The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's (ADDF) conference entitled Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration will be held on February 4-5, 2008 in the Washington, DC area. The purpose of the conference is to advance drug discovery for neurodegenerative disease by training the next generation of scientific leaders on the process of translating basic research into novel therapeutic interventions. Formal education on this topic is needed because there is a documented knowledge gap in this area of research and there are very few opportunities outside the pharmaceutical industry for scientists to learn about these processes. The goals of the conference are consistent with the NIH's Roadmap: to bridge the knowledge gap in drug discovery and neurodegenerative disease; to bring together interdisciplinary scientists to stimulate new ways of combing skills and disciplines; to provide networking opportunities for these scientists to exchange ideas and resources; and to publish the proceedings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. This two-day conference will give participants fundamental knowledge and resources on creating new drugs to treat and prevent neurodegenerative disease. It will also address the barriers and challenges associated with the following sub-topics: Target Identification & Validation; Lead Identification & Optimization; Lead Discovery; Pre-Clinical Proof-of-Concept & Development; Resources and Services for Advancing Drug Discovery; and Disease Specific Issues in Drug Discovery for Neurodegenerative Disease. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis will be included in the discussions. Sessions will consist of 3 to 5 presentations with ample time for Q&A. With respect to the public-private partnership initiative of the Roadmap, ADDF will invite approximately 25 internationally recognized scientists, including women and minorities, from academia, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the NIH, to serve as chairs or speakers. It is anticipated that this conference will serve an audience of 150 scientists from diverse backgrounds, of which 27% will be women, minorities, young/junior investigators, and graduate students. The public health problem ADDF seeks to solve is to reduce the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. By offering this conference, ADDF will increase scientists' knowledge of the drug discovery processes and catalyze them to work together to develop commercially viable and effective disease modifying products. ? ? CTITIQUE 1: ? ? Objectives: Training of academic scientists in drug discovery, exchange of ideas, stimulate pre-clinical research, build public-private partnerships, publish proceedings, provide CME credits. 6 topics: targets, leads identification, lead optimization, pre-clinical POC, drug discovery resources, disease-specific issues. The confirmed and proposed speakers include senior and well recognized successful scientists in drug development from both industry and academics. ? Overall, the proposed conference would likely be quite useful to its targeted audience of academic investigators and would likely accomplish its goal of educating these investigators in drug development and would facilitate public-private partnerships. These activities would strengthen the quality of translational proposals submitted to the NIH. The four targeted disease areas of AD, PD, HD and ALS are quite appropriate for the neurodegenerative field. The focus of training academic scientists in the full range of drug discovery and development from target validation through IND work remains rare although IBC sponsors conferences that include some of these areas. It would be helpful to point out in more specific terms how the proposed conference compares to and is advantageous to these other conferences. The range and expertise of speakers could be broadened by decreasing some of the potential redundancy in which two or more speakers are from the same institution. The proportion of speakers who have actually made a direct and major contribution to the successful development of an approved drug should be increased. ? Budget: The overall budget is appropriate and the amount requested from NIA (less than half the total cost of the conference) is appropriate. ? Inclusion of women and minorities is appropriate. ? ?
