The Biomarkers Consortium will sponsor a two-part supersession at the 2008 BIO International Convention in San Diego on June 19, 2008.

BETHESDA, Md., April 24, 2008 -The Biomarkers Consortium today announced it will sponsor a two-part supersession at the 2008 BIO International Convention in San Diego on June 19, 2008. A 2:00-3:30 p.m. panel will address “Accelerating the Identification and Development of Biomarkers for Human Health Through Public-Private Partnerships.” The 4:00-5:30 panel will assess “The Promise and Progress of The Biomarkers Consortium.”

Participating panelists will include:

• Anna Barker, Deputy Director for Advanced Technologies and Strategic Partnerships, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
  
• ShaAvhree Buckman, Acting Director, Office of Translational Sciences, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration
  
• Jeff Evelhoch,Executive Director, Medical Sciences, Imaging Sciences, Amgen
  
• Joe Gray, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Radiation Oncology, University of California San Francisco and Director, Division of Life Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  
• Thomas Insel, Director, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
  
• Gary Kelloff, Special Advisor, Cancer Imaging Program, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health Garry
  
• Neil, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Office of Science and Technology, Johnson & Johnson
  
• Irene Norstedt, Head of Sector Innovative Medicines, European Commission, Directorate General for Research
  
• David Wholley, Director, The Biomarkers Consortium
  

The Biomarkers Consortium and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, which manages the consortium, will also exhibit at the BIO international convention from June 17-20 at booth #624.

The Biomarkers Consortium is a major public-private biomedical research partnership with broad participation from stakeholders across the health enterprise, including government, industry, academia and patient advocacy and other non-profit private sector organizations. In addition to the Foundation for NIH, founding members include the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Other partners in the consortium include the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

The consortium was formally launched in late 2006 to identify and qualify new, quantitative biological markers (“biomarkers”), for use by biomedical researchers, regulators and health care providers. Effective identification and deployment of biomarkers is essential to achieving a new era of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine. Biomarkers promise to accelerate basic and translational research, speed the development of safe and effective medicines and treatments for a wide range of diseases, and help guide clinical practice.

The Biomarkers Consortium seeks to combine the expertise and resources of its fifty-three member organizations to accelerate and harmonize approaches to identifying viable biomarkers and validating them for use in research, therapeutic and diagnostic development and approval, and clinical practice. Among the projects launched by the consortium to date are two studies managed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to assess the use of Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) as a potential biomarker for clinical trials conducted in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-small cell lung cancer, and a project that pools existing clinical trial data from four pharmaceutical companies in order to evaluate the utility of adiponectin as a biomarker to predict glycemic efficacy. In addition, a new strategic focus of the consortium, including several new projects, will be announced at the supersession.

More information about The Biomarkers Consortium is available at www.biomarkersconsortium.org.

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health was established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the National Institutes of Health – improving health through scientific discovery. The foundation identifies and develops opportunities for innovative public-private partnerships involving industry, academia, and the philanthropic community. A non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, the foundation raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities. The foundation’s Web site address is www.fnih.org.