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Reflections on the 2025 Florida Winter School: Shaping the future of PBPK scientists in Model Informed Drug Development (MIDD)

Starting a PhD journey is filled with mixed feelings of excitement and uncertainties for most people. More often than acknowledged, the uncertainty curve gets twisted frequently, and this is very apparent in the conceptualization stage of the journey (first year). One thing that tends to relieve the anxiety and pressure is getting to interact with fellow scholars and academics wrestling with difficult concepts during the PhD journey…

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Perspective: Clinical lactation studies. Acting on key recommendations over the last decade

Read the full paper here Abstract: Including lactating women in clinical trials is imperative to generate relevant drug exposure and safety data needed to advise on clinical use of drugs in this understudied population. Recent changes in perspectives, regulatory guidance, and international networks which outline pragmatic approaches for advancing the conduct of clinical lactation studies are discussed.

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[Webinar Series] Causal Models to Support Better Decisions in Drug Development: PBPK and QSP

When: Mar 4, 2025 2:00PM CETRegister here “Causal Models to Support Better Decisions in Drug Development: PBPK and QSP” Models used for decisions-making in pharmaceutical development have been limited by a bias towards small, statistically feasible models applied to small (e.g. a single trial) datasets.  This approach ignores petabytes of relevant biological and physiological data.  Additionally, statistical inferences can only be derived for the population tested.  Over the past twenty years or so, causal (mechanistic) models have been increasingly applied to leverage these data to support better decisions, especially where predictions must be made of experiments and trials not yet done.  In this talk from Jim Bosley, PhD, we cover a brief history of the field and will use Physiologicaly Based PharmacoKinetic (PBPK) and Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) examples to illustrate why such models support better and more effective drug development decisions. About the Speaker Jim Bosley, PhD Jim has spent over 20 years advancing systems biology modeling and advocating its adoption in pharmaceutical research. Prior to joining Nova In Silico he founded and ran a systems biology modeling consulting company, Clermont, Bosley LLC, serving major pharma/biotech. Prior to this, Jim started the modeling practice at Rosa & Co. building the group from one to ten principals, with the title of Vice President of Modeling and Simulation.  We was Sr. Director of Software Products for Pharsight (now a Certara company), as a Consulting Engineer for Entelos and as a Senior Engineer in DuPont’s BioChemical Science and Engineering group. He has written several articles

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Research Paper: Intracellular Penetration of Atazanavir, Ritonavir and Dolutegravir With Concomitant Rifampicin: A Dose Escalation Study

The results from this study confirmed that the dose escalation strategy is capable of restoring ATV/r concentrations within the intracellular compartment comparable to those observed before the introduction of rifampicin, providing an important validation to the evidence from the plasma compartment, with pharmacodynamic and clinical implications.

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[Research Paper] Culturally appropriate terminologies in health research: a participatory study with pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in Uganda

Read this paper here The findings highlight the importance of using culturally sensitive language in health research to improve engagement and participation. By adopting community-preferred terms, researchers can avoid confusion and stigma. We offer guidance for future research, advocating for community-driven inclusive language in research involving pregnant and breastfeeding women. Background: The language used in research and health programs is crucial in influencing participation and ensuring the acceptability of programs and the adoption of research outcomes. The use of alienating language may present a barrier for research participants hence the need to identify accurate, respectful, relevant, and acceptable terms for respective study populations. The study explored commonly used terminologies during research involving pregnant and lactating mothers using public engagement and participatory approaches in Uganda.

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[Research Paper] Pharmacometric Analysis to Describe Pharmacokinetics and Exposure Efficacy Response of Ivermectin in Adolescents Infected with Trichuris trichiura

The efficacy of the combination therapy of albendazole and ivermectin against Trichuris trichiura infection is higher in Tanzania than in Côte d’Ivoire. This study therefore aimed to investigate the difference between the population pharmacokinetics (PK) at these study sites and to determine if an exposure-response analysis could explain the low efficacy of the combination therapy in Côte d’Ivoire.

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[Research Paper] Understanding Drug Exposure and Trichuris trichiura Cure Rates: A Pharmacometric Approach for Albendazole-Ivermectin Co-medication in Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire

This project was carried out in part by the 2022 APT Fellows as part of the fellowship programme. Abstract Background and Objective Trichuriasis caused by the human whipworm Trichuris trichiura poses a significant public health concern. Albendazole-ivermectin co-medication is currently the most effective treatment. Studies conducted in Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire unveiled differences in efficacy for albendazole-ivermectin combination therapy in both countries. A pharmacometrics approach was used to assess co-medication and study population effects on the pharmacokinetics of the two main metabolites of albendazole. An exploratory exposure-efficacy analysis was also carried out to investigate relationships between exposure measures and the egg reduction rate. Methods Pharmacokinetic data from studies in Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire in adolescents (aged 12–19 years) were included in the pharmacometric analysis. Participants received a single dose of either albendazole 400 mg alone or in combination with ivermectin 200 μg/kg. A pharmacometric analysis was performed to investigate the potential effects of the study population and co-administered ivermectin on the apparent clearance of the metabolites of albendazole. Non-linear mixed-effects modeling was conducted with MonolixSuite 2023R1. The pharmacokinetic exposure measures derived from simulations with individual model parameters were used in the exploratory-exposure response analysis. Results Pharmacokinetic profiles were best described by a two-compartment model for albendazole sulfoxide and a one-compartment model for albendazole sulfone, with a transit compartment and linear elimination. While no co-medication effect was found, apparent clearance of albendazole sulfoxide (albendazole sulfone) in the Tanzanian study population was 75% (46%) higher than that in the Côte d’Ivoire study

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