The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a rainmaker as
1. “a person who produces or attempts to produce rain by artificial means”
2. “a person (such as a partner in a law firm) who brings in new business also : a person whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success”
By those definitions, Dr. Anthony P. Conley, a natural-born optimist, and a doer who steps up and makes magic happen, qualifies as a rainmaker – just not in the John Grisham sense since, unlike the central character, Rudy Baylor, of the Grisham novel Dr. Conley only does battle with insurance companies out of court, and only so they’ll approve certain therapies for his sarcoma patients.
However, judging by the deluge of support Dr. Conley received for his oral presentation on AdAPT-001 at ASCO 2024 it is fair to say that he can also make it rain compliments.
Some snippets of conversation we overheard:
“Impressive presentation!”
“Very knowledgeable!”
“Wow, it is potentially practice changing to sensitize these immunosuppressed tumors to checkpoint inhibitors.”
“The mechanism of action is interesting. It is probably most appropriate to call it a TGFβ inhibitor”.
“How come I’ve never heard of AdAPT-001 before?”
“Tony Conley was great; the presentation was clear and relaxed.”
“Interesting that AdAPT-001 also works as a single agent”.
“Those are dramatic angiosarcoma pictures. If AdAPT-001 hadn’t worked, it would have been necessary to amputate most of the patient’s face.”
And there it is.
Congratulations to Dr. Anthony P. Conley, a face-saving rainmaker, for a job exceedingly well done.