(1888PressRelease)
April 13, 2009 - Pete Adamson, Head of Research for Ophthiris at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will give the Keynote Presentation at GTCbio’s Inaugural Ocular Diseases & Drug Discovery conference, taking place on April 20-21, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2005, the National Eye Institute (NEI) estimated that the annual cost of vision impairment and eye disease to the United States was $68 billion. Not only are eye diseases costly to the US, they also impact the quality of life of over 34 million people, causing lost productivity, reduced independence, diminished quality of life, increased depression and accelerated mortality. By 2020, this number is expected to grow to over 50 million.
Pete Adamson is leading the charge in fighting Ocular diseases and the devastating statistics that come with it. Pete first joined GSK in 2004 as Head of Cellular Pharmacology within the Atherosclerosis group, part of the Cardiovascular and Urogenital CEDD before working with the GSK Centre of Excellence in External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) where he was responsible for inflammation and ophthalmology opportunities. During his time in the CEEDD Pete was involved in the selection of programs and targets for the ChemoCentryx, Pharmacopeia, Praecis, and Ranbaxy strategic alliances many of which are now under clinical investigation.
Pete briefly joined Ophthaltec Limited as CEO before taking up his appointment with Ophthiris in 2008. Pete obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of London (Institute of Psychiatry) and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Cancer Research and Vascular Biology Research Centre before taking up an academic position at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology from 1994-2004 where he was a principle investigator and Reader in Molecular Pathology.
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