Stephen Poor
Head of Translational Medicine Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Stephen is a physician scientist (UK trained ophthalmologist) with over 20 years drug discovery and development experience.
His current role is Head of Translational Medicine at Apellis. Broad responsibilities include clinical trial leadership for GA and Alzheimer’s programs, BD&L, end-point strategy, clinical trial optimization and technology innovation.
Previous roles at Novartis include Head of Retinal Pharmacology, Director External Innovation and Global Program Clinical Head for Ophthalmology.
Seminars
Wednesday 20th January 2027
Panel Discussion: Improving Long-Acting Therapy Success Rates Through Real-World Lessons in Durability, Translation & Development
12:30 pm
- Join experienced developers and researchers of long-acting ocular therapies to explore lessons from ongoing development to avoid common pitfalls and accelerate development
- Understand why promising durability data often fails to translate from preclinical studies into clinical success and learn how to generate more predictive evidence earlier in development
- Learn how to overcome formulation, delivery, inflammation, and safety challenges while improving durability, efficacy, and patient experience
- Discuss practical strategies for managing development risk, investment timelines, and key decision points to improve long-term clinical and commercial success
Thursday 21st January 2027
Roundtable Discussion: Proving Long-Term Therapeutic Value Through Endpoint Selection & Clinical Trial Design
1:15 pm
Join breakout roundtables led by expert moderators to debate key questions, capture consensus and differing views, then reconvene as moderators share insights and spark wider audience debate.
- Discuss how the field should evolve beyond traditional visual acuity measures by identifying functional endpoints that better reflect real-world patient experience, including contrast sensitivity, low-light vision, and other measures of meaningful visual function
- Share experiences validating novel endpoints with regulatory agencies, exploring the evidence packages, study designs, and clinical data required to support acceptance of new outcome measures in future retinal trials
- Explore how predictive biomarkers, advanced imaging analytics, and emerging endpoint strategies can improve patient selection, accelerate development timelines, and generate stronger evidence for regulatory approval and long-term therapeutic value
- Debate which functional endpoints should be prioritised in future retinal studies, how they should be implemented within clinical trials, and what level of change represents a clinically meaningful benefit for patients
