Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Biologics as Drugs: Novel Strategies for Better Treatments of Human Disease, organized by Drs. Cheri L. Butts, Amy S. Rosenberg, Amy D. Klion and Sachdev S. Sidhu. The meeting will be held in Snowbird, Utah from January 22-26, 2017. The purpose of this meeting is to examine different approaches to treating diseases associated with aberrant immune responses (cancer, fibrosis, autoimmunity, and inflammatory conditions). The program will provide insights from academic and industry scientists on innovative biologics technologies and treatment strategies for ameliorating disease in an effort to identify synergies and opportunities to cross-fertilize approaches. Furthermore, the meeting includes perspectives from the US Food & Drug Administration and how the outlined strategies will impact the drug review and approval process. The intention is to better inform meeting attendees of current/future strategies for treating disease and best practices for transforming concepts into approved drugs. This area of research is of importance to NIAID as it provides strategies for improving public health and a forum addressing its mission of better understanding and treating immunologic disease.
Current therapies for human diseases aim to provide optimal benefit to patients in terms of quality and quantity of life. These include biologics that target mediators of disease but have demonstrated only limited efficacy. Novel technologies and more strategic therapeutic approaches offer the promise of improved efficacy by reducing the need for extensive treatments to ameliorate disease or targeting the underlying pathophysiology. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Biologics as Drugs: Novel Strategies for Better Treatments of Human Disease will bring together researchers to exchange ideas on novel biologics technologies and unique therapeutic approaches in order to better understand limitations with previous efforts and develop more effective treatments for patients.