Bio Screening Industry News

The inaugural Drug Discovery Latin America conference and exhibition will be held in the colourful city of Rio de Janeiro in the days immediately following the world famous carnival.

The purpose of this meeting is to review the status of drug discovery activities in Latin America and to assist its future development. Business and research leaders from both developed markets and BRIC countries will bring their knowledge and experience to share. Participants will be encouraged to network and explore partnering opportunities.

Full conference passes include admission to all sessions and the exhibition as well as conference documentation.
Lunch, coffee breaks and the drinks reception provide ample time for networking and to continue discussions from the question and answer sessions.

http://www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/DDLA2009

Agenda

Day One - 26 February 2009

Screening

09:00

Using Drug Molecules as Probes and Probe Molecules as Drug Precursors
Ralph Garippa, Research Leader, Roche Discovery Technologies
This talk will highlight some examples of Pharma’s HT screened molecules which became popular commercialized reagents, and some promising molecules which have been published in the public domain (PubMed) as a result of academic screening.

09:30

Title to be Confirmed
Jeremy Caldwell, Director of Cell Based Screening, GNF

10:00

Using in vitro Screening Assays to Profile the Biology of Chemical Entities
John Watson, Director, Pharmacology and Biotechnology, Promega
Profiling of a compound’s impact on cell signaling pathways, ADME properties and cellular toxicity early in the discovery process can help prioritize compounds to help assure the final drug has maximal target activity and minimal off target effects.

10:30

Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

11:15

Nuclear Receptor Activation Assessment: Improving Safety and Directing Chemistry
Kyle Kramer, Vice President, Business Development, Puracyp
The presentation includes introduction to key nuclear receptors (NR) involved in drug metabolism. The construction and use of stable cell lines with reporter genes is explained. Finally, the utility of these systems in drug safety screening is presented.

11:45

Functional Genome-Wide Screening for Genes that Regulate p53 in Endothelial Cells
Michael Edel, Principle Investigator, Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona
Angiogenesis requires an increase in endothelial cell proliferation to support an increase in mass of blood vessels. An in vitro cell model has been designed that can be used for screening gene or chemical libraries that regulate endothelial cell proliferation.

12:15

Presentation to be Announced

12:45

Lunch and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

Tropical Disease Drug Development

14:00

Prolyl Oligopeptidase of Trypanosoma cruzi (POP Tc80) : A Target for the Design of New Weapons Against Chagas Desease
Bernard Maigret, CNRS Research Director, LORIA - Nancy University
The group has recently demonstrated that the activity of POPTc80, a prolyl endopeptidase that mediates native collagen and fibronectin hydrolysis, is required for trypomastigotes entry into host cells. Using a tridimentionnel model of this target built from homology modelling, molecular docking and screening assays they were able to identify possible new compounds active against Chagas desease.

14:30

Novel Drug Targets for the Malaria Parasite
Asif Mohmmed, Staff Research Scientist, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

15:00

Title to be Confirmed
Leila de Mendonça Lima, Senior Researcher and Head of Lab. for Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ

15:30

Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

16:15

Drug Discovery of Fluorinated Drugs Against Neglected Diseases and HIV/AIDS
Núbia Boechat, Head of R&D Group in Medicinal Chemistry, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ
Organic synthesis of fluorinated compounds in medicinal chemistry against AIDS and neglected diseases; innovation and technological management in public health.

Drug Discovery in Emerging Markets

16:45

Drug Development and Discovery
Christopher Bianca, Professor of Chemistry, Clinical Consultant, Keystone College Academia
This presentation discusses all the relevant information required to develop a new drug or a lead compound drug, from toxicology, to pharmacodynamics, to pharmacokinetics, and all the way to clinical trials including FDA approval.

