Pfizer, Novartis, and AstraZeneca to give featured presentations at Oncology Biomarkers conference

PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 09, 2007 – MONROVIA, CA – Kenna Anderes, Director of Oncology Biomarkers at Pfizer Global Research & Development, Michael Shi, Director and Biomarker Project Leader of Exploratory Oncology Development at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Joseph Paul Eder, Senior Director of Oncology Clinical Research Discovery Medicine at AstraZeneca will give featured presentations at GTCbio’s Oncology Biomarkers: From Discovery to Validation conference on January 14-15, 2008 in San Francisco, CA.

Dr. Anderes will present on Pfizer’s emphasis on imaging biomarkers for oncology programs.  Pfizer considers oncology pharmaceuticals and therapeutics to be a top priority, and focuses on biomarkers in their clinical applications and drug development.  

Dr. Shi will present on biomarker application in oncology clinical development.  He will discuss the application of biomarkers to address key challenges and opportunities in developing novel targeted cancer therapeutics.  The main challenges in cancer therapeutics and treatment are to verify the impact of novel drugs on targets/pathways by monitoring pharmacodynamic biomarkers, to evaluate molecular response as an early clinical efficacy read-out, to increase drug development predictability and to give the right drug to the right patients at the optimal dose.

Dr. Eder will discuss biomarkers for clinical decisions in phase I and II trials at AstraZeneca.  AstraZeneca repeatedly employs biomarkers in early and late stages of their clinical trials and views their role as critical in cancer drug development.

The Oncology Biomarkers: From Discovery to Validation conference features presentations on future methods and technologies for oncology biomarker discovery and validation, challenges to clinical translation of biomarkers, clinical application and development of oncology biomarkers and enabling biomarkers in cancer drug development. For more information, visit www.gtcbio.com.