Therapeutic Workshop Details
Cancer: From Cancer Vaccines to Adjuvants - Insights into the Future of Immunotherapy and Cancer
Thursday, October 11, 2007
3:30 PM
Twin Peaks North
The field of cancer vaccination and adjuvant development is benefiting from new insights in immunology. There is increasing sophistication in cancer trial design and new thinking on multi-modality therapies that pair the immune system with cancer vaccine strategies. How will this change the emerging paradigm of learning to live with cancer and lifelong cancer treatment?
Moderators
- Reni Benjamin, PhD; Senior Biotechnology Analyst, Acumen BioFin, a division of Rodman & Renshaw, LLC
Panelists
- Eric W. Hoffman, BS, PharmD; Director, Office of Clinical Trials Management, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
- David Apelian, MD, PhD, MBA; Chief Medical Officer, GlobeImmune, Inc.
- Arthur M. Krieg, MD; Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Chief Scientific Officer, Coley Pharmaceutical Group
- Peter K. Working, PhD; Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Cell Genesys, Inc.
- Mitchell H. Gold, MD, PhD, MBA; President and Chief Executive Officer, Dendreon Corporation
- John P. Longenecker, PhD; President & Chief Executive Officer, Favrille, Inc.
Who's Who
Reni Benjamin, PhD, is a Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. Prior to joining Rodman, Dr. Benjamin was an associate biotechnology analyst in Needham & Co.?s equity research department. He earned his doctorate in Biochemistry by discovering and characterizing a novel gene implicated in germ cell development. His expertise includes biochemistry, functional genomics, gene therapy, and molecular biology. Dr. Benjamin has presented at various regional and international conferences, and has published in peerreviewed journals. Dr. Benjamin received his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his BS in Biology from Allegheny College.
Dr. Gold joined Dendreon in 2001 as vice president of business development and was later promoted to chief business officer and then to chief executive officer in January of 2003. Dr. Gold has led the Company?s corporate development, acquisition and financing efforts in recent years, completing transactions valued at approximately $225 million, including the acquisition of Corvas International, and raising approximately $240 million in capital. Prior to joining Dendreon, he served as vice president of business development for Data Critical Corporation, a company engaged in wireless transmission of critical healthcare data, now a division of GE Medical. He also served as co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Elixis Corporation, a medical information systems company. Dr. Gold is a former urologist at the University of Washington and currently serves on the boards of the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Prostate Cancer Institute and the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. Dr. Gold received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his M.D. from Rush Medical College.
John P. Longenecker, Ph.D. has more than 22 years experience in the biotech/ pharmaceutical arena prior to joining Favrille, Inc. in February 2002. His experience includes the growth of two biotechnology companies from start up to product approval. He has participated in all aspects of company development including public offerings, venture capital funding, corporate partnering and management of collaborations, mergers and acquisitions. In 1992, Dr. Longenecker joined DepoTech as Senior Vice President of Research, Development and Operations and then served as President and COO from February 1998 to March 1999. Under Dr. Longenecker's leadership, DepoTech took its lead product, Depocyt, from early pre clinical research and development through to commercial launch. Depocyt is approved for the treatment of lymphomatous meningitis, a condition that occurs when a lymphoma spreads to the brain and spinal column. Following SkyePharma PLCs acquisition of DepoTech in 1999, Dr. Longenecker served as President for the U.S. operations of SkyePharma Inc. and as a Member of the Executive Committee for SkyePharma PLC. From 1982 to 1992, Dr. Longenecker was at Scios (Cal Bio), a biotechnology company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was Vice-President and Director of Development at Scios from 1986 to 1992. Dr. Longenecker was also a Director of a number of Cal Bio subsidiaries during this period including Meta Bio and Karo Bio. Dr. Longenecker holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He was a post doctoral fellow at Stanford University from 1980 to 1982.