Cancer Vaccines - SMi's Fourth Annual Conference (September 16-17, 2015 - London, UK)

Recent years have seen the academic, medical and pharmaceutical communities gain a new understanding of the central role of the immune system in fighting cancer. With the approval of the first cancer vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the success of immuno-oncology, new avenues are opening for the successful development of therapeutic cancer vaccines. Opportunity for combination therapies exploiting immune checkpoint inhibitors is being realized and delivery mechanisms and adjuvants are likewise being optimized. The incorporation of monoclonal antibodies alongside genetically engineered viral vectors is also being pursued. This year's conference focused on the development of personalized therapies and their commercial viability, with in-depth discussions of novel T-cell therapies, oncolytic viruses, gene therapies and adoptive T-cell transfer. The meeting brought together key academic and medical experts with leading industry figures to debate future directions and the next generations of tools in cancer immunotherapy.