Conference Speaker

Ann Kwong, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc, USA

Ann D. Kwong led the Infectious Diseases group at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which was instrumental in the development of telaprevir (VX-950, INCIVEK™), a HCV protease inhibitor. Ann played a significant role in all stages of the development of telaprevir, including research and development (as head of virology); regulatory (as the NDA team leader) and commercialization (as the HCV franchise lead). Ann is a founder of the non-profit HCV Drug Development Advisory Group (HCV DRAG), a collaborative organization of companies working on HCV, clinical trial leaders, community representatives and FDA and EMA regulators which work together to optimize HCV drug development. In 2011, Telaprevir was approved by the FDA, EMA, Health Canada, and the PMDA (Japan) to treat Hepatitis C virus infection. INCIVEK™ is the most successful launch in the industry with sales of $1B in less than a year. Prior to moving to Vertex, Ann began her career in industry at Schering Plough Research Institute where she developed high throughput cell-based and in vitro (enzymatic) assays to support HSV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antiviral drug discovery and helped to solve the crystal structure of HCV helicase. Ann completed her post-doctoral studies with Jerry Hurwitz at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, where she studied SV40 in vitro replication and received her BA and PhD in Virology from the University of Chicago where she studied Herpes Simplex virus (HSV) replication and host cell interactions.

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