collaborate together early in the development process, we can create biomedical solutions that generate new companies which have a higher likelihood of commercial success.

This panel will focus on how entrepreneurs can work more closely with clinicians to identify and develop new therapies that address unmet patient needs.

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Charles E. Hamner, DVM, PhD (Moderator)
Charles E. Hamner, D.V.M., Ph.D. is chair of the board of directors at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, located in Research Triangle Park, NC. Dr. Hamner is widely recognized by NC leaders, such as Governors Jim Hunt and Beverly Perdue, as being one of the founders of the biotechnology industry in the state. Additionally, he played a major role in establishing what is now the internationally acclaimed Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) as well as global initiatives such as Ireland’s first bio/pharma strategic plan. Involved with product development for over 50 years, Dr. Hamner has authored more than 50 scientific publications, co-authored chapters in 12 books on reproductive physiology and biochemistry, and edited two editions of Drug Development. The NC General Assembly created the NC Biotechnology Center in 1981 as the first state-sponsored biotechnology initiative. In 1987, Dr. Hammer met with the center’s board of directors to propose his comprehensive business model, which featured cornerstones of support from academe, industry, and North Carolina’s state government. The Center agreed and gave him the opportunity to lead the organization. Prior to building the NC Biotechnology Center, Dr. Hamner spent 10 years as Associate Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he helped transform the organization into a thriving medical research institution. Prior to that position, he consulted and worked for many years at a pharmaceutical company and also as a researcher at the University of Virginia, where he helped develop the technique of in vitro fertilization in cats. With a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and three degrees from the University of Georgia — a master’s degree in chemistry, a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, and a doctoral degree in biochemistry — Dr. Hamner was well prepared to develop collaborative initiatives for the state of NC. As president of the NC Biotechnology Center, Dr. Hamner convinced state leaders to help in recruiting more than 40 of the world’s best scientists to NC research universities. (Dr. Oliver Smithies, recent Nobel laureate, was in the first group of scientists to be hired.) The Center granted the research universities $70 million to pay for professors, and the professors in turn applied to research organizations such as the National Institutes of Health for grants, winning $850 million in funding. Under Dr. Hamner’s leadership, the Center provided biotechnology workshops for 1,000 high school teachers, with the result that 100,000 students learned about life sciences careers in the biotech industry. To move research results from the laboratory to the market, Dr. Hamner developed a convertible loan fund that helped 52 startup companies obtain $450 million in venture capital. Among the 14 top bio/pharma companies he helped recruit to the area are Bayer, BASF, Biogen, and Wyeth. These companies built $900 million worth of facilities and immediately created 6,000 NC jobs. Dr. Hamner remains active in the field of biotechnology and continues to work behind the scenes to support major NC initiatives. In honor of Dr. Hamner, The Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology has been transformed into The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences. This new translational research and business development campus, accessibly located in the heart of RTP, is carrying on Dr. Hamner’s legacy of building collaborative partnerships to advance biotechnology. One of The Hamner’s primary missions is to become a catalyst with universities in NC to facilitate the development of new, safer medicines. The Hamner-UNC Center for Drug Safety Sciences is one of the most recent examples of how this new model is being applied to meet the needs of NC drug development.

H. Kim Lyerly, MD George Barth Geller Professor of Cancer Research Director, Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Lyerly is the George Barth Geller Professor of Cancer Research and the director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Lyerly is currently the principal investigator of the Cancer Center Core Grant, the Duke Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in breast cancer, and a program project grant directed toward developing antigen specific immunity in patients with cancer. He is an internationally recognized expert in cancer therapy and cancer immunotherapy and has published over 150 scientific articles and has edited 10 textbooks on surgery, cancer immunotherapy, and novel cancer therapies. He serves on the editorial board of 12 scientific journals. In 2008, Dr. Lyerly was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board by President George Bush. He was also named by his peers as one of North Carolina’s most outstanding clinical physicians and was invited by North Carolina Governor Michael Easley to serve on the Advisory Commission of the NC State Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Lyerly has been a faculty member of the AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research, and has served as a faculty member of the Flims and ACORD Workshops. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation. He has previously served as chairperson of the executive committee of the integration panel of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs in Breast Cancer. He also serves on American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Grants Selection Committee, of which he served as chair in 2006. Dr. Lyerly is a member of the American College of Surgeons, of which he is a fellow.

Cam Patterson, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A. Ernest and Hazel Craige Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine Chief, Division of Cardiology Director, Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center Associate Chair for Research, Department of Medicine
In 2000 Dr. Cam Patterson was recruited to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to become the founding director of the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center. In 2005, he also became the chief of the Division of Cardiology at UNC. Dr. Patterson is the Ernest and Hazel Craige Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, and he has been recognized at UNC with the Ruth and Phillip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement. He is an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist in Translational Research. He is a member of several editorial boards, including Circulation and Circulation Research, and is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of University Cardiologists. Dr. Patterson maintains active research programs in the areas of angiogenesis and vascular development, cardiac hypertrophy, protein quality control, and translational genomics and metabolomics. He is also the director of the Cardiac Genetics Clinic.

About CED's Biotech Forums: CED's Biotech Forum, in partnership with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, explores industry topics and trends, features expert speakers and provides high quality networking. Join biotech entrepreneurs, industry executives, research leaders, services providers and investors quarterly at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park, NC. For more information, contact Elizabeth Call at ecall@cednc.org / 919.549.7500 ext.130 or visit http://www.cednc.org/btforum