Conference Reports
13th BIO-Europe, 12th-14th November 2007, Hamburg, Germany.
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg welcomed the 13th BIO-Europe international partnering conference this year, drawing a record attendance of more than 2200 delegates from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries to discuss partnering and business opportunities. As the conference kicked off, the opening session focused on the importance of collaboration between these two industries and the benefits such partnerships can bring about.
The conference centre was fairly bustling with activity as delegates engaged in interactive workshops, seminars, panel discussions and company presentations. Of course, adequate time was also available between sessions to relax and enjoy the fantastic food and drink provided in the main hall, as well as to discuss a wellspent day of partnering over a fine meal and a glass or two of wine at one of the evening receptions. Key topics under discussion in the workshops included 'Getting to the new tipping point: proof of concept' which addressed the need to firmly establish proof of concept in pharmaceutical development and highlighted new fast and cost-effective strategies to achieve this.
The company presentations also drew large audiences, with attendees eager to hear the latest pipeline information and potential partnering opportunities from both established movers and shakers in the pharmaceutical industry and newly-hatched biotechnology companies alike. In a particularly interesting presentation, it emerged that the Belgian company Innogenetics will incorporate its therapeutic activities into a new wholly-owned subsidiary, GENimmune, which will focus on the development of innovative therapies in the field of immune modulation. Accordingly, several products in GENimmune's pipeline were unveiled, including GNI-102, a novel therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of hepatitis-B infection. The vaccine consists of a chain of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes, and is currently in preclinical development. Also presented was GNI-105, being investigated for the treatment of HPV-induced cervical cancer. GNI-105 has the advantage over currently-approved Cervarix and Gardasil of activity not just against HPV types 16/18 but also 31/45, and has already shown promising cytotoxic- and helper T-lymphocyte responses in transgenic mice. With an estimated population coverage of above 90%, GNI-105 looks a promising compound for the future treatment of cervical cancer.
In an equally noteworthy presentation, Swiss company Neurotune emphasised its 'drugs for muscles and brains' strategy by presenting its pipeline of novel products for the treatment of sarcopenia. This degenerative muscular condition currently affects in excess of 10 million people worldwide. Aside from androgen receptor modulators, no causal treatment is currently marketed for this condition. Through the pharmacological 'tuning' of neurotrypsin, Neurotune hopes that its series of neurotrypsin inhibitors will be able to reduce age-related denervation of muscle fibres, muscular atrophy and muscle fibre loss. Neurotune intends to take development up to Phase II proof of concept before seeking partnering opportunities.
San Diego-based AdventRx Pharmaceuticals announced promising data for two of its anti-cancer formulations, ANX-514 and ANX-530. ANX-514 is an emulsion formula of docetaxel for which preclinical data showed no complement activation or histamine release and equipotency to docetaxel. ANX-530, another emulsion formulation, in this case of the microtubule inhibitor vinorelbine, has recently completed a market-enabling bioequivalence study. The drug demonstrated similar pharmacokinetics and efficacy to free vinorelbine whilst possessing lower toxicity. Trial results are expected to form the basis for an NDA submission in 2008.
As expected, BIO-Europe was a resounding success with over 8500 partnering meetings taking place over the course of the three days. Hopefully next year's event will be an even more auspicious affair.
The 14th BIO-Europe will be held in Manheim/ Heidelberg, Germany, 17th - 19th November 2008.
Jonathan Stephens
Pharmaprojects Analyst
