Therapeutic Workshop Details
Metabolic: Obesity Management: The Thick and Thin of New Targets and Treatments
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
9:10 AM
Twin Peaks North
Obesity drugs' efficacy has been minimal and they typically fail due to safety issues. What lessons can investors learn from past failures to apply to clinical stage drug candidates today?
Moderators
- Liana Moussatos, PhD; Senior Healthcare Research Analyst, Pacific Growth Equities, LLC
Panelists
- Arthur Frank, MD; Medical Director, George Washington University
- Michael Cowley, PhD; Chief Scientific Officer, Orexigen
- Michael Gast, MD, PhD; Executive Vice President, Clinical Research & Development, Genaera
- John "Chip" Scarlett, MD; President and Chief Executive Officer, Tercica
Who's Who
Liana Moussatos, PhD. Liana came to Pacific Growth Equities from UBS Global Asset Management where she was director and portfolio manager of the UBS Global Biotech Funds for five years. Previously, Liana was with Bristol-Myers Squibb where she was a manager in University and Government Licensing, External Science and Technology. Liana has also worked with Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in the office of Industrial Affairs and the National Cancer Institute in the Office of Technology Development. Liana received her BS in Entomology and her MS in Zoology and Biochemistry from Clemson University, her PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of California, Davis and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in cellular and molecular Physiology at the Yale School of Medicine.
Arthur Frank, M.D., has served as the medical director of The George Washington University Weight Management Program, since 1991. A specialist in internal medicine, Dr. Frank has concentrated his professional activities on the medical management of adult obesity and the development of related public policy. Dr. Frank?s practice is directed to the issues of human nutrition and the metabolic and psychological factors affecting obesity. He supervises a staff of nutritionists, psychologists, exercise therapists and physicians who work intensively in a multidisciplinary approach to the medical, behavioral and physiologic components of this chronic disease. Dr. Frank has written a number of scientific papers on obesity and weight management, on related areas of food and nutrition, and on the organization and financing of health care. He wrote the The People?s Handbook of Medical Care and has published articles in local and national, newspapers and magazines in addition to authoring a monthly health column for Mademoiselle magazine. Dr. Frank has served as technical adviser for NBC?s ?Today? show for segments about obesity and weight loss, and has made appearances on ABC?s World News, CNN, CSPAN, ?The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) and many other national and local programs. Dr. Frank has served as a vigorous public advocate for the provision of obesity related services. In 1993, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences invited him to serve on a committee of experts to consider the development of criteria for evaluating weight loss programs. Dr. Frank has formulated a system of accreditation for obesity services, which he presented at congressional hearings and published in a scientific journal. He has been involved in discrimination litigation involving overweight people and has presented expert testimony in a number of legal matters involving the employment rights of obese people.
Dr. Cowley is one of Orexigen?s co-founders and has served as Chief Scientific Officer since November 2006. Dr. Cowley is a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the Oregon National Primate Research Center of the Oregon Health & Science University where he is also director of the Electrophysiology Core, a position he has held since December 2001. Research in Dr. Cowley?s lab has focused on the discovery of signals within the body that regulate energy balance, as well as describing how other known signals exert their effects on the brain. Research in the lab now focuses on how these signals from the body change with obesity and how the reward based pathways overrule homeostatic signals of satiety. Dr. Cowley received a B.Sc. in biochemistry from The University of Melbourne and a Ph.D. in reproductive neuroendocrinology from Monash University.
Dr. Gast has more than thirty years of medical and pharmaceutical industry experience to Genaera. Prior to joining Genaera, he spent eleven years at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, most recently serving as Vice President, Scientific Affairs within Wyeth Global Medical Affairs, where he was responsible for the oversight of Phase IV clinical research programs. Prior to that, Dr. Gast served as Wyeth's Vice President, Women's Health Clinical Research and Development. Dr. Gast joined Wyeth after spending twenty-one years at the Washington University School of Medicine. During his tenure on the faculty at the Washington University Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Gast served as Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and Director of the department's Endocrine Clinical Laboratories. Dr. Gast received his M.D. from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Washington University.