PRINCETON, N.J., January 9, 2023 — Certara, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERT), a global leader in biosimulation, today announced that Ghent University (Belgium) submitted the successful bid for the 2021/22 Grant and Partnership Scheme (GPS). Funding will now be provided for a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship research project titled ‘Optimisation of therapy in patients with chronic kidney disease: what is the role of plasma protein binding changes due to the presence of uremic toxins?’ led by Prof. Dr. An Vermeulen.
Patients with chronic kidney disease have altered drug metabolism, distribution, and elimination. In particular, the drug binding characteristics of plasma proteins such as albumin (ALB) and α1-acid glycoprotein (AAG) are disturbed in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The primary aim of this GPS project is to develop insights into the factors reported to alter protein binding in pediatric and adult patients with CKD. The data generated will be used to develop mathematical functions/mechanistic models in the SimcypTM Software that describe the impact of the changes in unbound drug fraction on the glomerular filtration prediction.
Principal Investigator Professor Dr. An Vermeulen will work on this project with postdocs Dr. Evelien Snauwaert and Dr. Elke Gasthuys.
Certara would like to sincerely thank all academic centers of excellence who submitted applications to the 2021/22 Grant and Partnership Scheme. We are also grateful to our industry colleagues for assisting in the review of the second stage applications.
About Grant and Partnership Scheme (GPS)
The Grant and Partnership Scheme is an annual scheme open to eligible institutions with a successful track record in the proposed research area and holding a valid Simcyp Software Academic License. The research should utilize the license, either by Simulation performance verification through clinical studies or by gathering in vitro data that informs Simcyp simulations. Up to three years funding for PhD studentships or two years for post-doctoral research is available.
Submission of preliminary proposals for the 2022/23 Grant and Partnership Scheme has now closed and we are expecting to receive the full applications from the chosen organizations later this month. For further information please visit our website here. Please direct any enquiries regarding the scheme to simcyp.gps@certara.com.
About Simcyp
Certara’s Simcyp physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Simulator models describe the behavior of drugs in different body tissues and includes genetic, physiological, and epidemiological databases that facilitate simulations in virtual populations. The Simcyp Simulator has been used to inform more than 250 label claims for 85+ novel drug approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These were achieved virtually, using PBPK modeling and simulation in lieu of performing clinical trials.
About Certara
Certara accelerates medicines using proprietary biosimulation software, technology, and services to transform traditional drug discovery and development. Its clients include more than 2,000 biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and regulatory agencies across 62 countries.