Farnaz Massoumian
Senior Patent Attorney
Vodafone
Melanie Rauschenberg
Senior IP Counsel- Digital Patents, Sustainability, Policy and Standards
BASF
Alex Gloor
Partner
Gowling WLG
Key Takeaways:
- We have developed technology that efficiently applies predictive ML models to combinatorial synthesis libraries (CSLs) at a rate of ~500 B compounds per second, per GPU, allowing us to exhaustively evaluate otherwise enumerable chemical space to identify diverse compounds that best fit multi-parameter optimization criteria.
- In practice, this gives chemists the opportunity to flexibly and iteratively explore enormous chemical space while receiving results, in the form of enumerated chemical structures, within seconds of their inquiry, fostering a genuine creative process that leads to higher chemical diversity and developability.
- We use this approach in conjunction with our next-generation extrapolative ML models, which has allowed us to discover high-quality, diverse, structurally-distinct binders for targets of interest; however, this approach can be extended to any advanced predictive model in order to exhaustively evaluate any CSL.
Steve Worland
CEO
Atomwise
Steve Worland, Ph.D. serves as the CEO of Atomwise and has over 30 years of experience in corporate leadership and pharmaceutical R&D. He was previously President, CEO, and Board Member of eFFECTOR Therapeutics, which he co-founded in 2012. Prior to that, he was CEO of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company through its acquisition by Roche in 2011. Before becoming CEO, he served as Chief Scientific Officer and President of Pharmaceuticals at Anadys.
Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Warner-Lambert, and Pfizer, where his scientific research contributed to the discovery and development of Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir), Inlyta (axitinib), zotatifin, tomivosertib, and other clinical-stage candidates. At Agouron, he was Vice President and Director of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, remaining at the company through its acquisitions.
Dr. Worland earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology at Harvard University as an NIH fellow. He earned a B.S. with Highest Honors in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan. He serves on the Board of Directors at Blacksmith Medicines and has previously served on the boards of Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Forge Therapeutics, and GenMark Diagnostics.
AI is redefining how clinical trials are designed and executed. A major obstacle to complete transformation is tapping into the data that offers novel, well-governed insights. Drawing on the industry’s largest trial operations dataset: schedules of assessment, amendment drivers, trial benchmarks, and site performance trends, Advarra offers a unique, ethically grounded data foundation. Building on this vantage point, the session will share a vision for how AI can transform the drug development lifecycle from end to end, along with real-world applications already shaping the future of trials.
Mike Eckrote
Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions & Technology
Advarra
Mike Eckrote is Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions & Technology at Advarra, where he leads efforts to advance innovative approaches to clinical research and development. He brings more than a decade of experience in real-world data, technology solutions, and clinical trial optimization, with leadership roles spanning HealthVerity, Medable, and Medidata Solutions. Throughout his career, Mike has specialized in applying AI/ML, real-world evidence, and data-driven strategies to improve trial design, site selection, and patient outcomes.
Advarra
Website: https://www.advarra.com/
Advarra breaks the silos that impede clinical research, aligning patients, sites, sponsors, and CROs in a connected ecosystem to accelerate trials. Advarra is number one in research review services, a leader in site and sponsor technology, and is trusted by the top 50 global biopharma sponsors, top 20 CROs, and 50,000 site investigators worldwide. Advarra solutions improve collaboration, transparency, and compliance to optimize study design and operations. With unmatched trial operations data, and an ongoing investment in AI innovation, Advarra continues to reimagine what’s possible in clinical research. For more information, visit advarra.com.