Studies of charmed hadronic B decays with early LHCb data and prospects for $\gamma$ measurements

We present the first studies of decays of the type $B \to DX$, where D represents a charmed meson ($D^0, D^{(*)+}$ or $D_s$) from the LHCb experiment at CERN. Our studies use data accumulated during the first months of the 2010 run of the LHC. This work represents the first steps on a programme towards a precision measurement of the angle $\gamma$ of the CKM Unitarity Triangle. The prospects for this $\gamma$ measurement are reviewed.