Background
Africa faces a critical shortage of trained pharmacometricians due to limited training programs, inadequate job opportunities, and reliance on foreign clinical trial data. The Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) Fellowship was established in 2022 to build local expertise and foster job creation for talent retention. This poster showcases the APT fellowship model and highlights the capacity development and research outputs that have come from this unique approach.
Methods
Currently in its fourth year, the APT program offers a 6-month blended curriculum that combines theory, leadership training, and mentored modeling projects aligned with global drug development standards. Fellows are trained in regulatory-relevant analyses using real-world datasets, resulting in work-place relevant training and outputs that speak to on the ground challenges. The program is open to African MSc and PhD graduates, post-doctoral scientists and clinicians. During the program fellows get to develop a network of contacts within the pharmacometrics community, a vital step in supporting talent development.
Results
This impactful program has a retention rate above 95% and has made inroads into supporting gender diversity with 41% female fellows. Fellows have gone on to work in a variety of African research centres including those at Makerere University (Uganda), Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Pharmacometrics Africa, while others have joined consultancies like Certara and PumasAI and remain based within Africa. The projects undertaken by fellows have resulted in a variety of outputs including presentations at international conferences e.g.[1,2,3] and six peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals [4-9].
Conclusion
The APT Fellowship demonstrates that structured training linked to job creation can catalyze local pharmacometric capacity and sustainable application of model-informed drug development in Africa. This program has upskilled more than 40 participants from 14 African countries. Securing funding and continued industry engagement will be key to ensuring the future success of the APT program.
References
- de Greef R, Rayner C, Jaffe M, Pillai G. The African applied pharmacometrics training fellowship: skills development linked to job creation. [poster]. World Conference on Pharmacometrics. Cape Town, South Africa: International Society of Pharmacometrics 2022
- Asiimwe I, Mouksassi S, de Greef R, Decloedt E, Denti P, Sinxadi P, Waitt C, Pillai G. The Applied Pharmacometrics Training Program – Year 3 Sustainability. Poster presented at PAGE 2024, Rome, Italy
- Mouksassi S, de Greef R, Denti P, Sinxadi P, Decloedt E, Pillai G. The African Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) fellowship: 1 year later. [Poster]. Population Approach Group Europe. A Coruna, Spain 2023
- Pillai G, Mouksassi S, Asiimwe IG, et al. Advancing pharmacometrics in Africa—Transition from capacity development toward job creation. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol. 2024;00:1-13. doi:10.1002/psp4.13291
- Asiimwe I, Ndzamba BS, Mouksassi S, Pillai GC, Lombard A, Lang J. Machine-learning assisted screening of correlated covariates: application to clinical data of desipramine. AAPS J. 2024;26:63. doi:10.1208/s12248-024-00934-6
- Elhefnawy ME, Patson N, Mouksassi S, Pillai G, Shcherbinin S, Chigutsa E, Gueorguieva I. Quantifying natural amyloid plaque accumulation in the continuum of Alzheimer’s disease using ADNI. J Pharmacokinet Pharmacodyn. 2025 Jan 25;52(1):15. doi: 10.1007/s10928-024-09959-y. PMID: 39862333
- Ajayi DT, Orherhe OM, Pillai GC, Mouksassi S, Steffens B, Bräm D, Sprecher V, Hofmann D, Buettcher M, Coulibaly JT, Ali SM, Keiser J, Pfister M. Pharmacometric Analysis to Describe Pharmacokinetics and Exposure-Efficacy Response of Ivermectin in Adolescents Infected with Trichuris trichiura. J Clin Pharmacol. 2025 Apr;65(4):433-440. doi: 10.1002/jcph.6158. Epub 2024 Nov 6. PMID: 39506211
- Pillay-Fuentes Lorente V, Nwogu-Attah JN, Steffens B, et al. Understanding drug exposure and Trichuris trichiura cure rates: a Pharmacometric approach for Albendazole-Ivermectin Co-medication in Tanzania and Côte D’ivoire. Drugs RD. 2024;24(2):331-340. doi:10.1007/s40268-024-00476-4
- Asiimwe IG, Chtiba N, Mouksassi S, Pillai GC, Peter RM, Yuen E, Pilla Reddy V. Postmarketing Assessment of Antibody-Drug Conjugates: Proof-of-Concept Using Model-Based Meta-Analysis and a Clinical Utility Index Approach. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol. 2025 Mar 4. doi: 10.1002/psp4.70013. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40040312
