AAPS pursues its goal of fostering a global community.
By Dale Eric Wurster, Ph.D., FAAPS, President
The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) works to keep up with issues affecting pharmaceutical scientists around the world and deliver products and services to serve all of our members. It seeks to develop and refine forums that enable member connections, engagement, and participation.
AAPS’ member volunteers are expanding our workshops in this effort:
- Most recently, the AAPS In-Vitro Release and Dissolution Testing Community cohosted a workshop, Dissolution, Bioequivalence, Product Performance, and Quality, in Shandong, China, with the Chinese National Institute for Food and Drug Control and the Chinese Journal of New Drugs.
- Later this month, AAPS will hold its ICH M10 Public Consultation Workshop, which will discuss, review, and present data and case studies illustrating areas of concern and regulatory perspectives on the newest draft of the International Council for Harmonisation M10 draft Guideline on Bioanalytical Method Validation. AAPS members collaborated with the European Bioanalysis Forum, Japan Bioanalysis Forum, and the China Bioanalysis Forum on this workshop.
- In September, AAPS is cosponsoring a workshop with the U.K.’s Bioanalysis Zone, Opportunities and Challenges in Translating Cell and Gene Therapy Products.
- AAPS is collaborating with the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences on the 4th Conference of the Global Bioequivalence Harmonization Initiative in December 2019.
- For 2020, AAPS is working with the International Pharmaceutical Federation to address globally common issues within the pharmaceutical sciences and to assist in developing the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress in Montreal.
AAPS publications also address regulatory issues in other countries:
- AAPS Open recently published an article examining Brazil’s regulatory agency, Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria (ANVISA). Brazil has become the second largest pharmaceutical market in the emerging world. A 2015 report projected economic growth between 7 and 10 percent annually until 2020, so global bio/pharmaceutical companies have had a high interest in this vast market.
- AAPS Newsmagazine published an article in May 2018 reporting on the AAPS Bioanalytical and the Ligand Binding Assay Bioanalytical focus groups’ collaboration with the European Bioanalysis Forum, the Japan Bioanalysis Forum, and the China Bioanalysis Forum to sponsor two regional workshops (one in the U.S. and one in Europe) to increase understanding of the ICH process for M10 Guideline Development.
- In general, AAPS journals draw articles from researchers around the world.
The AAPS Communities, an interactive online platform for knowledge exchange and professional networking, encourage global collaboration with discussions that are available 24/7 for members to weigh in at anytime from anywhere. Discussions range from scientific topics and regulatory requirements to requests for mentors.
AAPS’ Regional Discussion Groups are also expanding outside the U.S. Currently, there are groups in China, Western India/Mumbai, and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia discussion group had a workshop on Biologics/Biosimilars and Macromolecules Molecular Dynamic Simulations in February 2019.
AAPS’ new awards program includes a Global Leader Award that recognizes members who have received recognition globally, as demonstrated by participation in scientific boards around the world, and who have made a significant contribution to pharmaceutical education and/or public health. The 2018 recipient was Vinod P. Shah, Ph.D., who is featured in this issue’s Member Spotlight (p. 28).
The annual AAPS PharmSci 360 is an opportunity for members across the globe to contribute to and benefit from scientific programming. Each year, AAPS openly solicits scientific symposia, preconference workshops and short courses, poster presentations, and rapid fire presentations from members around the world. While the deadlines for most submissions for the 2019 AAPS PharmSci 360 have passed, there is still an opportunity to submit an idea for a Rapid Fire presentation. Rapid fire presentations are 10-minute presentations on the latest scientific topics. The deadline is July 5. If you have been working on some exciting new research, I urge you to propose a Rapid Fire at www .aaps.org/pharmsci/annual-meeting.
Stay tuned for news on scheduled programming.
AAPS student chapters are active in 10 countries outside the U.S. AAPS Newsmagazine has a monthly feature on student chapters. Recently chapters at Uppsala University in Sweden, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in India, the National University of Singapore, the University of Toronto in Canada, and Monash University in Australia were featured.
AAPS hopes to continue to expand its products and services for our members outside the U.S. Look for more events and articles featuring international members and locations, and I encourage our members in other countries, please share your research and expertise in AAPS’ publications, events, communities, and programming for PharmSci 360.