Drug Innovations Forum AGENDA (More Information to Come)
Friday September 24th, 2010
Four Seasons Hotel
Toronto, Ontario
Agenda
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Opening Remarks
8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Innovation Benefits Everyone
When it comes to drug discovery, the so-called blockbuster drugs often get much of the attention. But incremental innovation can also be of huge benefit to improve our quality of life. Our presentation will focus on the value of new medicines in improving health outcomes, reducing the burden of chronic disease and helping to boost employee health and productivity. The audience will also be guided through the complex process of developing a new medicine or vaccine.
Presenter: Allan O'Dette, Director, External Relations, Policy & National Private Markets, GlaxoSmithkline Inc. and Chair Rx&D Private Payers Subcommittee
This session made possible by Rx&D.
9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Diabetes Technology to Help Employees and their Employers: Current Status and Future Potential
In the workplace, those living with diabetes in good control have less impact on their benefit plan than their counterparts living with diabetes out of control. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which included 4 Canadian sites, found that the best way for those who require insulin to gain good glycemic control is by optimizing diabetes technology. What employers can do for people with diabetes is gaining more and more recognition. Providing the opportunity to optimize blood glucose control to prevent, minimize or delay complications and improve overall well being is quickly expanding in Canada and worldwide.
Presenter: Deirdre Date, National Therapy Access Manager, Medtronic
This session made possible by Medtronic.
9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Prevention of Community-acquired Pneumonia in the Adult Population: Better Immunization Strategies are Needed
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a serious infection that is most commonly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. A considerable proportion of patients with CAP require hospitalization and symptoms may take weeks to resolve. This condition has debilitating effects on the individual’s health status and impacts the family: it also leads to increased absenteeism and loss of productivity in the workplace environment.
Presenter: Dr. Louis Valiquette, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke
This session made possible by Pfizer.
10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Networking Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Reducing the Spread of Influenza by Immunizing Children: the Role of Herd Immunity
Influenza or the “flu” results in excess hospitalization and death every year in the elderly and others at high risk for complications. This session will review why selectively vaccinating children can produce “herd immunity” and indirectly protect the elderly and others at high risk of complications from influenza.
Presenter: Dr. Mark Loeb, Professor, Departments of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and, Division Director for Infectious Diseases at McMaster University
This session made possible by AstraZeneca Canada.
11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Empowering Ones Own Immune System to Fight Cancer
For decades, patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma were offered little by way of effective treatment options and faced death within months. Chemotherapies or targeted agents have traditionally been used to fight cancer. Recently, a novel immunological approach that enhances ones own immune system and enables the patient’s own body to destroy cancer cells has demonstrated new hope in “winning the battle within”.
Presenter: Anitasha Puodziunas, Senior Lead Oncology Medical Science Liaison—Oncology, BMS Canada
This session made possible by BMS.
11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Buffet Lunch and Networking (Lunch Made Possible by Green Shield Canada)
For more information about this event or this webpage,
contact Kerry Maddocks, General Manager, Conferences and Events
This page was last updated on August 30, 2010
