Hi PMWC,

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on October 1st to Dr. James Allison (MD Anderson) and Dr. Tasuku Honjo (Kyoto University) for their work on unleashing the body’s immune system to attack cancer, a breakthrough that has led to an entirely new class of drugs and brought lasting remissions to many patients who had run out of options.

Given these recent high-impact developments and success stories, PMWC 2019 Silicon Valley has dedicated an entire track of its program to Immunotherapy, with ten individual sessions and a fully dedicated technology showcase of companies developing products in the field. Apply Here

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Carl June will join me in a Fireside Chat at the opening of the Track. Dr. June was the driving force behind the first FDA approved gene therapy – Kymriah, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. See Dr. June’s interview here. We will review the key conceptual and technical challenges that were overcome to make the CAR-T therapy a reality, and get insight into what the next generation of cancer immune therapies will look like.

Other sessions include:
• IO Collaborative Group Trials: Latest trends in anticancer clinical trial design
• Predictive Biomarkers and New Targets: Insights into better patient selection for trials
• Regulating T Cells and Response to Cancer: Translational research on IO non-response
• Combinations with Other Modalities: Late-breaking results from immunotherapy combo trials
• Beyond PD-(L)1 Blockade: Improving patient response and survival duration
• Genetically Engineered T Cell-Based Rx: How to scale latest liquid cancer therapies innovation
• Cancer Neoantigen Vaccines: Showcasing advanced personalized solid tumor treatment
• IO Intellectual Properties: New patent strategies for antibody and T Cell Receptor-based products
• Emerging Tools for Immune Response Monitoring: Moving measurement of therapy response earlier
• Immunotherapy Showcase: A “Who’s Who” in the immunotherapy space

PMWC 2019, Co-hosted by Stanford, UCSF, Duke, Johns Hopkins & University of Michigan is a great opportunity for everybody in the field to come together to learn and contribute to the exciting advancements in immunotherapy. You can expect to hear from a number of leading scientists and critical thought leaders in the field.

I welcome you to join 2500 others for the Jan. 20-23, 5-Track Program.

Sincerely,

Kim Blackwell
Head of early-phase development and immuno-oncology, Eli Lilly & Co.
Immunotherapy Track Chair, PMWC 2019