AsiaTIDES 2015

Event Overview

More than 150 oligonucleotide and peptide leaders from around the global united in Tokyo recently to attend IBC's 6th Annual AsiaTIDES conference.

There, they took advantage of two pre-conference tutorials, one covering oligonucleotide drug manufacturing, led by Thomas Rupp of Thomas Rupp Consulting in German, and another on the challenge of oligonucleotide in vivo delivery, led by Dmitry Samarsky, of RibiBio in China. Attendees then heard five keynote presentations that covered everything from lessons learned in peptide development to honing in on the antisense finish line. Keynote speakers included Andrew Young, of GlaxoSmithKline, Hiroaki Suga, of the University of Tokyo, Bruce Morimoto, of Celerion, Dave Garman of NoNO Inc. and Henrik Orum, of Santaris Pharma A/S.

The day wrapped up with a Networking Dinner at nearby Happo-En and featured traditional Japanese fare and sensational sushi.

Days two and three saw concurrent tracks covering the latest updates on peptides and oligonucleotides in the pipeline, manufacturing and analytical developments, drug delivery systems for nucleic acids and regulatory considerations: preclinical and clinical safety assessment for peptides and oligonucleotides.

The sessions featured speakers from Isis Pharmaceuticals, miRagen Therapeutics, OncoTherapy Science, Immunovaccine, Rxi Pharmaceuticals, Agilent, the universities of Southern Denmark, Westminster, California and Kobe University, Aileron Therapeutics, tella Inc., Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Siranomics, and Anges MG Inc.

The last session of the day featured insights from two former FDA directors:

David T. Lin, Ph.D., MBA, Senior Consultant, Biologics Consulting Group, Inc., and former acting Division Director in the Office of New Drug Chemistry in the Center for Dru