Gail Lewis
Distinguished Scientist, Discovery Oncology Genentech
For more than 30 years, Gail has headed a tumor cell biology/preclinical drug development lab in Genentech Research. She was hired at Genentech to investigate cytokine-mediated tumor cell killing and mechanisms of resistance thereof. The outcome of this work, in collaboration with UCLA and MSKCC, was the development and approvals of trastuzumab (Herceptin®) and pertuzumab (Perjeta®) for treating HER2-positive breast cancer.
Following the approval of trastuzumab, they focused their efforts on the nascent ADCs. They investigated different targets, antibody formats, as well as different combinations of linker-drugs, with the focus of my lab primarily on HER2. Their work led to development and approval of trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla®). They have continued our work on ADCs, for HER2 as well as additional targets, with an expanded arsenal of novel linker-drugs. Gail’s lab’s expertise now encompasses not only HER2+ breast cancer but other solid tumor types as well as hematologic malignancies.
Seminars
- Highlighting the drivers for ADC development beyond traditional cytotoxic payloads
- Detailing development and design of more well-tolerated ADCs with improved therapeutic index and defined patient populations
- Showcasing late-stage preclinical development of novel ADC programs preparing for IND applications
- Evaluating the landscape of ADC therapies: is the risk of innovation now lower than the risk of irrelevancy?
- Assessing hurdles and opportunities to achieve differentiated ADC profiles in crowded ADC payload and target fields
- Delving into novel ADC payloads: what new MoAs are emerging and what has been demonstrated so far?
- Understanding perspectives on the future of ADC development across ADC design, targeting, and precision medicine approaches
