Discovery & Selection of Successful Drug Candidates
MAY 7 - 10, 2006 | ROYAL SONESTA HOTEL BOSTON
CAMBRIDGE, MA

http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=acsprospectives%5c06drugcandidates%5cindex.html

For the second annual conference on the Discovery & Selection of 
Successful Drug Candidates, chairs Dr. Andrew Combs, Senior Director 
of Discovery Chemistry at Incyte, and Dr. Gregory Roth, Associate 
Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Abbott Bioresearch Center, have 
again intentionally organized the agenda to shed light on the process 
of drug discovery itself instead of by a specific disease area.

Keynoting the conference will be Roy Vagelos, former CEO of Merck, who 
will give his view on the state of the drug discovery industry and its f
uture.  Then the program explores four key aspects of drug discovery -- 
lead discovery, structure-based drug design, selectivity issues, and 
ADME/tox issues -- with a half days session devoted to each.

On the last day of the conference, the VPs of medicinal chemistry for 
Merck, Novartis, and GSK will present case studies on drugs that have 
advanced through proof of concept or been successfully marketed.  They 
will share their perspectives on how they were discovered, lessons 
learned, and how they have instituted those lessons into their current 
drug discovery processes.

Last year this conference sold out early, so please register soon to 
guarantee a seat.

Confirmed Speakers:

    *
      On Lead Discovery: 
      - Phil Hajduk of Abbott on fragment-based approaches to NMR --
        Protein NMR in Drug Discovery & Design
      - Miles Congreve of Astex Therapeutics on fragment based approaches 
        to X-ray -- "From Fragment to Clinic:  Fragment Based Drug 
        Discovery"
      - Dan Veber of Tranzyme Pharma  "Discovery of a Cathepsin K 
        Clinical Candidate"
      - Jon Collins of GSK  "Structure-Guided Design of a Pathway 
        Selective LXR Modulator"
    *
      On Structure-based Drug Design: 
      - Robert Perni of Vertex  "Designing an Inhibitor of a Recalcitrant 
        Enzyme:  The Tale of VX-950 and the HCV NS3-4A Protease"
      - F. George Njoroge of Schering-Plough  "Challenges & Successes in 
        Discovering Protease Inhibitors for the Treatment of Hepatitis C 
        Virus"
      - Dan Goldberg of Boehringer Ingelheim  "Discovery & Optimization 
        of p38 Inhibitors via Computer Assisted Drug Design"
      - Vinod Patel of Amgen  "Discovery & Properties of AMG 706, A KDR 
        Inhibitor in Phase II Clinical Trials "
    *
      On Selectivity: 
      - Ann Weber of Merck  "Discovery of Sitagliptin, A Selective DPP-4 
        Inhibitor for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes"
      - Laura Blumberg of Pfizer  "Discovery & Development of Human 
        Specific CCR1 Receptor Antagonists"
      - Don Pinto of BMS  "The Discovery of Apixaban, A Potent & Orally 
        Bioavailable Coagulation Factor Xa Inhibitor"
    *
      On ADME/Tox: 
      - Bruce Car of BMS  "Discovery Preclinical Strategies for Reducing 
        Toxicology-related Attrition"
      - Mark Bunnage of Pfizer "Small Polar Drugs"
      - Phaik-Eng Sum of Wyeth "Tygacil:  A Newly Approved Expanded 
        Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic"
      - Dale Kempf of Abbott  "HIV Protease Inhibitors"
    *
      VPs of Medicinal Chemistry presentations: 
      - Robert Zamboni of Merck  "Discovery of SINGULAIRTM"
      - Martin Missbach of Novartis "Selective & Orally Active Inhibitors 
        of Cathepsin K:  A Novel Treatment for Osteoporosis?"
      - John Elliott of GSK  "Eltrombopag, A Small Molecule 
        Thrombopoietin Agonist"

Short Course (Optional)

    *
      Warren Wade, Director of Medicinal Chemistry, and Ajay Madan, 
      Director of Metabolism, both of Neurocrine, will review the 
      typical biological results that are used to select for drug 
      candidates, with an emphasis on understanding the relevance of 
      an assay to the  desired  results in human beings, diagnosing 
      potential problems, and providing practical approaches to overcome 
     them.

POSTERS :  The top three poster presenters as chosen by the conference 
      chairs will be invited to address the conference.  Don't miss this 
      opportunity to spotlight your work.  Also, the top two GRAD STUDENT
      posters will win a free ride to the conference.

Special thanks to our conference sponsors, CoalesiX and Symyx Renaissance 
Software

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