17:15

Stem Cells in Drug Discovery
Chris Kendrick-Parker, Chief Commercial Officer, Cellular-Dynamics International

17:45

Drinks Reception

Day Two - 27 February 2009

Drug Discovery in Emerging Markets (continued)

09:00

Title to be Confirmed
Marcelo Criscuolo, Executive Director, Bio Sidus

09:30

Ranbaxy’s Quest to Become a Research Based International Pharmaceutical Company
Abhijit Ray, Director, New Drug Discovery Research, Ranbaxy Laboratories
Ranbaxy has worked hard to create physical infrastructure, science base and a sustainable strategy for drug discovery research. How this effort has borne fruit will be discussed.

10:00

Taking Companies from Concept to Market
Paul Morril, Co-Founder, Execute Technologies

10:30

Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

11:15

Title to be Confirmed
Jose Krieger, Heart Institute (InCor), University of Sao Paulo

11:45

Comparative Proteomics Identification of Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Leukemias
Eliana Abdelhay, Head of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute (INCA)
Through proteomics the group analyzed the modifications in the protein profile of bone marrow MNCs from patients in CML phases and in Imatinib Mesylate treatment. They could identify several putative biomarkers of diagnostic, evolution and treatment response that can be use in drug design.

12:15

NFAT Transcription Factors: A Putative New Target in Cancer
João Viola, Head, Division of Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute (INCA)
The Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells (NFAT) family of transcription factors is activated upon different stimuli that lead to increased intracellular calcium levels. NFAT proteins regulate genes that control many aspects of malignant cell transformation and tumour development. The group investigates the molecular mechanisms by which NFAT regulate tumour-related events and its involvement in oncogenesis.

12:45

Lunch and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

Natural Products

14:00

ChemBioBank, an Academic Project for Drug Discovery in Latin America
Fernando Albericio, Executive Director, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona
The goal of the Latin American ChemBioBank project (LA-CBB) is to build a chemico-biological database, annotated with both biological and bioinformatic data, addressed to the scientific community and to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

14:30

High Content Screens for Novel Antipoxviral Agents: Natural Products to the Rescue
Hakim Djaballah, Director, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre
The group have developed and validated a high content assay to screen for compounds that would preferentially block viral entry, viral replication, or viral spread upon infecting cell monolayer seeded in 384-well plates with a recombinant vaccinia virus which expresses karyophilic GFP under the control of a viral early/late promoter.

15:00

Using a Luciferase Based Screening Assay to Identify Traditional Chinese Medicine Targeting Nuclear Hormone Receptors
Chiwai Wong, Principal Investigator, Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Since the activities of nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are regulated by small molecule compounds and that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) extracts contain a diverse array of naturally derived chemicals, the group investigated if selective TCM extracts modulate the activities of NHRs.

15:30

Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall

16:15

Bourreria huanita Flowers, a New Antidepressant?
Miguel Torres, Biological Chemist, University of San Carlos
Ethnobotanical and pharmacological studies have preliminarily demonstrated an antidepressant effect in ethanolic extract of dried Bourreria huanita (Boraginaceae) flowers from Guatemala. It’s possible this natural product contains a medically useful molecule and funding is required to continue the chemical analysis and elucidation.

16:45

Post Absorption and Metabolism Compounds: A New Approach to Discover Drug Candidates from Chinese Herbal Medicine
William Jia, VP Research and Associate Professor, Shanghai Innovative Research Centre/University of British Columbia
In a recent study the group has isolated compounds post absorption/metabolism (PAM) of orally taken ginseng. The study showed that those compounds are highly active for neuroprotection and anti-depression.

BRASILIA, Brazil and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and Genzyme Corp. today announced that they have formed a research collaboration to advance new treatments for certain neglected diseases. The partners will focus initially on Chagas disease, a life-threatening infectious disease affecting millions of people in Latin America.

Fiocruz, a premier public institution chartered by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to promote health and social development, has expertise in biology, medicine, clinical treatment and the epidemiology of infectious disease. Genzyme is a leading global biotechnology company that is participating in efforts to discover and advance novel treatments for neglected diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness through its Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases initiative.

