Therapeutic Workshops
Predicting a Frontrunner in the Race Against Pandemic Flu
October 29, 2009
8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Twin Peaks South
The world is no stranger to flu pandemics, but the focus for influenza in 2009 has been on the emergence of a new strain, one that falls outside well-documented viral and epidemiological patterns. H1N1 reached pandemic status in less than six months, and the U.S. continues to report the largest number of cases worldwide. While a majority of the cases have been resolvable, the concern that H1N1 could intensify has drawn considerable attention to vaccine development in the biotech industry. The threat of this strain, real or hyped, underscores the importance of the government’s collaboration with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and the race to complete clinical development and scale-up manufacturing. This panel will explore the challenges presented by H1N1 and focus on companies vying to emerge as the frontrunner in flu vaccine development.
Moderator:
- John Craighead, Ph.D, Managing Director, Investor Relations & Business Development, Biotechnology Industry Organization
Panelists:
- Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH, Executive Director - Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness, University of California, Berkeley
- George Kemble, Ph.D, Vice President, Research & Development, Vaccines, MedImmune
- J. Joseph Kim, Ph.D, CEO, Inovio Biomedical Corporation
- Joseph D. Miller, Ph.D, Chief, Laboratory Preparedness Officer, Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Penny M. Heaton, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Novavax
Who's Who
Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH
Dr. Aragón is Principal Investigator and Executive Director at the Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. Before coming to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Dr. Aragón worked for eight years as director of Community Health Epidemiology and Disease Control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and as Deputy County Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco. At SFDPH, he directed communicable disease control and prevention, bioterrorism preparedness and response planning, and the epidemiologic and effectiveness research unit. Dr. Aragón's education and training include UC Berkeley (BA Molecular Biology, DrPH Epidemiology), Harvard Medical School (MD, MPH), and UC San Francisco (Internal Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and AIDS epidemiology fellowship). His curriculum vitae is available at http://www.medepi.net/aragon, and he is the developer and maintainer of EpiTools.Net (http://www.epitools.net).
John Craighead, Ph.D
John Craighead, Ph.D., is the Managing Director of Investor Relations and Business Development with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Dr. Craighead is responsible for BIO’s business development programs as well as business and policy outreach to the investment community.
Prior to joining BIO, Dr. Craighead was a Biotechnology Analyst at Lehman Brothers and the Novartis BioVenture Fund. In his research coverage of the biotechnology industry at Lehman Brothers he published over 300 reports evaluating products in therapeutic categories including oncology, immunology and infectious disease.
Dr. Craighead is a National Science Foundation Fellowship recipient and received his Ph.D. in cell biology from the Kellogg School of Science and Technology at The Scripps Research Institute. He has authored numerous scientific papers in the field of eukaryotic transcription regulation, holds a B.A. in chemistry and molecular biology from St. Olaf College, and was awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship as an undergraduate.
Penny M. Heaton, MD
Dr. Heaton is responsible for all medical and regulatory affairs at Novavax including the preclinical and clinical development programs for the company’s pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines. She joined Novavax after a seven-year career at Merck & Co.’s Research Laboratories, where she served as senior director of vaccines clinical research. While at Merck, she oversaw all aspects of the global development of RotaTeq®, the company’s vaccine against rotavirus, which has been filed for licensure in more than 100 countries and is currently recommended for all infants in the United States.
A graduate of the University of the Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky, Dr. Heaton began her career at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch where she served as a medical officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service. She was responsible for investigating disease outbreaks as well as conducting surveillance and epidemiologic studies. Dr. Heaton is a member of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
J. Joseph Kim, Ph.D
JOSEPH KIM was President, CEO, and a director of VGX Pharmaceuticals. With the merger of VGX with Inovio Biomedical in June 2009, he became CEO and director of the merged company. Dr. Kim co-founded VGX in December 2000 as a start-up based on technology licensed from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to VGX, Dr. Kim led efforts in manufacturing and process development of several FDA-approved products and developmental therapeutics at Merck & Co. These products include FDA-approved vaccines for hepatitis as well as developmental vaccines and therapeutics for HIV/AIDS. Dr. Kim has published over 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters, holds numerous patents and sits on several editorial boards and review panels.
Dr. Kim was trained in economics, engineering and biological sciences at MIT where he was a U.S. Senate Honors Scholar. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School.