"This is the foremost annual meeting in drug development, coming at one of the most exciting times in the history of cancer research," said AACR President Karen S. H. Antman, M.D., Wu Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology, Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York.

"We have developed a number of new anti-cancer agents and identified potential targets. This meeting brings together everyone in the field to talk about strategies for evaluating these findings and taking them efficiently to the next step to patients in clinical trials," she added.

Meeting Scientific Chairman Charles L. Sawyers, M.D., Investigator and Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, echoed the objective, saying:
"We are at a time in cancer research, both basic and clinical, when we understand some of the molecular lesions that drive cancer. We have a nice set of drug-like molecules either available or in development, but there is a disconnect between work in the laboratory and testing in patients. Right now the molecular profile of cancer is hard to recognize in patients, because it is not part of clinical trials nor the way cancer is classified. We need a consensus of opinion to bridge the gap between the lab and the patient."

Target selection and barriers to the clinical testing of targeted agents will be debated by academic and pharmaceutical company scientists and federal regulators at two forums during the meeting.

Leroy E. Hood, Co-founder and President of the Institute for Systems Biology and Affiliate Professor at the Uni
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Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
11-Nov-2003