Conference Scene: Progressing Biomarkers from Basic Discovery to Companion Diagnostics
Alain J. van Gool · Pharmacogenomics · 2011
The biomarker field is moving in a direction whereby functional interactions between key stakeholders are increasingly desired and necessary for progress. Indeed, clinicians, academic researchers, pharmaceutical drug developers, diagnostic tool developers, contract research organizations, regulatory agencies, health insurance payers and obviously patients themselves, all benefit from a growing availability of clinically applicable biomarkers. To facilitate those interactions, forums that bring together experts in these fields are needed now more than ever. Whereas such specific conferences have frequently been held in Europe and the USA, only few are being organized in Asia. The Biomarkers in Diagnostics and Therapeutics conference described here aimed at doing both, by bringing together and facilitating the exchange of views between international experts in diagnostics, central laboratories, basic research and pharmaceutical drug development.