Volunteers are cultivating both chemical and biomolecular content.
by Dale Eric Wurster, Ph.D., FAAPS, President
Last year, pharmaceutical scientists were delighted by the overwhelmingly positive reception of AAPS’ new meeting, PharmSci 360. One attendee commented, “Congratulations for bringing the best experiences from NBC [National Biotechnology Conference] into the Annual Meeting as PharmSci 360.”
Plans are under way for the 2019 AAPS PharmSci 360 in San Antonio on November 3–6. Registration opened on March 6. Early registration extends until August 21.
Once again, scientific programming will focus on five areas. Each track is split equally between chemical and biomolecular areas, resulting in 10 sub-tracks covering the research and challenges making the biggest headlines in the pharmaceutical sciences today. After soliciting themes within these five topics, we present the themes that members chose:
Preclinical Development
- Next Generation Technologies in Preclinical Development
- Emerging Research Tools for High Quality Candidate Selection
- PK and PD Modeling in Effective Preclinical to Clinical Translation
Bioanalytics
- Innovative Bioanalytical Solutions and Future of Bioanalysis
- Advances in Precision/Personalized Medicine and Biomarkers
- Dialogue on Emerging Regulatory Guidelines and Experiences
Clinical Pharmacology
- Role of Modeling and Simulation in Dose and Dosing Regimen Selection
- Clinical Pharmacology Paths for Small Populations
- Lessons Learned from Regulatory Interactions in Clinical Pharmacology for Innovative New Chemical Entities, Complex Generics, and Biosimilars
Manufacturing and Bioprocessing
- Transition from Clinical to Commercial Manufacturing: Enabling Successful PPQs
- Innovation in Conventional Manufacturing Technologies: Creating Flexibility, Cost-effectiveness, and Intelligent Systems
- Continuous Processing in Synthetic and Biologics Manufacturing
Formulation and Quality
- Formulation Development: New Challenges, Approaches, and Solutions
- Novel Analytical Methods for Characterization and Lifecycle Management
- Advances in Drug Delivery and Device Technologies
In addition, there will be two
end-to-end hot topic sessions. Follow today’s hottest topics through the entire drug development process with symposia in each of the five tracks:
- Biomolecular: Nucleic Acid-Based Therapeutics: Discovery, Development, and Delivery. Follows a nucleic acid therapeutic from the initial therapeutic concept through to a finished product.
- Chemical: The Journey to Developing Tissue- and Organ-Specific Therapies. Explores challenges and opportunities across all five scientific tracks of developing medicines for diseases within specific types of tissues or organs such as ocular, brain, tumor, and lung.
The 2018 Rapid Fire presentations received enthusiastic praise. They were 10-minute presentations on the most recent science: prepublication, unpublished, or even unpublishable work. Rapid Fires promote diverse scientific knowledge exchange and trigger innovative thinking, connections, and collaborations. One attendee from 2018 commented, “The Rapid Fires were the most important addition to this year’s meeting in my opinion.” We will again host Rapid Fires, and submissions are open until July 5. If you have been working on something novel and exciting, share your research at PharmSci 360 in a Rapid Fire. Rapid Fires will take place each day from 3 to 5 pm.
Scientific posters are an essential part of PharmSci 360 and an opportunity to share research and contribute to the body of pharmaceutical science. With posters, you can find collaborators, attract recruiters, meet editors, and qualify for awards. The posters submission site is open until May 15. Learn more on the PharmSci 360 posters website. I encourage you to submit a poster. AAPS also seeks volunteer poster abstract screeners to review submitted abstracts. The deadline to apply is May 15; screeners review assigned abstracts from May 28 to June 18. Screening abstracts is a good way to volunteer with AAPS.
Scientific information will also be shared in the Solution Center. Learn about the latest topics through case studies, panel discussions, and roundtable discussions. This year we will also have a Tech Challenge—where attendees can learn from industry partners and hear about their application-based case studies, and a Software Lab—where attendees can participate in a users’ meeting or a demonstration focused on a solution provider’s proprietary software.
For career development programming, members have submitted programming ideas in these targeted areas:
- Strategic leadership
- Managing your career in a rapidly changing work environment
- Building a productive and strategic relationship with other organizations
As you can see, the meeting is coming together, and we are well on our way to putting on a meeting that recreates and builds on the successes of 2018. Personally, I look forward to seeing it all come together, visiting the posters and exhibiting partners’ presentations, watching all the attendees build relationships together, and discovering what science is new in the Rapid Fires. I hope you are too.
Thank you to all our member volunteers who are working to put this scientific programming together, including the PharmSci 360 Scientific Programming Committee, the Career Development Committee, the Abstract Screening Committee, awards reviewers, and others who have been working behind the scenes to make the 2019 meeting a success.