3rd Annual DNA Vaccines Forum

Abstract

The 3rd Annual DNA Vaccines Forum was recently held in London, UK, from March 16–17, 2006. This forum was organized by Marcus Evans Conferences and the central theme was: Evolution and Viability in Human Clinical Trials and Veterinary Commercialized Products. According to the program leaflet, this conference was especially targeted at senior executives from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, but this was also a very interesting meeting for academics (capable of paying the registration fee). Besides the regular talks, there was ample time for discussion and networking during the coffee and tea breaks and the interactive lunches. Speakers at the conference were mostly representatives from biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, and included: Jeffrey Ulmer (Chiron Vaccines), Roman Necina (Boehringer Ingelheim), Bill Henry (PowderMed), Yu-Wei Chang (Fort Dodge Animal Health), Robert Whalen (Maxygen), Joerg Schneider (Oxxon), Jacob Glenting (Bioneer A/S), Raf Lemmens (GE Healthcare), Ralf Wagner (Geneart; University of Regensburg, Germany) and Alain Rolland (Vical). Eminent speakers from academia and research institutions included: David Weiner (University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA), Vito Fazio (University Campus Bio-Medico, Italy), Christian Ottensmeier (University of Southampton, UK) and Thomas Richie (Naval Medical Research Center, MD, USA). Finally, regulatory agencies were represented by Martin Friede and Jinho Shin (WHO) and Dennis Klinman (via live videolink from the FDA).