Drug discovery and commercialization in the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre 
(Seminars)
23 May 2012
4pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Level 1, Liggins Institute, 2-6 Park Ave, Grafton
Liggins Institute Distinguished Speaker seminar by Professor Bill Denny.
Professor Bill Denny is a Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC). He has been involved in taking ten novel anti-cancer drugs to clinical trial, has filed around 110 patents and is a scientific cofounder of two start-up companies - Proacta Inc and Pathway Therapeutics Inc - for promising anti-cancer compounds. The start-up companies have raised more than US $50 million, with a significant proportion being spent to fund research and development at the ACSRC and clinical trials in New Zealand. Professor Denny recently received a University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor’s Commercialisation Medal and the Translational Research Award of the NZ Society for Oncology, recognising him as a standout innovator in the country’s biotechnology sector and world leading anti-cancer drug developer. In this public lecture, Prof. Denny will tell his successful story to bring laboratory research to clinical trial through commercial collaborations.
Bill Denny is Director of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre and a Principal Investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre, University of Auckland. Trained as a chemist at Auckland and Oxford Universities, he is a past-President of the NZ Institute of Chemistry and the NZ Society for Oncology. Awards include the Rutherford Medal of the Royal Society of NZ (1995), the Adrien Albert Medal of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry (2005), and Biotechnologist of the Year (NZBio co-award 2007). He became a University of Auckland Distinguished Professor in 2011.
He has been involved in the design and development of 12 drugs brought to or approaching clinical trials for cancer and infectious diseases. He is a scientific co-founder of the companies Proacta Therapeutics (hypoxia-activated prodrugs) and Pathway Therapeutics (kinase inhibitors), both of which are developing drugs for cancer therapy.
Light refreshments provided. Free car parking available on site.
