August 2013 ISAR News Vol. 23 No. 1 Report on the 26th ICAR 11–15 May 2013, San Francisco, CA, USA President’s message (Phillip Furman) and Scientific Meeting Report. They have been inte- gral in maintaining a productive working relationship The 26th ICAR is now behind us and I am pleased to with Elsevier, publisher of Antiviral Research and report that the conference was a great success. The So- International Medical Press, publisher of Antiviral ciety has invested a significant amount of work over Therapy. The Society wishes to thank International the past years in revitalizing the annual meeting. Medical Press for publishing ISAR News for several These efforts have been recognized and affirmed by years and for publishing issue 22.2 in the last issue the results of our post-conference surveys, which pro- of AVCC (February 2013) which has now ceased pub- vided considerable positive feedback along with con- lication. Because of this, the Society had no publisher structive suggestions and comments. Thanks to all of for ISAR News. Thanks to the efforts of Mike Bray, you who have responded to these important surveys. Hugh Field, and Anthony Vere Hodge, Elsevier will The success of this year’s ICAR is due to a talented now publish ISAR News and the Scientific Meeting team of dedicated individuals with whom I had the Report in Antiviral Research. The smooth transition privilege of working to plan the conference. First, was greatly assisted by Alina Helsloot (Elsevier) who thanks go to the ISAR officers Joe Colacino, Past Pre- came to ICAR. sident, Bob Buckheit, President-elect, Graciela An- A special thank you goes to Amy Patick who orga- drea, Secretary, and Dale Barnard, Treasurer. Mark nized the Women In Science luncheon and discussion Prichard, Chair of the Program Committee, with the session, which was a tremendous success. Board mem- help of Bob Buckheit, and Joe Colacino who served bers Johan Neyts and Tomas Cihlar, Chairs, of the as Conference Chairman, did a superb job organizing Membership and Career Development Committees, this meeting and are thanked and congratulated for respectively, worked assiduously to organize network- the high level and diverse scientific content presented ing events to increase the Society’s membership and to at the meeting. Thanks go to Board Member and Fi- reach out to new members and young investigators. nance Committee Chair Roger Ptak for doing an out- Finally, I would like to thank Lauren Deaton and standing job of acquiring financial support and Elizabeth Haxton of Courtesy Associates for their sponsorships for the meeting. efforts in coordinating and facilitating the meeting Thanks also go out to Andrea Brancale for main- and ensuring everything ran smoothly. taining the ISAR website throughout the year and As mentioned above, the scientific program for the th especially during preparation, advertising and regis- 26 ICAR, which included keynote, plenary, and tration for ICAR; Rich Whitley and the Scientific mini-symposium speakers, was excellent and well re- Excellence Awards Committee who carefully evaluate ceived. Eva Harris delivered this year’s Keynote lec- and select the recipients of the Elion and Prusoff ture and Bruno Canard gave a plenary lecture. This awards from the nominees submitted by members of year, Tomas Cihlar and Graciela Andrei organized a the society; Hugh Field and Anthony Vere Hodge special symposium, ‘Legacy of Tony Holy´: Nucleo- and the Publication Committee who work hard to en- tides in the Treatment and Prevention of Chronic Vir- sure the highest quality publication of the ISAR News al Infections’, in honour of the memory of Professor Elsevier, National Institutes of Health, PTC Therapeutics, Chimerix, Inc., Southern Research Institute, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, JCR Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd, Hoffmann- La Roche, Biota Holdings, Apath, LLC., Center for Drug Design, University of Minnesota, Gemmus, Virodefense, Novira, Flamma, Medivir, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Avexa Ltd., LabCorp (Monogram) Bristol-Myers Squibb, Express Biotech International Antiviral Research 3 ISAR News Vol. 23 No. 1 Antonı´n (Tony) Holy´ and his discovery of significant Antiviral Research in Fukushima, Leuven and Kagoshi- treatments for HIV and HBV and his contributions ma’ and Andrea’s lecture was entitled ‘From Irrational to antiviral research and medicinal chemistry. At the to Rational Antiviral Drug Design.’ Again, congratula- end of the symposium Tomas Cihlar announced that tions and we wish them both continued success. Gilead Sciences will support the Antonı´n Holy´ Medic- This year an election was held to fill three Board of inal Chemistry award to be given annually at ICAR to Director seats and congratulations go out to the three a senior investigator of international stature whose new Board members: Katherine L. Seley-Radtke (Pro- expertise in chemistry has made a major impact on fessor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of antiviral drug discovery and/or development. Maryland, Baltimore, USA), Andrea Brancale (Senior Mike Sofia and Paul Scola organized two mini-sym- Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy posia this year, ‘Strategies and Tactics in Drug Design’ and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Car- and ‘Prodrugs as a Tool in Drug Discovery and Devel- diff, UK), and William Delaney (Director, Biology at opment’. Both symposia were well attended and re- Gilead Sciences, Foster City, California, USA) who ceived favourable feedback. We also continued our were strongly supported and duly elected. Our thanks interactive workshop ‘Drug Discovery and Develop- go out to three very talented and exceptional indivi- ment 101’, our Clinical Symposium, and the Shotgun duals: Johan Neyts, Jose´ Este`, and Heather Green- poster session consisting of oral presentations of se- stone, whose terms as Board Member expired this lected posters by young investigators. Each presenter year, for their dedication, support and excellent did an outstanding job presenting his or her research. counsel. A popular event of the ICAR is the selection of posters, We are now busily engaged in planning the 27th presented by young investigators, for special recogni- ICAR that will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, tion. The hard working Poster Awards subcommittee, USA, May 12–15, 2014. My fellow officers and I, as chaired by Kathie Seley-Radtke carefully reviewed well as the Board Members and Committee Chairs, posters submitted for special recognition and selected continue to strive to provide a conference of the high- winners based on scientific excellence and the ability est scientific quality. I wish you all a wonderful and of the author to present his or her work. This year, relaxing summer and look forward to seeing you next as in past years, the winners were recognized at the year in Raleigh. closing banquet. My congratulations to the winners of this year’s poster award contest – well done. Scientific report: Highlights of 26th ICAR, One of the major events at each ICAR meeting is the 11–15 May 2013, San Francisco, CA, USA presentation of the Elion Lecture Award and the Prus- off Young Investigator Lecture Award. Our heartiest (Anthony Vere Hodge) congratulations go out to Masanori Baba and Andrea Brancale, this year’s Elion and Prusoff award recipi- This review provides an overview of the conference ents, respectively. Masanori’s lecture was entitled ‘My highlights. As this is a research conference, any refer- Figure 1. Legacy of Tony Holy´: Erik De Clercq (left) and John Martin (right) giving their tributes 4 Ó2013 Elsevier ISAR News Vol. 23 No. 1 ences to clinical results should not be taken as a model for ICAR meetings. Tony Holy´ became a regu- recommendation for clinical use. I wish to thank all lar attendee at ICAR meetings. those authors who have kindly provided me with co- The first clinical success was DuviraÒ gel which pies of their presentations and for giving me valuable was licensed in Czechoslovakia for herpes labialis comments. but it was the series of phosphonate compounds This summary has abridged reports on the sympo- which led to the exceptional success of tenofovir. sium in memory of Antonı´n (Tony) Holy´, then the Tenofovir, as its oral prodrug, was approved for presentations by the recipients of the Society’s two HIV therapy in 2001 and, in combination with major awards and the keynote and plenary lectures. emtricitabine (FTC) as Truvada, was approved in Please see the ICAR Scientific Report in Antiviral 2004. Atripla (combination of truvada and efavirenz) Research for the full reports and for an account of was approved in 2006. Complera (in USA) [and the clinical symposium, and the two chemistry mini- Eviplera (in Europe)] was approved in 2011, and the symposia, Strategies and tactics in drug design and ‘‘Quad pill’’ Stribild (containing tenofovir, emtricita- Prodrugs as a tool in drug discovery and development. bine, elvitegravir and cobicistat) was approved in 2012 (in USA) and 2013 (in Europe). These single- Legacy of Tony Holy´: Nucleotides in the Treatment and tablet regimens, all of which contain tenofovir as a Prevention of Chronic Viral Infections key component, have transformed HIV therapy and A personal note on the contribution and legacy of seem to be giving patients many years of near-normal Antonı´n Holy´ by Erik De Clercq (KU Leuven, Rega life. Institute for Medical Research, Leuven, Belgium) When at Olomouc, Erik noticed a Unesco-classified monument dedicated to ‘‘The Holy Trinity’’. That sti- Erik first met Antonı´n (Tony) Holy´ at a symposium on mulated Erik’s thinking. He was one of a team, Tony Synthesis of Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Polynu- Holy´ the chemist, Erik the MD and John Martin (also cleotides, 3–5 May 1976 in Go¨ ttingen (Germany). a chemist) from Gilead It seemed as if Erik and John Erik felt both out of place but also privileged to be were part of a different trinity, ‘‘a Holy´ trinity’’.