DIA 2026 Global Annual Meeting: Full Schedule

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10:15am EDT

#513: Advancing Chronic Disease Development: Insights from FDA, EMA, PMDA, and MHRA

Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:15am - 11:30am EDT

Component Type: Session
Level: Intermediate
CE: ACPE 1.25 Knowledge UAN: 0286-0000-26-565-L04-P; CME 1.25; RN 1.25

Chronic Disease Town Hall spotlights emerging programs and global initiatives for chronic disease drug development, outlines the current landscape, explores opportunities and challenges, and assesses strategies to boost efficiency and accelerate therapeutic innovation.

Learning Objectives

Discuss the present landscape, opportunities, and challenges of chronic disease drug development; Describe emerging programs and global initiatives designed to facilitate development of chronic disease drugs; Assess various considerations and strategies to enhance the efficiency of chronic disease drug development.

Chair

Jingyu (Julia) Luan, PHD

Speaker

Panelist
Steffen Thirstrup, MD, PHD

Panelist
Alison Cave

Panelist
Maria Vassileva, PHD

Panelist
Ayaka Kubota, RPH

Speakers

Alison Cave

Chief Safety Officer, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), United Kingdom

Dr Alison Cave is Chief Safety Officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with responsibility for the safety of medicines and medical devices in the UK. She holds a BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of London and has extensive academic and regulatory... Read More →

Ayaka Kubota

Office of Safty II, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Japan

She is a reviewer at the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) in Japan. She is involved in the scientific review of pharmaceuticals, primarily focusing on cardiovascular drugs and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, with an emphasis on clinical evaluation and regulatory... Read More →

Jingyu (Julia) Luan

Executive Regulatory Science Director, AstraZeneca, United States

Dr. Luan is currently the Executive Regulatory Science Director at AstraZeneca (AZ), where she oversees all regulatory aspects of obesity and diabetes drug development and supports the research, development, and commercialization efforts in these disease areas. She also leads the... Read More →

Steffen Thirstrup

Chief Medical Officer, European Medicines Agency, Netherlands

Dr. Steffen Thirstrup, MD, PhD, has been Chief Medical Officer at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) since June 2022. A specialist in clinical pharmacology, he has held leadership roles at the Danish Medicines Agency, served as a CHMP member at EMA, and co-chaired the European Commission’s... Read More →

Maria Vassileva

Chief Science and Regulatory Officer, DIA, United States

Dr. Vassileva has decades of experience with managing complex multi-stakeholder biomedical research programs. She spent most of her career in the nonprofit sector, leading the Science Team at the Arthritis Foundation, and working at the Foundation for NIH and the American Association... Read More →

Tuesday June 16, 2026 10:15am - 11:30am EDT
201AB The Pennsylvania Convention Center 1101 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 USA

02: ClinicalTrialOps-Innovation, Session | 08: RegPolicy-Strategy-GlobalCollaboration, Session

Audience Intermediate
Area Global Alignment in Practice, Student and Early Career Pathway, Therapeutic Pathways
Level Intermediate
format csv
Credit Type ACPE, CME, RN
Interest Area Rare Disease & Special Populations,Regulatory
Feature Topics Global Alignment in Practice,Student and Early Career Pathway,Therapeutic Pathways
Tags Session

4:15pm EDT

#559: China Town Hall

Tuesday June 16, 2026 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT

202AB

Component Type: Session
Level: Intermediate
CE: ACPE 1.00 Knowledge UAN: 0286-0000-26-592-L04-P; CME 1.00; RN 1.00

In this session, speakers from NMPA, Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) and Center for Food and Drug Inspection (CFDI) will present and discuss the latest information on regulatory policy, drug review and approval, and international collaboration.

Learning Objectives

Recognize the latest information on the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) activities in drug regulation, supporting innovation and international collaboration; Describe the recent update on the progress in drug review, inspection and approvals in China; Discuss the issues on drug regulation with NMPA officials.

Chair

Ling Su, PHD

Speaker

Panelist
Wei Zhang

Panelist
Qinghua Wang, MD

Introduction
Hui Shi

Update on Drug Regulation in China
Huijuan Zhou

Evolution of clinical trial landscape enabling early clinical development
Xiaoyuan Chen, MD

Speakers

Xiaoyuan Chen

Professor, Tsinghua University School of Basic Medicine, China

Researcher Chen Xiaoyuan graduated with a bachelor's degree in clinical medicine in 1996 and a master's degree in clinical pharmacology in 2002. In 2010, he received a doctorate in pharmacology from Shanghai Jiaotong University. In 2002, he joined the drug evaluation center of the... Read More →

Hui Shi

Director, Development Research Division, China Center for Food and Drug International Exchange, China

Ling Su

Research Fellow, Yeehong Business School, China

Dr. Ling Su is a Research Fellow in Shengyang Pharmaceutical University Yeehong Business School and a Venture Partner in Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV). He has 30 years of experience in drug regulatory and development. He had worked in various R&D management positions in the pharma industry... Read More →

Qinghua Wang

Founder and CEO, Innogen Pharmaceuticals, China

Professor Qinghua Wang has dedicated over 30 years to translational research in metabolic diseases. He began his medical training in Shanghai, followed by graduate studies in Biochemistry in Antwerp. By 2000, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department... Read More →