Galien Forum UK 2024
Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD
Chair : Pr Sir Munir PIRMOHAMED
David Weatherall Chair of Medicine,
University of Liverpool, Liverpool
NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics
Under the direction of 2024 Forum chair Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed and fellow members of the Prix Galien UK Awards Committee, this year’s Forum will consist of four panel sessions where experts will highlight solutions to pressing issues facing private and public-sector innovators in the healthcare space , including:
1. positioning patient experience at the very heart of global drug development; 2. applying new strategies that support the adoption of new technologies to improve population health outcomes, a key marker of health system success; 3. the role of investors in driving R&D productivity , leading to new medicines that address critical unmet medical needs, now and in the future; and 4. prospects for the NHS as a partner in realizing the vast opportunities afforded by health data to deliver evidence and insights that enhance the progress of healthcare and life sciences.
The Forum will also feature a Keynote Address from Miles CONGREVE, PhD., Chief Scientific Officer, Isomorphic Labs, a London-based subsidiary of Google/Alphabet Inc., with a mission to redefine drug discovery through the application of AI – and reflecting his company’s belief there is a fundamental synergy between biology and information science.
Program
INTRODUCTION
9:30 AM – 9:40 AM
PANEL 1 9:40 AM – 10:40 AM
CHAIR
Dr Mel Walker
Life Sciences Strategic Advisor and Managing Director, BioPharma Futures
PANELISTS
Robyn Bent
Director of CDER’s Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) Program
Sarah Gheuens
Chief Medical Officer, Head of R&D – Agios
Maria Mavris
Patient Liaison at European Medicines Agency
Elizabeth Vroom
Co-founder and chair of the World Duchenne Organization
No decision for me without me: putting patients at the heart of drug development
While patients are no longer a “nice to have” contributor to drug development, uncertainty remains about how best to formalize their role at every stage of the long journey to a marketed product. Panelists will discuss industry progress in key areas like redesigning clinical trials around the patient, beginning with an “outside-in” approach that engages them early rather than later, with evidence-based analytics that define actual patient needs. Also part of the debate is how the regulatory community can build an effective dialogue with patients, before and after marketing approval. Looking ahead, a priority for all those engaged in drug development is making certain that patient advocates have input into the adoption and use of new, potentially game-changing digital information technologies. Ultimately, from a practical economic standpoint, the UK requires the commitment, passion and expertise of patient advocates if it is to overcome deep-seated health inequities that limit drug access and serve as a drag on future UK workforce productivity. This panel will conclude by identifying priorities in securing a level of patient engagement that will unlock new innovations that improve health status and move the country forward.
PANEL 2 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
CHAIR
Dame June Raine
Chief Executive, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
PANELISTS
Pr Gary Ford
Chief Executive Officer, Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley
Sir Harpal Kumar
President, BioPharma Business & Europe, GRAIL, LLC
Dr Hakim Yadi Obe
CEO, Closed Loop Medicine
Introducing new technologies: optimising pathways to improve population health
This panel will examine how regulators and industry health care innovators are addressing key unmet challenges in medicine. NHS Research and the MHRA are pursuing new ways to engage directly with patients, professional groups and NGOs as well as with other regulatory bodies outside the UK. The aim is to make NDA approvals more timely and transparent; boost clinically useful information and intelligence flows to guide decision-making in emerging areas of new science, especially genomics; create novel partnership opportunities involving both the private and public sectors; expand patient access to new products as well as adjacent therapies that already have a proven positive impact on population health; and, perhaps most important, address still-evolving innovative data retrieval and assessment technologies like AI in a “risk proportionate” manner, one that balances the need to protect the public while securing the benefits these technologies may have on medical progress. The panel also provides an opportunity for private-sector innovators to explain their commitments to new disease platforms on personalized medicine and cancer detection – two key markers at the frontiers of health. Together, the panel will assess how ready the public and private sectors are in adapting to new tech innovations that, for good or worse, will shape the UK patient journey for the remainder of this decade and beyond.
KEYNOTE
12:45
Miles Congreve, Chief Scientific Officer, Isomorphic Labs
PANEL 3 01:30 – 2:30 PM
CHAIR
Lord Prior of Brampton
Deputy Chairman UK and Global Senior Advisor at Lazard, Chairman of Protas, Chairman of the Cambridge Life Sciences Council and Chairman of Tympa Health
PANELISTS
Tamsin Berry Obe
Co-founder and partner of Population Health Partners
Joep Mujrers
Senior Partner, Gilde Healthcare
Dr Matthias Müllenbeck, MBA
SVP, Head Global Business Development & Alliance Management
Jane Osbourn
Chief Scientific Officer, Alchemab
Innovation in R&D: the birth of breakthroughs
This panel brings together a diverse group of experts with practical experience in identifying, building, financing and administering organizations designed to advance innovations that capitalize on promising new technologies designed to solve serious unmet medical needs. The panelists represent leaders in government, big pharma, the VC community and those small company pioneers who work on the frontiers of new science, from creating cell reprogramming and transcription platforms to harnessing antibodies to rare, fight hard- to-treat diseases. The group will describe their approaches to investing, managing risk, adapting to change, creating productive partnerships and attracting top talent. Each will relate the paths they took to create breakthroughs that matter in adding value to medicine and society.
PANEL 4
2:45 – 3:55 PM
CHAIR
Dr Vin Diwakar, National Director for Transformation (interim)
PANELISTS
Michelle Longmire
Co-Founder and CEO, Medable
Pr Andrew Morris
Director, Health Data Research UK & Professor of Medicine and Vice Principal Data Science, University of Edinburgh
Sonia Patton
Public Advisory Board Member, HDR UK
Ming Tang
Chief Data and Analytics Officer, NHS England
Data driven medicine: the NHS as a strategic partner in life science
In addition to providing comprehensive medical services free on demand to more than 50 million people throughout the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) is a heavyweight in the funding and sponsorship of UK medical research. Outlays on research projects now exceed £5 billion and are expected to grow further in pursuit of the NHS strategic objective to become a global force in data-driven scientific advances in health care. Regardless of its problems in maintaining quality services after a decade of underfunding by successive UK governments, the NHS is now seen as a national asset for its ability to collect, organize and evaluate vast repositories of patient data that can be anonymized to build detailed health profiles of the entire population. As a result, research collaborations and industry contracts linked to these are projected to treble over the course of this decade; another key milestone is positioning the NHS as the first national health care system to offer whole genome sequencing as part of routine care. Central to the future NHS value proposition is the Federated Data Platform (FDP), which is projected to launch at mid-year. The Platform will, for the first time, connect patient data sources found across the NHS in an accessible software package which care providers can use directly in providing timely and clinically relevant care to patients. Pilot projects using the new data-sharing tools have seen a drop in waiting times.