RADNOR, PA — July 3, 2024 – Certara, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERT), a global leader in biosimulation, is pleased to announce that the University of Florida has been awarded the prestigious 2023/24 Grant and Partnership Scheme (GPS). This program provides critical funding for cutting-edge research projects that advance pharmacometrics and biosimulation.
Project Title: “Improving Translatability of Drug-Drug Interactions Arising from CYP Induction for Drugs with Low Km”
Lead Investigator: Dr. Rodrigo Cristofoletti
Postdocs: Dr. Evelien Snauwaert and Dr. Elke Gasthuys
Project Overview: Current approaches for predicting intestinal and hepatic drug metabolism often assume that enzyme activity is directly proportional to specific protein abundance. However, there is limited evidence to support this beyond studies on intestinal and hepatic CYP3A4 in healthy adults. In this context, Dr. Cristofoletti’s team aims to investigate the relationship between expression and functional activity of major CYP drug-metabolizing enzymes in both human liver and gut tissues. Leveraging stem cell technology, they will derive matched tissues and use in vitro drug metabolism assays to measure CYP enzyme expression and activity.
Certara extends sincere thanks to all academic centers of excellence that submitted applications to the 2023/24 Grant and Partnership Scheme. We are also grateful to our industry colleagues for assisting in the review of second-stage applications.
About Grant and Partnership Scheme (GPS)
The Grant and Partnership Scheme is an annual opportunity for eligible institutions with a successful research track record and a valid Simcyp Software Academic License. Funding supports PhD studentships (up to three years) or post-doctoral research (up to two years) focused on advancing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling.
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 2,300 biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and regulatory agencies across 62 countries.
Submission of preliminary proposals for the 2024/25 Grant and Partnership Scheme will be opening soon. For further information please visit our grants page.