Professor Tom Kirkwood of Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health

CHERTSEY, England, November 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

joins panel of

THE ASTELLAS INNOVATION DEBATE 2013

The Age Crunch - facts, fears and the future

Chaired by Lord Robert Winston

Royal Institution of Great Britain, Tuesday 19^th November 2013, 7pm

To be webcast live: http://www.innovationdebate.com

World-renowned expert on the biology of ageing, Professor Tom Kirkwood CBE, will be joining a panel of internationally recognised experts for the 2^nd Astellas Innovation Debate: The Age Crunch - facts, fears and the future, taking place on 19^th November at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Following the success of the inaugural Astellas Innovation Debate, staged at the Royal Society in November last year and focusing on how to nurture the scientific innovators of the future, this year's debate moves the spotlight from young scientists to the ageing population - an issue of decisive and urgent importance.

Watch the video of Professor Tom Kirkwood discussing the challenges of an ageing population

Professor Kirkwood's theories on the underlying mechanisms of ageing, which he has been developing since the 1970s, underlie much of contemporary thinking about the biology of the ailments of old age, including cancer and degenerative diseases.

Currently Professor of Medicine and Dean for Ageing at Newcastle University, Professor Kirkwood says the successes of modern medicine are creating new challenges:

 "Today, with people in affluent countries expecting to live well into their 80s, life expectancy is increasing by more than five hours for every day we live. This is a remarkable achievement and should be cause for celebration, yet ageing is our biggest challenge as we progress further into the 21st century. It's a challenge that contains within it a threat: if we don't take action quickly enough, in the right kind of way, then what is unquestionably humanity's greatest success - doubling life expectancy in the last 200 years - could become a real problem."

Among the panellists joining Professor Kirkwood to debate how we meet the challenges of an ageing society will be Nobel prize-winning biologist, Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn; campaigner and politician Baroness Sally Greengross and Professor John Appleby, Chief Economist at the King's Fund.

Chaired by Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London, The Astellas Innovation Debate 2013 will explore the role of innovation as society faces critical challenges resulting from an ageing population. The central issues under discussion will be:    

• How best can we support older people in the UK and Europe?
• How can we rethink our approach to welfare and healthcare to tackle the major age-associated diseases?
• How will an ageing society be funded and whose responsibility should it be?
• How can innovation help society to value older people and to help older people make an active contribution?

The aim of the Astellas Innovation Debate 2013 will be to explore, through thought-provoking discussion, whether the scientific ingenuity that played a key role in creating an ageing society can now provide innovative solutions to drive economic and social transformation - turning old age into a new age.

For further information, visit our website http://www.innovationdebate.com, or join the debate on Twitter @innovatedebate #AgeCrunch

• Ends -

Notes to editors

The Astellas Innovation Debate is to be chaired by Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London.

Confirmed panelists include:

Professor John Appleby    Chief Economist at the King's Fund since 1998 and a visiting professor at the Department of Economics at City University, London

Dr Elizabeth Blackburn    Morris Herzstein Professor in Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco,
Nobel Prize winner in Physiology of Medicine in 2009 and a leader in the area of telomere and telomerase research.

Baroness Sally Greengross    A crossbench (independent) member of the House of Lords since 2000 and chair of five All-Party Parliamentary Groups, Chief Executive of the International Longevity Centre (ILC) - UK; Co-President of the ILC Global Alliance.

Professor Tom Kirkwood    Dean for Ageing & Director of Newcastle Initiative on Changing Age (NICA) at the University of Newcastle.  

About The Astellas Innovation Debate

The Astellas Innovation Debate, organised and funded by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd., explores the role of innovation in modern society.

This year's event, The Age Crunch: Facts fears and the future, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on 19^th November 2013, is bringing together influential and respected figures from the worlds of science, government, medicine, economics, industry and the media as they tackle the major issues surrounding scientific innovation today and tomorrow. The aim of The Innovation Debate is to air crucial issues, draw positive conclusions and to move the agenda forward.

Everyone - professionals in science, medicine and industry, and the general public - will have the opportunity to engage with The Astellas Innovation Debate through online media which will take discussions far beyond the walls of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

The inaugural Innovation Debate at The Royal Society in London in November 2012 focused on innovation in a time of austerity and nurturing the innovators of the future. Under the chairmanship of Professor Jim Al-Khalili it brought together panellists such as Nobel laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim, physicist Professor Brian Cox and Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in Economics at the University of Sussex.

About Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd.

Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd., located in the UK, is the European headquarters of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceuticals. The organisation's focus is to deliver outstanding R&D and marketing to continue growing in the world pharmaceutical market. Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. is responsible for 21 affiliate offices located across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, an R&D site and three manufacturing plants. The company employs approximately 4,350 staff across these regions. For more information about Astellas Pharma Europe, please visit http://www.astellas.eu.