Agenda
DAY ONE - Thursday 30th July 2009
8.30 Registration & Coffee
9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair
9.10 OPENING ADDRESS
Pharmacogenomics: One Size Does Not Fit All
A diagnostic test that can increase the clinical utility of a given
therapeutic drug or procedure, while at the same time reducing
the risks and costs associated with developing and marketing
is a real synergy. This session will examine pharmacogenomics:
the concept of combining a therapeutic intervention with a
relevant diagnostic test. The presentation will cover:
> Examples highlighting the use of combining a diagnostic
test with a treatment decision
> The first "official" pharmacogenomic application to be used
routinely: The genetic testing that takes place before
Herceptin
> AmpliChip CYP450 Test: The first microarray-based test for
detection of genetic variations that can influence drug
efficacy and minimise adverse drug reactions
> The impact of pharmacogenomics in the form of K-Ras
testing on patients with colorectal cancer
> Pharmacogenomics: Making personalised medicine a reality
in helping physicians improve patient outcomes
Dr George Koumantakis, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs
Manager, Roche Diagnostics Australia
9.50 The Pharmacogenomics Policy Context: Global and National Outlook
Melanie Kelly, Director, Deloitte
10.30 Morning Tea
11.00 Nanotechnology & Biomarkers: Implications for Pharmacogenomics Personalised Therapies
- Early disease detection and survival
- Stratification of similar diseases - personalised therapy
- Detection of disease re-occurrence
- Improving drug trials and drug development through the use of biomarkers
- Biomarkers to monitor the effectiveness of therapies
- Applications of nanotechnology in biomarker research and development
Prof Matt Trau, Director - Centre for Nanotechnology & Biomaterials, Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (AIBN)
11.40 How Close Are We to the $1000 Genome?
- Progress in genome analysis technologies
- What the new sequencing tools can deliver
- Data handling and analysis challenges
- How can this information be utilised?
Sue Forrest, Director/CEO, Australian Genome Research Facility
12.20 Lunch
GenesFX Health will provide an exclusive preview and live demonstrations of their new practical website.
This website uniquely enables the user to:
- Search by drug to see if there is a recommended pharmacogenomic test
- Search by tests for drugs using a particular enzyme
- Allows health professionals to search for alternative drugs
- Learn about GenesFX Health's new multigene gene test (DNAdose)
Join Associate Professor Leslie Sheffield to preview the website
1.20 Implementation of Australia's New Regulatory Framework for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests
- Why a new framework?
- What is proposed?
- How will pharmacogenomic tests be regulated?
- Issues in regulation
Shelley Tang, Director - IVD Framework Development Taskforce, Therapeutic Goods Administration
2.00 Role & Uses for Biomarkers in Pharma
- Role of biomarkers in drug development
- Preclinical and clinical utilisation of biomarkers
Phil Kearney, Director - Licensing & External Research, Merck Sharp & Dohme
2.40 Afternoon Tea
3.10 Health Technology Assessment & the Future Relationship Between Pathology & Pharmacogenomics
- Frameworks for evaluating genetic/genomic DNA tests
- The genetic (single gene) to genomic (multi gene) evolution in pathology
- Traditional model for DNA testing in pathology versus emerging point-of-care testing and direct-to-consumer DNA testing
Ron Trent, Professor of Molecular Genetics - Central Clinical School, University of Sydney & Head, Department of Molecular & Clinical Genetics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
3.50 ICT Infrastructure: The Storage & Sharing of Information
- Defining the collective meaning of information
- Supporting storage, discovery and distribution
- Enabling information sharing, privacy and access control
- The case for common infrastructure and tooling
Andy Bond, Chief Clinical Architect, National E-Health Transition Authority
4.30 Closing Remarks from the Chair
DAY TWO - Friday 31st July 2009
8.30 Morning Coffee
9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair
9.10 The Future for Clinical Physicians & Pharmacogenomics
- Public subsidy of medicines which rely on pharmacogenomic testing
- Cost-effectiveness of delivering personalised medicines
- Genetic testing in the real-world
Prof Robyn Ward, POW Clinical School, University of NSW & Director of Area Cancer Services, SESIAHS
9.50 BioGrid: Linkage Between Clinical Data, Drugs & Genomics
- Framework for collecting and collating data of interest in a privacy protected manner
- Individuals' pathways linked electronically: Clinical data, pathology, drugs, tissue samples, genomics
- A multi-SNP predictor of drug response in epilepsy
- Pharmacogenomic studies in oncology
Dr Marienne Hibbert, Project Director, BioGrid Australia
10.30 Morning Tea
11.00 Interpretation of Tests & Recommendations
- What specific genetic tests should be conducted?
- How do we interpret the tests?
- What patient specific information is required?
- What recommendations should be made based on the tests?
- Working towards developing a national standard
Dr Andrew Somogyi, Faculty Associate Dean - Pharmacology, University of Adelaide
11.40 Prediction of Individual Genetic Risk to Disease from Genome-Wide Data: Prospects & Limitations
- Genome-wide association studies: Success and other stories
- Statistical methods for individual genetic risk prediction
- Limits of individual risk prediction from genetic data
Prof Peter M. Visscher, Queensland Statistical Genetics, Queensland Institute of Medical Research
12.20 Lunch
1.20 Improved Treatment of Disease through Pharmacogenomics: Building the Evidence Base
- Pharmacogenetic phenomena as complex phenotypes
- Translational opportunities: Sorting the wheat from the chaff
- Pharmacogenetics in the era of personal genomes
Assoc Prof Martin A Kennedy, Gene Structure & Function Laboratory & Carney Centre for Pharmacogenomics, Department of Pathology, University of Otago
2.00 Using Pharmacogenomics to Prevent Adverse Drug Reactions
- Steps necessary for the translation of discovery of a genomic test into the clinic
- Factors favouring clinical uptake of a pharmacogenetic test and hurdles with respect to implementation of such tests for adverse drug reaction prevention
- Examples of drugs where there may be potential clinical application of pharmacogenomics to prevent adverse drug reaction
- The broad application of HLA-B*5701 screening to prevent abacavir hypersensitivity reaction as a success story and model in clinical pharmacogenetics
Elizabeth Phillips, MD, FRCPC, Professor & Director Centre for Clinical Pharmacology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University
2.40 Afternoon Tea
3.10 Practical Pharmacogenomics - Ethical & Scientific Issues
- New technologies - Deeper sequencing, gene profiling, -omics, cloning, gene medicines, gene doping
- Use and misuse from pharmacogenomic research, and development towards clinical practice
- Protection of information, really informed consent
- Recommended guidelines and regulation
Prof John Rasko, Director, Cell & Molecular Therapies - Sydney Cancer Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital & Head - Gene & Stem Cell Therapy Program, Centenary Institute
3.50 Patent Protection & Enforcement
- Opportunities to protect key areas of innovation
- Obtaining sound patent protection
- Potential hurdles in protecting pharmacogenomic innovation
- Enforcement and commercialisation issues
Dr Trevor Davies, Partner, Allens Arthur Robinson
4.30 Closing Remarks from the Chair
4.40 End of Conference


