The Hamner Sponsors Drug Safety Session At The 2008 CED Biotech Conference

PRLog (Press Release) – May 14, 2008 – RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences (www.thehamner.org) will sponsor an interactive session on drug safety entitled “Paradigm Shift in FDA Approval” at the May 20th 2008 Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) Biotech Conference.  The conference will be held at The Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.  “Rare but severe adverse reactions to drugs represent a major challenge to the pharmaceutical industry,” said Dr. Paul Watkins, session co-organizer and chair.  “These events appear to result from both genetic and non-genetic factors, which should be predictable.”

Dr. Watkins is the Verne S. Caviness Professor of Medicine and Director of the Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  As one of the leading experts on drug-induced liver injury, he actively participates in government and industry advisory meetings on pharmaceutical safety problems.  Reid J. Leonard, Ph.D., Executive Director, Licensing and External Research, Merck & Co., Inc., and David Shoemaker, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs and Pharmacovigilance, Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc., will join The Hamner-sponsored session in Winston-Salem.  

Now in its 17th year, the CED Biotech Conference is the Southeast region’s premier life sciences networking event attended by many of the region’s entrepreneurs, senior managers at bio/pharma companies, life sciences research leaders, policy makers and investors.  

The two-day program will include a variety of forums, panel discussions and exhibiting opportunities.  Sponsors for this year’s event include the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, NCBIO and CED.  The complete sponsor list is available online at www.cednc.org/conferences/biotech/2008/sponsors.

To register, receive sponsorship information or to learn more about the 2008 CED Biotech Conference, visit www.cednc.org/conferences/biotech/2008.  

Related Links:
www.thehamner.org
http://tracs.unc.edu
www.cednc.org
www.cednc.org/conferences/biotech/2008/agenda

Quotes:
“Sponsoring the annual Biotech Conference fits The Hamner’s vision of supporting community programs focused on technology development,” said Rick Williams, chief business officer at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences.  “The conference provides an opportunity for business, scientific, and government leaders to keep apprised of new trends in the industry and to exchange ideas about how North Carolina can remain a leader in this field.”

About The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences:
Strategically located on a 56-acre campus in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences is a cross-disciplinary nonprofit organization that acts as a catalyst to facilitate scientific collaborations – both locally and internationally – between academia, the private sector and government.  For more than 30 years, Hamner scientists have been recognized for their public-policy leadership and research advances in fields such as risk assessment, dose-response modeling and inhalation drug delivery.  For more information, visit www.thehamner.org or call (919) 558-1200.

Keywords:
The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, CED Biotech Conference, Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Translational Research, Public Health, Computational Science, Drug Safety Assessment, Drug Disposition, Drug Delivery, Technology Development, Biomedical, FDA Approval, Biotechnology, Dr. Charles Hamner, Environmental Risk Assessment , Pharmaceutical Drug Development, Translational Biomedical Sciences,  The Hamner Accelerator for Translational Bioscience, Rick Williams, Dr. Naina Bhasin, Dr. Paul Watkins, Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute at The University of North Carolina, Reid J. Leonard, Merck & Co., Inc., David Shoemaker, Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc.

Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
919-233-6600
patty@mmimarketing.com
PR Firms Raleigh, NC

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