Charles River Laboratories to Host 3rd Annual World Congress

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. is proud to host the 3^rd Annual World Congress: Delivering Therapies to the Clinic Faster on September 23-24, 2019 in Cambridge, Mass. This year’s World Congress will explore novel approaches to drug development that effectively reduce program timelines and accelerate delivery to the clinic.

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We can’t get drugs to the clinic faster simply by throwing money at the problem. Accelerating the process from concept to cure is going to require the brightest minds, the boldest approaches, and combined efforts toward a common goal. Are you up for the challenge?

Voices of Drug Discovery
The World Congress is a two-day scientific program that will illustrate methods to successfully cut time to market and highlight how next generation technologies, like artificial intelligence and genomics, are expediting target discovery and drug development.

Featured speakers include:

• Timothy Yu, M.D., Ph.D., Attending Physician, Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s Hospital, Associate Member of the Broad Institute, and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, will discuss the accelerated development of milasen as an example of truly individualized genomic medicine.
• Allyson Berent, DVM, DACVIM, Chief Operating Officer of GeneTx Biotherapeutics and Chief Science Officer of the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics, will share her personal journey from veterinary specialist to CSO of a non-profit and co-founder of a biotherapeutic company when her infant daughter was diagnosed with a random, rare, neurogenetic disorder called Angelman syndrome.

On September 23, 2019, the World Congress will host a panel to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) can be applied in drug discovery. Moderated by Carey Goldberg, Editor of WBUR’s CommonHealth, panelists include Liam Loscalzo of nFerence and David Clark of Charles River, among others. The panel will explore how the industry can quantify the impact of AI on drug discovery, what the real world applications of AI may be, and how the field may advance. Tuesday’s panel discussion will focus on the use of genomics data and will be moderated by Martin Mackay, Ph.D., co-founder of Rallybio and member of Charles River’s Board of Directors.

Charles River Annual Research Award
This year, Matt Wilsey, Chairman, President & Co-founder of the Grace Science Foundation, will receive the Charles River Annual Research Award on behalf of the Grace Science Foundation and its search for a cure for NGLY1 deficiency. The Grace Science team hopes that their Silicon Valley approach, with flat structure, nimbleness, and frugality as key tenets, can be applied to both rare and more prevalent diseases for faster, less expensive, and more comprehensive disease understanding and treatment.

Previous winners of the Annual Research Award include Sonia Vallabah and Eric Minkel, researchers with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and co-founders of the Prion Alliance, and David Hysong, Patient, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Shepherd Therapeutics.

Conference Details

• Dates: September 23-24, 2019
• Location: Kimpton Marlowe, Cambridge, Mass.
• Charitable Giving: Charles River will donate 100% of every World Congress registration fee to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapy Development Institute, a Cambridge-based nonprofit biotech dedicated to finding a cure for ALS.
• Registration: To learn more and register, visit criver.com/worldcongress
• Join the Conversation: Follow #CRLworldcon on social media

Approved Quotes

• “Developing therapeutics is a long and complex process. The average drug spends 10 years in development—we simply have to do better for patients. Our goal with this year’s World Congress is to inspire researchers to think outside of how we’ve historically developed drugs and implement innovative strategies to save time and money.” –James C. Foster, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Charles River

• “The Grace Science team has researched, recruited, and assembled a global team of 200 researchers and clinicians across 18 international centers over the last 5 years. We are constantly looking to fill gaps and improve, but we believe the breadth and depth of our global network is unique. We are proud to accept the Charles River Annual Research Award. With these funds, we will be able to propel our research and therapies even further and faster.” –Matt Wilsey, Chairman, President & Co-founder of the Grace Science Foundation

About Charles River
Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. To learn more about our unique portfolio and breadth of services, visit www.criver.com.

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