Use of clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics approaches has become the gold standard for informing optimal dosing of investigational drugs in various patient populations. At the same time, the demand for clinical pharmacologists and pharmacometricians is outstripping the current supply of practitioners as well as the number of students being trained in these disciplines in North American and European universities.
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One method for increasing capacity for these approaches is to devote greater resources in quantitative pharmacology training and conduct of clinical trials in low and middle income (LMIC) countries. For example, currently fewer than 2% of clinical trials are conducted in Africa. Investment in bolstering LMIC researchers would complement the expertise in the West while enabling job creation and fighting brain drain for LMIC scientists and increasing representation of LMIC patients.
This LinkedIn Live event focused on dispelling myths on what is possible in Africa from a pharmacometrics and clinical pharmacology perspective. Our panel took a deep dive into discussing how to better tap into Africa’s educational and research resources and on changing the attitudes on what’s possible on the continent.
Watch this interactive event to learn:
About current and future efforts to train the next generation of pharmacometricians in Africa Why clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics are particularly well suited to potentially resource constrained LMICs Examples of “South-North partnerships” where African and Western researchers have partnered together to address clinical pharmacology challenges
Speakers:
Dr. Colin Pillai: A clinical pharmacologist who trained in Durban, South Africa, Colin previously worked at the corporate headquarters of Novartis and Roche in Switzerland. He has a specialist interest in the application of non-linear mixed effects models to pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic data across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Since November 2017, he has served as a Senior Advisor on capacity development and training programs for global health to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Craig Rayner: President of Certara’s Integrated Drug Development and Strategic Consulting Services. In this capacity, he supports a global team of clinical and quantitative pharmacologists, pharmacometricians, regulatory strategy and drug development scientists who create value for clients across the drug development ecosystem and ultimately accelerate patients’ access to medicines.
Dr. Phumla Sinxadi: Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Dr. Sinxadi earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Cape Town. She also competed an WHO/TDR fellowship at GlaxoSmithKline on diseases of the developing world.
Dr. Catriona Waitt: Reader (Associate Professor) in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool, a Wellcome clinical research career development fellow based at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, and an honorary Consultant in Acute Medicine at the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.