2017 EACPT Lifetime Achievement Award to go to Professor Pertti Neuvonen from Finland

The EACPT is  delighted to announce that the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics will go to Professor Pertti J. Neuvonen from Finland for his outstanding contribution to the national and international benefits of clinical pharmacology for medicine, health care and patient safety.

The Award, which includes the EACPT silver medal, will be presented to Professor Neuvonen during the 13th EACPT Congress in Prague. The Congress runs from 24th - 27th June 2017.

Professor Emeritus Pertti J. Neuvonen

Professor Emeritus Pertti J. Neuvonen, whose research focuses on drug safety and individual variability in drug response, particularly on drug interactions and their mechanisms, is one of the most cited clinical pharmacologists in the world, with over 20,000 citations. He has been listed by Thomson Reuters for years as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Pharmacology. He has authored over 500 original articles and reviews. Of the original papers, 92 have been published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He has supervised around 50 Doctoral (PhD) thesis projects. 

Since 1970, Neuvonen´s research group has found more than 200 previously unrecognized, clinically important drug-drug interactions and several significant food-drug interactions. Furthermore, his group demonstrated, already in the 1980-90s, the efficacy of activated charcoal as gastric decontaminator, compared with induced emesis and gastric lavage. The drug interaction studies in humans were deepened by in vitro studies to explore mechanism, predictability and avoidance of the interactions. His group observed that inhibition and induction of CYP3A4/5-enzyme could cause over 10-fold changes in exposure to several drugs (midazolam, triazolam, buspirone, felodipine, simvastatin, lovastatin). 

Furthermore, his group discovered among generally used drugs many previously unrecognized inhibitors of drug metabolism (itraconazole: CYP3A4; gemfibrozil and clopidogrel: CYP2C8) and unexpected victim substrates (tizanidine: CYP1A2; cerivastatin, repaglinide, pioglitazone, rosiglitazone, loperamide, montelukast: CYP2C8). In addition to drug metabolizing enzymes, also membrane transporters (e.g., OATP1B1, P-glycoprotein, BCRP), and their pharmacogenetics and interactions were found to affect pharmacokinetics (e.g., statins) and drug response. Many of the original findings made by Neuvonen and his research groups have been adopted into textbooks, guidelines (e.g., FDA) and product information texts.

Pertti Neuvonen was born in Kirvu (Finland) on 25. August 1943. He is married and has five adult children. He studied medicine at the University of Helsinki between 1964 and 1970, and defended his doctoral thesis at this University in 1971. From 1971 to 1972, he was as a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation in Hannover Medical School (Germany). From 1972-1985, he was Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor/Consultant of Clinical Pharmacology, and from 1986-1988 Acting Professor and Head Physician of Clinical Pharmacology at University of Helsinki and University Central Hospital, including the National Poison Information Centre. Between 1988 and 1991, he was Professor and Chairman of Pharmacology at University of Turku. From 1992 to 2011, he was Professor and Head of Clinical Pharmacology at University of Helsinki and University Central Hospital. After his retirement in 2011, he continues his studies at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology as a free researcher. In 2011, he received the BCPT Nordic Prize in Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, and the Medal of the FDA Office of Clinical Pharmacology.

The EACPT was founded 24 years ago and now includes as members all national organisations for clinical pharmacology in Europe, as well as organisations from further afield internationally. The EACPT aims to provide educational and scientific support for the more than 4000 individual professionals interested in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics throughout the European region, with its congresses attended by a global audience. The EACPT also advises policy makers on how the specialty can contribute to human health and wealth.

Clinical drug-drug interaction studies: methods, pitfalls and interpretation

From the EACPT Focus Meeting on How to Assess Medicines, Opatija, 6-9 October 2016. In this video, Donald Singer discusses with Janne Backman from Helsinki how to identify and minimise risk of drug-drug interactions.

Discussants
Janne Tapio Backman: Professor in Clinical Pharmacology and Individual Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
Professor Donald Singer: member of the Executive Committee of the EACPT and member  of the European Medicines Agency Health Professionals Working Party.

Here is a summary of the key points from Professor Backman's  talk at the EACPT Focus Meeting in Opatija: 

Drug-drug interactions can either markedly reduce or enhance the therapeutic or adverse effects of drugs by causing alterations in the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of drugs. If such interactions are not understood or accounted for in patient care, they can have harmful, even hazardous clinical consequences. 

Drug-drug interactions have been a major cause of drug withdrawals from the market. Regulatory agencies, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have therefore published guidance documents that are designed for the industry to guide their DDI studies during drug development. In particular, detailed scientific recommendations can be given concerning pharmacokinetic interactions, because such interactions can be mediated via mechanistic changes in absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs. 

Specific approaches are suggested concerning cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs), non-CYP enzymes and membrane transporters. In addition, current guidance also recommends use of modelling approaches, such as physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models to design and extend the interpretation of preclinical and clinical drug-drug interaction studies. For designing clinical drug-drug interactions studies, detailed preclinical in vitro and early clinical pharmacokinetic information is necessary. 

Despite detailed guidelines, there are many challenges in characterization of the interaction potential of a drug, both as a perpetrator and as a victim of the interaction. Such challenges arise from complex interaction mechanisms, eg, simultaneous involvement of transporters and drug metabolizing enzymes, autoinhibition and autoinduction of metabolism, time-dependent inhibition and involvement of major drug metabolites. 

Understanding the challenges and pitfalls of drug-drug interaction studies is thus necessary in interpretation of the results of studies. In this lecture, basic methods of clinical drug-drug interaction studies will be reviewed, with examples of potential pitfalls and basic principles of interpretation.
  
The next EACPT biennial congress will be held in Prague Congress from 24th - 27th June 2017. The programme will provide an international scientific and educational forum for discussion of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, including personalised pharmacotherapy. See more on our website. 

Anyone from anywhere in the world with a professional interest in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics can now join the EACPT as an Individual Associate member.

Membership benefits include:

* Access to videos of talks from EACPT Meetings
* Discounted registration fees for EACPT meetings
* Online access to the Official EACPT Journal - Clinical Therapeutics
* Access to the EACPT’s worldwide network of Individual Associate Members
* Active involvement in EACPT  

The EACPT was founded 24 years ago and now includes as members all national organisations for clinical pharmacology in Europe, as well as organisations from further afield internationally. The EACPT aims to provide educational and scientific support for the more than 4000 individual professionals interested in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics throughout the European region, with its congresses attended by a global audience. The EACPT also advises policy makers on how the specialty can contribute to human health and wealth.

Trainees from Czech Republic, USA and Uruguay comment on the Madrid EACPT Congress.

Listen to clinical pharmacologists in training from the Czech Republic, USA and Uruguay comment on the Madrid Congress.

 

The 12th biennial Congress of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (http://eacpt.eu) was held in Madrid from 27th to 30th June 2015. Over 500 abstracts were accepted from 66 countries and form all 5 continents for presentation as e-posters and oral presentations. The 54 oral presentations were eligible for awards for best talks.