Exciting line-up and speakers for the 7th IPF Annual Summit in Boston next month

The event brings together anyone involved, or interested in, the latest news and developments in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Discussions will centre around many of the questions that run through those with or working with IPF including understanding lung pathobiology to explore the early versus late drivers of pulmonary fibrosis. Topics will also centre around using valuable preclinical models for IND-enabling and being able to cement translational confidence and whether to harness imaging as a secondary, exploratory endpoint throughout therapeutic development, patient selection, and patient recruitment.

Among those, partners of the event sharing solutions, will include Fortrea, FibroFind ,Nordic Bioscience, Xylyx, Brainomix plus ten more.

With more than 43 expert speakers who will be sharing never heard before data and insights and three tracks including emerging biology, translational and clinical, there will be a mine of information to absorb.

Christina Kalderen, preclinical director, at Oxcia, says of the event: “It is the most important yearly event to update on progress in the development of new treatments of IPF and a perfect occasion to network with industrial and academic partners and patient organizations.”

A networking-focused Ambassador Evening in honor of Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month will take place on day one, September 19th at The Westin Seaport which will present the opportunity to connect with the IPF community working to create life-changing, disease-modifying, therapies for pulmonary fibrosis patients.

A poster session for knowledge sharing and 11 hours of networking will also make sure those attending will have more than enough time to expand their understanding and speak to as many people as they would like to.  

Caroline Owen, executive director – early clinical development, respiratory and Immunology, at Astrazeneca, will be a speaker at the event.

She said: “The event is an opportunity to learn from diverse attendees ranging from basic scientists, academic physicians, seasoned clinical trialists, and industry experts. 

“A comprehensive range of topics will be covered that span exciting advances in knowledge on the pathogenesis of IPF, novel in vitro​ and in vivo​ models of pulmonary fibrosis, novel endpoints to accelerate development of clinical trials, and optimal recruitment strategies to deliver clinical studies.”

Some of the important speakers to listen to include Fernando Martinez, chief of pulmonary and critical care from Weill Cornell Medicine, Toby Maher, professor of clinical medicine at The University of Southern California, Gisli Jenkins, NIHR research professor and Margaret Turner Warwick chair of thoracic medicine at Imperial College London.

There is a wide range of workshops being held including optimizing clinical trial design for pulmonary fibrosis, utilizing tools for target identification, and illuminating novel therapies for IPF: delving into cell and gene therapies plus phase 2 study results for agents that target LPA1 & JNK1 in pulmonary fibrosis. Many more are lined up.

Summing up, Vanessa Neiens, biology lead respiratory, Pieris Pharmaceuticals, said: “The IPF Summit is a great opportunity to learn about emerging preclinical and clinical research and to connect with experts from the field.”