Dear Tal,

Biology and Technology are Transforming the Future of Drug Discovery.
With the help of machine learning and cloud computing, technology is being used to accelerate our understanding of disease and the immune response to disease to fundamentally alter the way diagnostics and therapeutics are researched and developed. Before the pandemic struck, we were already witnessing the outputs of the convergence of biology and technology in new fields such as cellular therapy in cancer and cancer vaccines. These advancements laid the groundwork to drive solutions for COVID-19. Researchers continue to use every tool and technology available to generate a deeper understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and our immune response at the population level with speed and precision that would not have been possible even a few years ago. The result was astounding — safe and effective first-in-class vaccines, therapies and diagnostics in under one year.

How do we apply these learnings and proliferation of actionable data to drug discovery in other areas going forward? Let’s explore other ways in which data is fueling a new era of emerging therapeutics that could potentially transform how disease is treated.

I am excited to chair the Emerging Therapies Track (Track 1, Day 1) at the upcoming Virtual Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC), June 14-18 to focus on new emerging technologies that will change the drug development paradigm and have a tremendous impact on the future of precision medicine. Sessions will explore the role of real-world evidence (RWE) in developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in the presence of variants, advances in cancer cell therapy, and cutting-edge drug discovery in CNS disease, autoimmune disorders and other difficult to treat diseases.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: Updates on Recent Developments and RWD/RWE Results
• Chair: Lance Baldo, (Adaptive Biotechnologies)
• Panelist: Randall Hyer (Moderna), Julie Louise Gerberding (Merck), and David Swerdlow (Pfizer)
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted an unprecedented race to develop safe and effective vaccines and therapies. The use of Real-World Evidence (RWE) and making quick sense of integrated data sets drastically accelerated vaccine research and development, as well as provided insights into their efficacy and durability. This session will focus on how RWE has been integrated into the vaccine development and monitoring process to address future challenges, including the emergence of new variants.

Cancer and Cell Therapy
• Chair: Sharon Benzeno (Adaptive Biotechnologies)
• Panelist: Peter Nell (Mammoth Biosciences), Ira Mellman (Genentech), Jane Grogan (Graphite Bio), and Bruce Levine (University of Pennsylvania)
Before the pandemic struck, the field of cancer research was already harnessing the power if the immune system to discover new ways to fight the disease. This session will focus on various new technologies that are being developed to deliver best-in-class cancer and cell therapies – such as CAR-T therapy, neoantigen directed T-cell therapy and disruptive CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. The panel will also discuss opportunities and challenges of moving into solid tumors, manufacturing and rational combinations.

Using Immune Response Information to Develop Therapeutics in New Disease Areas
• Chair: Julie Sunderland (Biomatics Capital)
• Panelist: Harlan Robins (Adaptive Biotechnologies), Shehnaaz Suliman (Alector Inc.), John Aucott (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine), and Andres Hurtado-Lorenzo (Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation)
COVID-19 demonstrated that the diversity of immune responses to a disease can offer important clues to better understand, detect, and treat disease. Vast amounts of data at the individual and population level are generating a clearer picture of how the immune system responds to disease which we can use to develop truly personalized and targeted therapies. This session will discuss how valuable data of this kind, when translated and shared, can effectively be leveraged to enhance therapeutic developments across many disease areas.

Please join me for the Emerging Therapies Track on June 14 from 10am to 1pm PST and the many other important sessions at the Virtual PMWC Conference (June 14 – 18). Registration is free.

Yours truly,
Julie Rubinstein
President, Adaptive Biotechnologies