All the eyes and ears of the discovery world eagerly turn to Boston as one of the greatest shows on drug research finally unveils on the 7th of this month.

Scheduled to be at World Trade Center Boston and The Seaport Hotel in Massachusetts during 7-10th of August, the 11th Annual Drug Discovery Technology & Development World Congress promises to be one of most memorable get-together for discovery researchers across the globe.

Offering with the most critical, in depth and vital information that the discovery scientists are in search of to accelerate drug development effort, the conference presents more than 300 exhibits, 200 plus speakers and over 150 scientific papers besides 6 dedicated sessions, pre-conference workshops and conferences.

The 6 conference sessions will focus on emerging areas of discovery research and technology such as: Targeting Disease and Evaluating Disease-Relevant Targets; Lead Discovery and Lead Optimization; Discovery to Development: Case Studies, Safety, PK/PD and Pharmacogenomics; Biomarkers: Utility, Validation and Applications from Discovery to Clinic; R&D Strategies and Business Alliances and the Interface between Drug Discovery and Informatics.

This year's conference features a 300% increase in content/speakers dedicated to lead discovery and optimization/chemistry approaches. There will be 33 sessions for 2006 congress against the10 sessions in 2005.

Also, this conference will feature 14 lead optimization case studies representing several large, mid-size and smaller companies who will discuss their challenges, different approaches and successes at the lead optimization and compound selection phases of drug discovery.

Additional session topics at this conference include: exploring chemistry space, filling the gaps in compound libraries and enhancing compound collections, fragment based approaches, technology applications and novel chemistry techniques and strategic perspectives in drug discovery.

The congress also includes four keynote presentations from Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, Acting Commissioner, FDA and Director, National Cancer Institute, Steven M. Paul, M.D., Executive Vice President, Science and Technology, President, Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Peter B. Corr, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Science & Technology, Pfizer Inc and Susan Hockfield, Ph.D., President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Early Stage Company Showcase is another highlight of the event. The showcase gives emerging and early stage companies the opportunity to present their novel technology, innovative scientific concept or creative business model in front of a targeted audience and potential investors and partners. Each presenter will be given 10 minutes to introduce their company, describe their technology or strategy and how it adds value to drug discovery and development, discuss their partnering objectives and business model as well as their current and future plans for investor funding and revenue goals.

The selection committee has chosen the preliminary list of 12 companies for presentations for this year, announced the organizers of the meet, IBC.

Nearly 4,000 pharmaceutical, biotechnology, government and academic researchers, executives and technology providers to participate are expected to participate in the event to network with and explore new opportunities. There will be around 70 new product launches and 16 interactive sessions, according to official sources.