Dr. Kenneth Emancipator, MD, DABP to Give Keynote at GTCbio’s Biomarker Summit

Monrovia, CA, January 06, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Dr. Kenneth Emancipator, MD, DABP Executive Medical Director and Head of Companion Diagnostics for Merck & Company, will give a keynote presentation on ““Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand” (PD-L1) as a Companion Diagnostic for Pembrolizumab” at GTCBio’s Biomarker Summit to be held on March 20-22, 2017 in San Diego, CA.

Tumors escape from immunosurveillance in part by expressing PD-L1, which down-regulates the cytotoxic T-cell response. Pembrolizumab blocks this down-regulation pathway and thus effectively treats a number of cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The rapid clinical development of pembrolizumab for NSCLC required even more rapid development of a PD-L1 immunohistochemistry assay. The assay was developed initially to assess PD-L1 as a predictive biomarker, and then to enrich clinical trials. Merck subsequently partnered with Dako/Agilent to develop the first FDA-approved companion diagnostic in cancer immunotherapy, which ultimately enabled pembrolizumab to become the first immunotherapy approved for first-line treatment of NSCLC.

Participants will learn

· How rigorous clinical epidemiologic techniques were applied in a real-life setting;
· How personalized medicine can facilitate drug development;
· The unexpected consequences of taking a personalized medicine approach in a highly competitive environment;
· The challenges of deploying a companion diagnostic to healthcare providers worldwide.

Kenneth Emancipator led the Merck team which partnered with Dako North America to develop the PD-L1 test, which identifies those non-small cell lung cancer patients most likely to benefit from Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), and which is the first companion diagnostic in cancer immunotherapy to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The PD-L1 test enabled Keytruda to become the first immunotherapy to be approved for first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Emancipator was one of six members of the Keytruda Team to receive the 2015 PhRMA Research and Hope Award for Biopharmaceutical Industry Research on behalf of Merck.

This Summit will also include four following conferences:
A wide variety of important topics will be covered including biomarker identification, validation, and translation strategies, bioinformatics and systems biology approaches to personalized medicine, big data analytics and management, regulatory and reimbursement trends, companion diagnostics development, and much more. Through scientific presentations, case studies and panel discussions, these areas will be addressed in an intimate and highly interactive environment with perspectives from industry, academia and the public sector.
10th Oncology Biomarkers
6th Neurological Biomarkers
6th Inflammatory & Immunological Biomarkers
Cardiovascular Biomarkers

For more information please visit website: https://www.gtcbio.com/conferences/biomarkers-summit-overview