Biologic drugs started as replacement
therapies such as Growth hormone and Erythropoietin broadened
into a big class of therapeutics with the addition of antibodies.
There are a number of blockbuster drugs on the market with
phenomenal therapeutic benefit in diseases such as Oncology,
Rheumatoid arthritis and others. Since biologic therapies
in general have high success rate compared to small molecule
drugs, many big pharma and biotech companies are aggressively
pursuing Biologics now and comprise roughly half of the clinical
pipelines. Significant improvements have been made in the
last decade on generating production of lasting biologic therapies,
fully human monoclonal antibodies as therapies and phage display
technologies. Active efforts in identifying minimal regions
required for therapeutic benefit also identified smaller biologics
such as peptibodies and nanobodies.
The 2nd ICDDT to be held in Dubai in February 2010 will address
all active areas of research and development in 'Biologics'
as therapeutics. To name a few, there will be presentations
on protein therapeutics (both enzyme replacements and 2nd
generation therapeutics), antibody therapeutics, Biosimilars
and technologies that are used to improve biologics stability,
metabolism and production.
Narender R. Gavva
Amgen Inc
CA, USA
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Gavva received his PhD in 1992 from The University of Hyderabad
followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Section of Molecular
and Cellular Biology, University of California at Davis, CA.
Narender joined Amgen Inc. in 1999 and advanced through roles
of increasing responsibility. In his current position, he
is leading an in vitro pharmacology group that supports assay
development, focused screens, lead optimization efforts, and
evaluation of new technologies. Narender is experienced in
full drug discovery cycle including validation of targets,
HTS, automation, hit/lead identification, lead optimization,
and clinical candidate selection. Narender is a great team
player and has an excellent ability to plan and complete research
programs.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/narender-r-gavva/3/6b1/36b
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Pharma R&D Achievements: By cross-functional team
leadership, Narender moved forward research programs in both
small and large molecule drug discovery. Narender contributed
significantly to clinical candidates such as AMG 517 and AMG
628. Experienced in ion channels, GPCRs, kinases, transcription
factors, and project management.
Scientific Contributions: Authored and
published 30+ papers in research areas of drug discovery,
lead optimization, pharmacology, clinical trials, molecular
biology, biochemistry, and gene regulation. Gave invited lectures,
presentations at several scientific conferences (APS, EB,
SBS, Spring Pain Research Conference, IBC ACT, Arrowhead pain
conference, etc). Serves as Editor-in-Chief (The Open Drug
Discovery Journal), EABM (The Open Pain Journal), and as an
ad hoc reviewer for several journals (AJP, JBC, JBS, JCI,
J. Neurosci, JPET & Mol. Pharm).
Recent publications:
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Wong GY, Gavva NR. Therapeutic potential
of vanilloid receptor TRPV1 agonists and antagonists as
analgesics: Recent advances and setbacks. Brain Res Rev.
2009 Apr;60(1):267-77.
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Gavva NR. Body-temperature maintenance
as the predominant function of the vanilloid receptor
TRPV1. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2008 Nov;29(11):550-7.
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S.G. Lehto, R. Tamir, H. Deng, L. Klionsky,
R. Kuang, A. Le, D. Lee, J.-C. Louis, E. Magal, B.H. Manning,
J. Rubino, S. Surapaneni, N. Tamayo, T. Wang, J. Wang,
J. Wang, W. Wang, B. Youngblood, M. Zhang, D. Zhu, M.
H. Norman, and N. R. Gavva. Antihyperalgesic effects of
(R,E)-N-(2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-4-yl)-3-(2-(piperidin-1-yl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-acrylamide
(AMG8562), a novel transient receptor potential vanilloid
type 1 modulator that does not cause hyperthermia in rats.J
Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2008 Jul;326(1):218-29.
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Gavva NR, Treanor JJ, Garami A, Fang
L, Surapaneni S, et al. Pharmacological blockade of the
vanilloid receptor TRPV1 elicits marked and persistent
hyperthermia in humans Pain, 2008 May;136(1-2):202-10.
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