We are delighted to announce our speakers line-up for the Innovation Forum 2016 conference. Follow us to keep up to date as we introduce our eminent speakers. 

Our opening keynote will be given by Ruth March, vice-president of AstraZeneca’s Personalised Healthcare and Biomarkers function. She will speak on how world-class science is transforming how pharmas do business. Science is enabling healthcare to move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to prescription and towards a personalised, precision medicine model. What are the key structural changes that need to be put in place? How and who will adapt?

For a complete schedule and to secure your tickets please visit our Innovation Forum 2016 – Leaders Conference page (www.inno-forum.org/conference/)

Ruth March, PhD, is Vice President of AstraZeneca’s Personalised Healthcare & Biomarkers (PHB) function, which includes more than 100 diagnostic and biomarker experts in the UK, US and Sweden. A member of the senior team leading Innovative Medicines & Early Development, Ruth is accountable for delivering companion diagnostics and validated biomarkers to AstraZeneca drug projects, targeting medicines across all therapy areas to those most likely to benefit. 

Ruth has led development of AstraZeneca’s capability in Personalised Healthcare (PHC), ensuring 80% of drug projects are following a PHC approach, and has enabled regulatory approvals linked to companion diagnostics, including: TAGRISSO (US and EU), LYNPARZA (EU and US), IRESSA (2009, 90 countries and 2015, US) and based on circulating tumour DNA (EU, 2014 and China, 2015).

Ruth pioneered: the first FDA-approved lab-based companion diagnostic, the first drug label based on circulating tumour DNA, the first diagnostic partnership for next generation sequencing, and PHC across therapy areas. She is a member of the Supervisory Board for Definiens, whose software aims to improve treatment in immuno-oncology. A genomics specialist with over 45 publications and patents, her academic research was key to the submission of the first genome-wide SNP analysis of a hepatic adverse event to the FDA.