Fiocruz and Genzyme will collaborate initially on two specific research programs. The first will focus on identifying novel biological targets within the parasite that causes Chagas disease and will include screening for potential compounds that affect these targets and which could be developed into drugs. The second program will test the effectiveness of using monoclonal antibodies to neutralize a protein that contributes to heart damage in Chagas disease, known as transforming growth factor-beta.

Under the partnership agreement, scientists from Fiocruz and Genzyme are expected to work in each other’s laboratories from time to time. The collaboration includes an innovative approach to intellectual property rights, providing Fiocruz rights to commercial uses within the field of neglected disease on a royalty-free basis.

Both organizations bring strong capabilities to these research areas. Fiocruz is one of the world’s leading centers for the study of Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis. The disease is named for Carlos Chagas, the Brazilian physician who first discovered the disease, its cause and mode of transmission in 1909 while working at Fiocruz. In addition, scientists at Fiocruz have developed metabolic maps of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite that causes the disease when it is transmitted to humans from insects. These maps will be used to explore specific metabolic pathways that may serve as targets for potential drugs.

Genzyme has considerable experience in several of these pathways and is also a recognized leader in research on transforming growth factor-beta. In addition, Genzyme is developing and testing novel compounds intended to treat African trypanosomiasis-a fatal infectious disease caused by a related parasite-in collaboration with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

“Neglected diseases pose significant problems in developing countries all over the world,” said Paulo Buss, M.D., president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. “In Brazil, with the support of the health ministry, we are accelerating our efforts to address these problems and to increase scientific activity in this area. We are very excited to partner with Genzyme, one of the world leaders in biotechnology, and we are optimistic that this collaboration will create promising opportunities that may help us deal with the burden of infectious disease.”

Henri A. Termeer, chairman and chief executive officer of Genzyme Corp., said: “Biopharmaceutical companies have great potential to help address neglected diseases. Our industry possesses the precious capabilities to unlock the promise of the lab by converting basic science into drug candidates and increasing the number of potential treatments flowing into clinical development. We look forward to building a productive, sustainable partnership with Fiocruz, and we hope that this novel way of collaborating can serve as a model for public/private partnerships in the area of neglected disease drug development.”

Rogerio Vivaldi, M.D., Genzyme’s senior vice president and general manager for Latin America, commented: “This partnership with Fiocruz enables us to expand our support for research and development in Brazil and in Latin America, where we have already begun to increase our investment in clinical trials. Our work in neglected diseases is based on the same values and the same commitment to patients that have driven our work in developing treatments for people with orphan diseases.”

Through its Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases initiative, Genzyme is participating in efforts to discover and advance novel treatments for neglected diseases. The initiative serves as a vehicle to identify, evaluate and manage scientific projects and partnerships focused on diseases that collectively affect hundreds of millions of people, including malaria, Chagas disease, sleeping sickness and other diseases. Genzyme is focusing on projects where it can play a defined role in the process of moving potential new treatments from discovery toward clinical testing. The HAND initiative complements existing Genzyme programs that provide free medicines and help to build sustainable health care systems in developing countries.

About the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ)

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) is the largest biomedical research institution in Latin America and one of the most respected in the world. FIOCRUZ forms part of the Brazilian Ministry of Health and plays an important role in the area of science and technology in health, including activities in basic and applied research, teaching, reference hospital and ambulatory assistance, strategies formulation in public health, information and diffusion, personnel training, vaccines, drugs, diagnostic kits and reagents production, quality control and development of technologies for health. The organization is over 100 years old and was modeled on the Pasteur Institute from where Oswaldo Cruz (the Institute’s founder and its first Director) drew inspiration.

