Conference Reports
The 12th BIO-Europe Conference
Düsseldorf, Germany, 6th-8th November 2006
Düsseldorf, capital of North Rhine-Westphalia and fashion capital of Germany, hosted BIO-Europe this year. In a welcoming speech, Minister-President Dr Jürgen Rüttgers highlighted the importance of the state of Germany's burgeoning biotechnology industry. The conference attracted representatives from 38 countries, including for the first time Brazil, Mexico and Lithuania.
The conference was both hectic and productive, with over 6,000 partnering meetings and more than 850 attending companies. In interactive workshops, industry professionals shared their experience of the 'Business of Biotechnology', with topics under discussion including initial public offerings as well as the importance of strategic partnerships in bringing new therapeutics to the market. Other panels considered the relevance of pharmacogenomics and white biotech, in addition to the overall state of the biotechnology industry, with particular focus on Russia, Italy, S Korea and Japan in the international seminars.
The exhibitions gave delegates the opportunity to survey posters, literature and slides from a wide range of companies. California-based Dynavax Technologies presented its pipeline of therapeutics for the treatment of allergies, asthma, infections diseases, cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases, for which it is currently seeking partners. These drugs utilise immunostimulatory sequences as agonists of toll-like receptor 9 to enhance the immune response.
Thomas Meyer, Managing Director of Auris Medical, staged a sound discussion on the unmet medical need for effective pharmacological interventions for tinnitus and hearing loss. The MarkeTrak survey in 2004 estimated that around 10% of the US population report a hearing difficulty, while a third of all adults experience tinnitus at some time in their lives.
The lack of therapeutics is partly attributable to difficulties with drug delivery and toxicity due to the blood-perilymph barrier. Auris is approaching this by developing transtympanically-delivered therapeutics such as AM-111, a cell-permeable peptide that selectively blocks JNK MAPK-mediated apoptosis of stress-injured hair cells and neurons in the cochlea. The peptide has demonstrated good otoprotective properties in a variety of animal models, with administration 4 hours after acute acoustic trauma providing almost complete protection from hearing loss. Phase I/II trial results have been equally compelling and Auris hopes to partner the project on Phase II completion. Also in its pipeline are AM-101 and AM-102, in Phase I and preclinical studies for tinnitus, respectively. The parting words were from a man clearly passionate about his work; 'look after your ears'.
Also presenting, privately-owned company Action Pharma disclosed promising preclinical data on AP-214, an immunosuppressant under development for the prevention of organ failure following major thoracic surgery. AP-214 reduced LPS-induced inflammation in rats, and mortality of surgery-induced kidney injury in mice. The target for AP-1030, in preclinical development for obesity and Type II diabetes, was revealed as the melanocortin 4 receptor. Efficacy has been demonstrated in Zucker rat models and the company hopes to out-license this drug after Phase Ib/IIa trials.
BIO-Europe 2006 was a resounding success with business opportunities dressed up to appeal to even the most discerning of delegates. Modelled on the achievements of BIO-Europe 2006, it is hoped that next year's meeting is equally well designed.
The 13th BIO-Europe will be held in Hamburg, Germany, 12th-14th November 2007.
Leanne Coyne
Pharmaprojects Analyst
