PARIS -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --
With the support of Roche, AstraZeneca and Nerviano Medical Sciences, The WIN Consortium would like to invite the scientific community, pharmaceutical industry and regulators to join the 3rd WIN Symposium, endorsed by ASCO, EORTC, ESMO, INCA and OECI, on 6-8 July 2011 in Paris to hear more about the challenging topic of addressing efficacy of cancer therapeutics and the utility of diagnostics in the era of personalized medicine.
The WIN Consortium www.winconsortium.org is a joint initiative from the Institut Gustave Roussy (France) and the University of Texas - MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) which brings together 17 cancer centers around the world, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Sage Bionetworks and three technology partners: Agilent Technologies, GE Healthcare and Life Technologies.
Recognizing the importance of these topics for advancing cancer care, Mike Burgess and Bob Wasserman, the Global Head and the PHC Strategic Expert, respectively, of the Roche Pharma Oncology Disease and Translational Area; Nick Botwood, Vice-President Clinical Oncology of AstraZeneca; and Antonella Isacchi, Director of Kinase Platform from Nerviano Medical Sciences will be presenting at the Symposium.
''The scientific program is of very strong quality, extremely innovative and addresses a very relevant subject. But the main highlight of this symposium is the presence at the same table of worldwide outstanding representatives from pharma, biotech, academia and patient organizations. This unique forum of global stakeholders of cancer care has the ambitious and crucial aim to accelerate translation of discoveries to the bed of the patient,'' says John Mendelsohn, President of University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Chairman of WIN Consortium.
"AstraZeneca shares the strategic vision of the WIN Consortium and its call to a real and operational collaboration between all stakeholders, with the goal to identify and implement the best strategies for the benefit of the patient," says Stephen Strand, Global Director of Scientific external relations at AstraZeneca.
"Nerviano Medical sciences beneficiates from an excellent capacity for personalized medicine and a robust strategy in the field. We are therefore supportive of WIN's strategy to reshape therapy areas via personalized medicine and contribute to challenge normal competitive dynamics by shaping payers', regulators' and physicians' expectations and involvement. We are following with great interest the WIN Consortium and its third annual Symposium, and we invite all cancer care players to participate to this very innovative event," says Luciano Baielli, CEO of Nerviano Medical Sciences.
As an example of these interactions between worldwide experts, an open forum will be organized, where a panel of experts will debate with attendees on very challenging issues such as: addressing the complexity of molecular pathways in cancer to inform the best therapeutic approaches: and developing the most relevant combinations beyond individual Pharma/Biotech Pipelines by taking a risk sharing approach for the benefit of the patient.
Garry Gilliland (MERCK & Co), Nick Botwood, (AstraZeneca), Mike Burgess (ROCHE), John Mendelsohn, Chairman of the WIN Consortium, Richard L.Schilsky, Chairman of WIN SAB, and Alexander Eggermont, Director of the Institut Gustave Roussy and many other leaders in this field will debate with the audience. Pr. Richard L. Schilsky will deliver the synthesis of the symposium and will present concrete perspectives to improve clinical outcomes and the quality of life for cancer patients worldwide.
Click here to read the detailed scientific program and to register to theWIN Symposium: http://www.winconsortium.org/symposium.html.
About WIN Consortium
WIN Consortium, an ambitious and challenging initiative from Cancer Institute Gustave Roussy (France) and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA), brings together 17 academic centers worldwide, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Sage Bionetworks, and three industry partners Agilent technologies, GE Healthcare and Life Technologies. WIN is an innovative model of collaboration between academic clinical investigators and the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of this newly created entity is to perform innovative clinical trials on diagnostic markers and new drugs that target the genetic aberrations detected in biopsies of individual patients' cancers, and to standardize interactions between academics. Each clinical trial will involve a diverse population of patients who share an aberrant genetic function, but have different genetic backgrounds and lifestyles that may impact responses to a therapy. Our patients come from four continents (Asia, North and South Americas, Europe) plus the Middle East. The WIN Consortium was created to accelerate the pace and to reduce the cost of translating effective cancer treatments to the bedside. The WIN Consortium is chaired by Dr. J Mendelsohn, President of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Pr. Richard L Schilsky is Chairman of the WIN Scientific Advisory Board. For more information: www.winconsortium.org or contact Vladimir Lazar, Chief Operating Officer at: vladimir.lazar@igr.fr.
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CONTACT:
WIN Consortium
Vladimir Lazar, Chief Operating Officer, + 33 1 42 11 40 20
vladimir.lazar@igr.fr
3rd WIN Symposium (Graphic: Business Wire)