Second Joint Italian-Swiss Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry , Italy, Modena 19-20 February 2005.

The Second Joint Italian-Swiss Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry (ITCHMC2005) was held in Modena, (Italy) from September 12 to 16, 2005, under the auspices of the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC).This year, the annual meeting of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society was co-organized with the Division for Medicinal Chemistry of the Swiss Chemical Society and it followed the first, successful one held in Torino in September 1997. This important event in the field of medicinal chemistry brought together scientists from both academia and industry to discuss different aspects of modern medicinal chemistry. Top-ranking scientists from medicinal chemistry and clinical development had the opportunity to meet and discuss the following topics: Carbohydrate Chemistry in Drug Design, Nuclear Receptors, Progress in Design and Development of Protease Inhibitors, Progress in Oncology Research and finally, Pain and Neurodegenerative Diseases.IntroductionThe conference was attended by 300 scientists from 13 countries, with most of the participants from Italy and Switzerland. The meeting allowed an extensive exchange of information and widespread networking. Of the 134 posters on display, 19 were selected for short oral presentations and two were selected for the Farminidustria awards. The meeeting was organized in six sessions with 6 Plenary (PL), 16 Main Lectures (ML) and 19 short communications (SC).The scientific sessions were held at the Forum Guido Monzani, a modern complex with multifunctional facilities; the opening ceremony took place at Accadenia Militare di Modena, housed in the seventeenth century Palazzo Ducale.Modena, city of art, culture and prosperous economy, offered an exciting background for stimulating scientific interactions. Participants were mainly from academia and other research centers together with 46 pharmaceutical companies; among them, six presented their work, namely Novartis Basel , Roche Basel, Novartis East Hannover USA, IRBM Pomezia Italy, Santhera Pharmaceutical AG, Heidelberg, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Verona, S-IN Soluzioni Informatiche, Vicenza. The areas covered by the meeting were advanced medicinal chemistry including computational chemistry, established drug targets, libraries and screens, inhibitor design and clinical advances. There were two poster sessions, with presentations given mainly by young scientists.