About Genzyme Corporation

One of the world’s leading biotechnology companies, Genzyme is dedicated to making a major positive impact on the lives of people with serious diseases. Since 1981, the company has grown from a small start-up to a diversified enterprise with more than 9,000 employees in locations spanning the globe and 2006 revenues of $3.2 billion. Genzyme has been selected by FORTUNE as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work for” in the United States. With many established products and services helping patients in nearly 90 countries, Genzyme is a leader in the effort to develop and apply the most advanced technologies in the life sciences. The company’s products and services are focused on rare inherited disorders, kidney disease, orthopaedics, cancer, transplant, and diagnostic testing. Genzyme’s commitment to innovation continues today with a substantial development program focused on these fields, as well as immune disease, infectious disease, and other areas of unmet medical need.

Genzyme in Brazil

Genzyme established an affiliate organization in Brazil in 1997, becoming the first major biotechnology company to operate in the country. Over the past ten years, Genzyme has introduced in Brazil a number of treatments for rare inherited disorders (known also as “orphan diseases”), as well as treatments for kidney disease, thyroid cancer and organ transplant. Genzyme employs more than 100 people in Brazil. The company’s operations are based in Sao Paulo, and its office in Rio de Janeiro serves as a hub for commercial, medical, regulatory, and clinical research activities throughout Latin America.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the research collaboration between Genzyme and Fiocruz, the research programs that are currently proposed as well as the potential disease targets, and Genzyme’s Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases program. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward- looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the general risks and uncertainties associated with drug discovery efforts, the ability of Fiocruz and Genzyme to execute the research plan as proposed, whether any compounds will be identified which could be developed into drugs, and the risks and uncertainties described in reports filed by Genzyme with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including without limitation the factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Genzyme’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2007. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the statements.

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Cape Biotech is investigating a possible bio-prospecting partnership which would enable South Africa, Brazil and India to share each other’s resources in order to capitalize on their rich biodiversity.

Bio-prospecting is the search for valuable compounds in nature - plants, animals or micro-organisms - that can assist in the development of new drugs or industrial products.

Dr Mark Fyvie, Managing Director of Cape Biotech recently attended an India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trade delegation where he met with his counterparts in New Delhi, and where a bio-prospecting memorandum of understanding was signed. Fyvie believes the three countries have “huge tracts of biodiversity” that can benefit each other, particularly sharing and collaborating on information platforms.

Biotechnology is one of the core focus areas of the IBSA agreement and representatives from government and industry met to discuss, among other issues, setting up tangible collaborations in the areas of functional genomics and high throughput biology.

“We are starting off very pragmatically and see this as a process that will gradually align the biodiversity objectives of the three countries,” he said.

Fyvie adds that they would like to create the ability for a powerful screening presence for the three countries, thereby enabling access to samples that are being poorly managed.

“This partnership is an agreement to work together going forward and is one of a number of areas of co-operation, where we could optimally exploit value from biodiversity and potentially embark on a joint bio-diversity project,” he says.

“The rollout is envisaged in three stages: sharing and learning, exchanging technologies and technology transfer, and eventually shared facilities among the three countries, but this will only be potentially possible once the alignment of national policies has begun.”

Fyvie was very impressed with India’s investment in skills development.

“There are many highly skilled people in India, which has contributed enormously to the country’s success in the biotech industry. The message is that you cannot over-invest in skills. This coupled with the strong IT industry, as biotech is becoming more information rich, will sustain the future expansion of the biotech sector of the Indian economy.”

Where South Africa is at an “advantage” says Fyvie, is that our infrastructure is better developed, our business culture is more westernised and the language barrier is less of an issue for foreign investors.

“What we don’t have is as big a local market to justify working on and developing expensive products like India, and this is probably why they are the 12th largest biotechnology entity in the world.” he said.

Fyvie hopes that this cooperative effort will allow all three countries to maximize their biodiversity by capitalising on each country’s areas of strength and experience.

Cape Biotech is the Western Cape-based Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centre (Bric) an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology.

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