When: March 19, 2011 (Saturday) 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Where: Institute of Americas, UCSD

Organizer: SABPA

Registration: https://www.123signup.com/register?id=vcycz

$20 for online registration, $10 for students and post-docs

$40 for on-site registration, online registration ends March 16, 2011

Companion diagnostics, which identifies and detects genetic, protein, or gene expression markers to predict whether a drug works or causes adverse effect in patients, has emerged as an exciting new field over the last few years.   With the cost and hurdle for new drug approval getting increasingly higher, pharmaceutical companies begin to explore companion tests in order to develop safer and more effective drugs. The value of companion diagnostic tests has already been demonstrated by a number of marketed products, such as HercepTest for Herceptin and K-RAS mutation tests for Erbitux and Vectibix. Despite these proven successes and ever-increasing awareness of companion diagnostics, pharmaceutical companies still move slowly to adopt the new paradigm of co-developing companion tests along with the clinical trial of new drugs. The regulatory hurdles, physician and patient acceptance, insurance coverage, IP strategies, and other barriers remain unsettled for this young filed. At the coming SABPA Science & Technology Forum IX, we invite opinion leaders representing pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic companies and other interest groups to share their insights and visions on this rapidly growing field.

Kenneth J. Bloom, M.D., F.C.A.P. Chief Medical Officer, Clarient, Inc.

François Ferré, Ph.D President and CEO of AltheaDx

Laura K. Shawver, Ph.D. Executive in Residence at 5AM Ventures, Founder and CEO of The Clearity Foundation

James Christensen, Ph.D. Director, Oncology Translational Research, Pfizer

Chen Peng, J.D., Ph.D. Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Lyle Arnold, Ph.D. President and Founder at Aegea Biotechnologies

David Nelson, Ph.D. President and CEO of Epic Sciences

Erik Holmlin, Ph.D. EIR of Domain Associates

Jian-Bing Fan, Ph.D. Senior Director, Scientific Research, Illumina

Faiz Kayyem, Ph.D. Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, GenMark Diagnostics