Therapeutic Targeting of the Proteasome in Disease

In honor of Julian Adams, Ph.D., Kenneth C. Anderson M.D., Alfred L. Goldberg, Ph.D. , and Paul G. Richardson, M.D. for their discovery, preclinical and clinical development of Bortezomib (Velcade) to FDA approval and front line therapy for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

Julian Adams

Julian Adams | 2012 Recipient

For the discovery, preclinical and clinical development of  bortezomib to FDA approval and front line therapy for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

Julian Adams, PhD is President of Research and Development at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Adams is responsible for the full spectrum of Infinity’s drug discovery, preclinical, and clinical development strategy, and regulatory affairs activities. Prior to joining Infinity in 2003, he was the Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. In this capacity he had global responsibility for multiple drug discovery programs, including the successful discovery and development of Velcade® (bortezomib), a proteasome inhibitor for cancer therapy. He joined Millennium through its acquisition of LeukoSite in 1999 where he was Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Adams joined LeukoSite as a result of its acquisition of ProScript, Inc., where he had served as a member of the founding management team, Executive Vice President of Research and Development, and a member of the Board of Directors. Earlier in his career, Adams served in various positions, including Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Boehringer Ingelheim, where he successfully discovered the drug Viramune® (nevirapine) for HIV. Also, from 1982–
1987, he was a medicinal chemist at Merck.

Adams has received many awards, including the 2001 Ribbon of Hope Award for Velcade® from the International Myeloma Foundation. He is an inventor of more than 40 patents and has authored over 100 papers and book chapters in peer reviewed journals. He is the editor of Proteasome Inhibition in Cancer Therapy, published in July 2004.

Adams received his BS from McGill University and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of synthetic organic chemistry.

Opening Remarks

Jeffrey S. Flier, MD

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University

Joan S. Brugge, PhD

Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School

Alfred L. Goldberg, PhD

Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School Functions of the Proteasome: From Protein Degradation to Drug Development

Julian Adams, PhD

President, Research and Development, Infinity Pharmaceuticals The Discovery and Development of Bortezomib

Kenneth C. Anderson, MD

Kraft Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director of the LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Bench to Bedside Translation of Proteasome Inhibitor Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

Paul G. Richardson, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Clinical Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute The Clinical Development of Bortezomib in Multiple Myeloma: from Single Agent to Combinations and Beyond

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I am humbled to be included among the illustrious scientists who have been honored by the Warren Alpert Foundation for their contributions to the treatment and cure of human disease in its 30+ year history. It is also recognition of the many investigators who have labored for decades to realize the promise of the immune system in treating cancer.
- James Allison

James Allison | 2017 Recipient

Dr. Allison showed that the molecule CTLA-4 is an inhibitory receptor that serves as a checkpoint to limit the expansion of T cells and pioneered the concept of blocking CTLA-4 to enhance immune responses to tumor cells. He developed an antagonistic anti-CTLA-4 antibody and based on elegant laboratory experiments, he convinced pharmaceutical companies and clinicians to conduct trials with anti-CTLA-4. Clinical trials in patients with metastatic melanoma demonstrated a survival benefit, which led to the approval of anti-CTLA-4 by the US Food and Drug Administration in March 2011. Anti-CTLA-4 represents a rationally designed mechanistic immunotherapy agent that is now a standard of care for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.  This seminal work led to the identification of another checkpoint, PD-1, which also enhances anti-tumor responses and has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma and several other types of cancer. Thus, Allison’s work opened a new field termed “immune checkpoint therapy” and other agents are being developed to target additional inhibitory or co-stimulatory T-cell molecules. Dr. Allison translated his research work on T cells into a breakthrough therapeutic modality that has transformed cancer treatment and is saving lives worldwide.

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