The Prescription for an Efficient Infectious Disease Clinical Trial: Rich Science & Seamless Operations

This is a golden age for infectious disease clinical trials. Novel technologies give us a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of disease states, and the body’s responses to them. Increased access to a wider global patient population and new tools to visualize large data sets enable new insights into how diseases spread. And yet, the core problems in running a clinical trial remain: how to balance the use of novel technologies with maintaining strict operational control of the trial, while managing overall costs. This webinar will cover new technologies and study management strategies for both viral and bacteriological infectious disease trials.

With the recent merger of Covance and LabCorp, our clients are now able to combine Covance’s extensive experience in clinical trial testing with the cutting edge science of the LabCorp Specialty Testing Group. Monogram Biosciences is a recognized leader in the field of viral drug resistance and high throughput HIV genotyping and phenotyping. Monogram has expanded its reach to include other viral targets such as HBV, RSV, Influenza and Ebola.

If you touch infectious disease drug development, Covance makes it easy for you with diverse methodologies for bacterial isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing. Learn how to get dependable results from our full-service in-house global microbiology laboratory, which brings you the latest capabilities in genotyping for identification and resistance gene determination.

Dr. Chris Petropoulos, Monogram CSO, will address the following points:

• Sequencing and phenotyping: two different yet complementary methodologies for measuring drug resistance (to include section on NGS)
• Our HIV and HCV assays and capabilities: from pre-clinical support to Phase IV
• Looking to support new viral targets/efforts of interest

Pritty Patel, Director of Global Microbiology, Vaccines and Novel Immunotherapies, Covance will discuss:

• The application of new technologies such as MALDI-TOF and multiplex PCR to modern infectious disease trials
• Balancing custom requirements with off the shelf solutions for an optimized clinical trial design

Speakers

Chris Petropoulos, Ph.D., CSO of Monogram Biosciences and Vice President, Laboratory Corporation of America

Christos J. Petropoulos, PhD is the Chief Scientific Officer of Monogram Biosciences, as well as Vice President at Laboratory Corporation of America. Dr. Petropoulos is responsible for all aspects of Monogram’s antiviral drug resistance and oncology biomarker assay development activities. Dr. Petropoulos joined Monogram as the Director of R&D in 1996 shortly after the Company was founded, was named Vice President R&D in 1999 and appointed as Chief Scientific Officer in 2004. In 2011 Dr. Petropoulos also assumed responsibility for the Company’s Clinical Research and Medical Education efforts. Prior to joining Monogram Biosciences, Dr. Petropoulos headed the Molecular Virology Laboratory at Genentech from 1992-1996, as well as the Research Virology and Molecular Detection Laboratories from 1994- 1996.
Dr. Petropoulos received his PhD in molecular and cell biology from Brown University and trained as a post-doctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Hughes at the NCI Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, where he was funded by a fellowship from the Leukemia Society of America. Dr. Petropoulos is a world-recognized expert in antiviral drug resistance and molecular diagnostics and has directed the design, development and launch of 19 complex drug resistance assays that are routinely used to inform patient treatment decisions in routine clinical settings. Monogram drug resistance assays are widely recognized as industry standards and have been used to support the clinical evaluation of a majority of antiviral drugs that have received FDA approval over the past 15 years. Dr. Petropoulos has co-authored over 160 scientific publications, is a named inventor on 14 US patents, and has served as principal investigator on 15 funding awards from the National Institutes of Health. Monogram Biosciences enjoys a long history of highly productive collaborations with academic, government/public health and industry partners.

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Pritty Patel, M.S, MBA, Global Director of Microbiology, Vaccines and Novel Immunotherapies, Covance Lboratories

Pritty Patel provides global leadership and direction in developing Covance’s capabilities in clinical microbiology for anti-infective studies while also leading the continuous development of the science, strategy and breadth of departmental capabilities. She continues to develop and implement scientific and business strategy for worldwide clinical microbiology laboratories for Phase II and III clinical trials. Additionally, Pritty is responsible for implementing quality action plans.
Pritty completed her MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University, and her MS in Microbiology from Seton Hall University. Pritty has more than 20 years of experience in microbiology and related fields, while achieving significant improvements in delivery and quality of testing services for clients. She is a presenter of numerous abstracts and other presentations at industry conferences on microbiology and related topics. Pritty is also a Member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the South Central Association for Clinical Microbiology (SCACM), she joined Covance in 2001.

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