TOPIC - Nitric Oxide To Viagra and Numerous Biotech Companies and Products in Clinical Development and Disease Markets.

Pleanary Session Address I: Dr. Murad’s research has led to over 25 venture backed biotechnology companies in the past decade and numerous products in the market, including the infamous drug “VIAGRA”.

There are even more products in clinical trials to treat a variety of diseases. Many of these projects represent excellent investment opportunities for private and angel investors and venture capitalists. The talk will cover drug candidates currently developed for clinical trials by several large pharma and biotech companies. This will lead to a number of possible disease applications.

Short Biography

Winner, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1998

Dr. Ferid Murad is Professor and Chairman of the School of Medicine Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is also the Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases and the John S. Dunn, Sr., Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine. In 1998 he was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.

Dr. Murad and Robert F. Furchgott and Louis J. Ignarro, co-recipients of the award, discovered how this colorless gas can be used to signal blood vessels to relax and widen, thus lowering blood pressure. Nitric oxide is now recognized to have applications ranging from treatment for heart disease and shock, to reducing the possibility of pulmonary hypertension in premature babies.

His research focuses on the formation, metabolism, and function of nitric oxide and cyclic GMP in various cellular signaling processes. His work with nitric oxide began more than 20 years ago when he was at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Despite initial disbelief from fellow researchers, Dr. Murad persevered in his conviction that the short-lived gas was crucially important to the body's signaling system. In the 1970s, Dr. Murad discovered that nitroglycerin relieves chest pain in heart patients by releasing nitric oxide. By 1992, Science magazine had named NO its "molecule of the year".

Dr. Murad has been active in both academic medicine and industry throughout his distinguished career. As the former president and Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Geriatrics Corporation, a biopharmacological company active in the field of neuro-degenerative diseases, he believes that collaboration and team work between medicine and industry is vital.

Among his many other awards and honors, Dr. Murad received the prestigious Albert and Mary Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 1996, the American Heart Association Ciba Award in 1988, and the Baxter Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences from the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2000. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Widely published, Dr. Murad’s work has appeared in publications throughout the world.