Influenza Research & Development - GTCBio's Third Annual Conference (July 9-11 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2014)

The Third Influenza Research and Development Conference organized by GTCBio was convened as part of their Infectious Disease World Summit 2014, which also included the 12th Vaccines Research & Development: All Things Considered and 11th Anti-infectives Partnering and Deal-Making Conferences. The Influenza Research and Development Conference consisted of eight sessions: 'Development of Influenza Vaccines' (held jointly with Vaccines Research & Development), 'Antivirals and Therapeutics', 'Role of T-Cells', 'Regulatory Guidance - Clinical Trial Design & Efficacy Trials', 'Role of Antibodies' and 'Innate Immunity and Infection'. The conference also convened a panel at the end of the second day to discuss 'Balancing Science & the First Amendment', as well as a session at the end of day 3 for oral presentations selected from exemplary submitted abstracts. The overall scope of the conference addressed the need for improved influenza vaccines, approaches for assessing vaccine efficacy, novel vaccination strategies and novel antiviral drugs. Presentations by academics and industry provided a good balance of cutting-edge research with preclinical, clinical and post-licensure studies. Interventions for human seasonal, zoonotic and pandemic influenza viruses were also discussed.