Klaus Stohr, VP at Novartis, to Give a Keynote Speech at GTC's Influenza Meeting, July 8-10, Boston

MONROVIA, CA, April 09, 2013 (Press-News.org) Klaus Stohr, Vice President and Global Head of Influenza Franchises at Novartis, will give a keynote presentation titled "Global Trends in Pandemic Preparedness: Changes After the Last Pandemic?" at GTC's 2nd Influenza Research & Development Conference on July 8-10, 2013 in Boston, MA

The last influenza pandemic highlighted the existing gaps in vaccine supply: limited global production capacity, owing to biological and technological realities 3-4 months are required before first vaccine doses are available, pandemic peaked before supply fully ramped up. Also, countries with domestic supply or advanced purchase agreements had preferential access to pandemic vaccines. There was no vaccine available in developing countries. As a consequence, an increasing number of concerned governments are now securing first-come-first-serve pandemic vaccine supply agreements. In the not too distant future, the majority of the global supply is likely going to be contractually bound by a few countries. Not surprisingly, there are only a very small number of developing countries that embarked on domestic vaccine manufacturing projects; most of them are in very early stage or have only limited scope.

Although influenza vaccine development is still at high pace, revolutionary new production technologies are not yet in sight although there are a few high promising candidates.

Dr. Stohr's presentation will discuss efforts to accelerate pandemic vaccine investment and their need to acknowledge that it is mainly driven from two sources: political commitment to preparedness/public health or opportunities available from seasonal influenza vaccine use/manufacturing.

Dr. Klaus Stohr is Vice President and Global Head of the Influenza Strategy Liaison for Novartis Vaccines in Boston, USA, where he leads and coordinates cross-functional pandemic and prepandemic influenza vaccine activities, as well as driving influenza-based interactions with national and international authorities. In 2006 he was made Special Advisor on Influenza Pandemic Vaccine Development for the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research. Dr. Stohr is an honorary Professor at the Freie University, Berlin, has won a number of scientific awards, and was included in the 2005 Scientific American 50 list of research and policy leaders.

The 2nd Influenza Research & Development Conference will bring together experts from industry, government and academia to discuss the issues facing the influenza field. Topics will range from basic science of the influenza virus itself to pandemic preparedness to vaccination and clinical development. Attend this conference to learn, discuss and network with fellow scientists and researchers involved in various sectors of the influenza field in an intimate setting.

This conference is is part of our Infectious Diseases World Summit 2013 and will be held concurrently with the following two tracks:

11th Vaccines Research and Development: All Things Considered Conference
10th Anti-infectives Partnering and Deal-Making Conference

For more information, please visit http://www.gtcbio.com/influenza

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GTCbio organizes conferences specifically for the biomedical and biopharmaceutical industries. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of biopharmaceutical and biomedical intelligence between industry leaders, academic and government organizations, and the financial community.

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