Day One

• Understand the epidemiology and implications of bronchiectasis-COPD overlap
• Explore how the evolving clinical development landscape, including the approval of the first disease modifying therapy for non‑CF bronchiectasis, reshapes expectations for trial design, endpoints, and patient selection, and challenges traditional views of COPD as a single therapeutic entity
• Learn how patients with bronchiectasis-COPD overlap may respond differently to standard COPD therapies due to neutrophilic inflammation, chronic infection, and structural lung disease, highlighting key challenges and opportunities for developing targeted treatments in COPD

• Examine how IL‑4/IL‑13 pathway blockade via rapidly acting IL‑4Rα biologics can be repositioned for acute intervention, addressing not only inflammation but the IL‑13–driven mechanical constraints that limit bronchodilator responsiveness during active exacerbations
• Understand how rapid suppression of IL‑4/IL-13 signaling permits early recovery of airway function (minutes to hours) by relieving bronchomotor tone and initiating time‑dependent cytoskeletal softening, resulting in clinically meaningful improvements in FEV₁
• Explore a dual‑phase treatment paradigm in which early functional recovery is followed by sustained inflammatory control, bridging immediate symptom relief with downstream disease modification during and after exacerbations

A dedicated opportunity to connect with leaders across the COPD drug development community, bringing together experts in discovery, translational science, clinical development, and commercial strategy. Engage in focused, peer-to-peer discussions on emerging data, trial design challenges, regulatory pathways, and the future direction of COPD therapeutics.

• How inhaled mRNA delivery of interferon lambda restores epithelial host resistance to reduce virus driven exacerbations in chronic lung disease
• Why targeting interferon lambda upstream of inflammation offers a new preventative strategy beyond bronchodilators biologics and steroids
• What early clinical data show including phase 2a asthma results demonstrating safety, target engagement and the potential to translate this approach into COPD

• Discover how inhaled pan-JAK inhibition could enable treatment across both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic COPD phenotypes, expanding reach beyond current biologic limitations
• Explore the benefits of dry powder inhalation delivering therapy to the lungs, enhancing local efficacy while minimizing systemic exposure and improving safety profiles
• Understand how targeted pulmonary delivery of small molecules could provide a convenient, scalable alternative to biologics, supporting better patient adherence and clinical outcomes

• Neutrophilic Inflammation as a therapeutic target in COPD
• Novel biologics and biotherapeutics for COPD: Exploring first-in-class approaches
• Particle engineering for distal lung delivery

• Where do traditional animal and smoke models fall short in replicating human COPD features such as exacerbations, airway remodeling, and complex inflammatory networks?
• How can preclinical models be improved to better reflect human disease biology through approaches such as smoke exposure models, molecular biomarkers, and advanced imaging?
• To what extent should human data and mechanistic insights take precedence over preclinical models in candidate selection?
• How can the field better align preclinical findings with clinical endpoints to reduce late-stage failure in respiratory drug development?
• What role should emerging technologies such as organoids, lung-on-chip systems, and AI play in enhancing translational predictability?

An interactive platform for researchers, clinicians, and industry experts to showcase innovations in COPD drug development, allowing attendees to directly engage with presenters across themes including preclinical models, precision medicine, novel therapeutics, clinical endpoints, and data-driven insights, fostering discussion, collaboration, and exchange of cutting-edge scientific and translational knowledge.

• Airway mucus plugs are associated with COPD disease progression, exacerbations and mortality
• Mucolyitcs borrowed from experience in Cystic Fibrosis are not effective
• A more comprehensive understanding of mucus plug formation is leading to development of new approaches to removing mucus plugs

• Mucus plugs represent the last untargeted cause of airway obstruction in COPD, persisting even in patients escalated to triple therapy or biologics
• MLT-001 by MucoLife Therapeutics is a first-in-class inhaled mucus modulator with a novel mechanism of action that directly dissolves mucus plugs with demonstrated 90% preclinical efficacy and a wide therapeutic index
• The talk will highlight the addressable COPD subgroup and how MLT-001 is positioned as a once-daily inhaled add-on maintenance therapy within the existing treatment paradigm. Additionally, the presentation will explore the broader platform potential of this mechanism across other muco-obstructive diseases, including non-CF bronchiectasis, asthma