Speaker Profile
M.D., Ph.D., FRCP, FMedSci, Senior Vice President, Immuno-Oncology, Early Development and Translational Oncology, Pfizer Inc.
Biography
Chris Boshoff, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP, FMedSci, is the Head and Senior Vice President for Immuno-Oncology, Early Development and Translational Oncology at Pfizer where he directs the strategies for early cancer drug development, precision medicine and immuno-oncology. Dr. Boshoff obtained his PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research in London and trained as a medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden and Royal Free Hospitals in London. Before joining Pfizer in 2013, he was the Director of the University College London (UCL) Cancer Institute (2007-2013). He was appointed Adjunct Professor at Yale University in 2014, and has published more than 150 original articles covering cancer biology, tumor virology, and experimental cancer medicine.
Talk
Cancer Immunotherapy: Science Driving Combinatorial Strategies
The discovery and clinical application of checkpoint inhibitors have heralded a new era in cancer medicine that result in long-term survival for some patients with advanced cancer. However, most tumors are either inherently resistant to, or will adapt to become resistant to checkpoint inhibitors. Our challenge is to combine immunotherapy rationally with standard treatment regimens to increase responses or to prevent resistance. Our strategies for combinatorial approaches are: (a) eliciting immunogenic cell death with cytotoxic or radiotherapy; (b) combining anti-angiogenic and targeted therapies with immunotherapy; (c) sustaining responses with immune agonists; (d) inhibiting an immune suppressive microenvironment; and (e)combining immunotherapy with DNA damage response inhibitors.
