AAPS Annual Meeting Takes Place in Indianapolis, Oct. 29 - Nov. 2 ARLINGTON, Va. -- More than 7,500 pharmaceutical scientists will gather in Indianapolis, October 29 - November 2 at the 2000 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition to explore Unmet Medical Needs: Therapies for the New Millennium. Scientists from around the world will learn, network and explore new scientific research and technologies.
"The AAPS Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of pharmaceutical scientists worldwide," said AAPS President Richard Bergstrom, Ph.D. "Scientists at this meeting will present close to 2,000 contributed papers featuring important scientific findings."
The plenary session, "Unmet Medical Needs: Therapies for the New Millennium," takes place on Oct. 30, 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. The session will reflect on outstanding achievements in the pharmaceutical sciences during the 20th Century and the future of drug discovery, drug development, clinical research and new technologies in the new millennium. Plenary topics and speakers are:
- "Disorders of the Brain: Challenges, Advances and Hope for the Future," Gary D. Tollefson, MD, Eli Lilly and Company;"
- "Emerging Technologies for Diabetes, Unmet Medical Needs," Rafael Severino, MD, RW Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute; and
- "Advances in HIV Therapy and the Impact on Public Health," Lynn Smiley, MD, Glaxo Wellcome, Inc.
"The plenary session features leading experts in the pharmaceutical sciences discussing unmet needs in the various therapeutic areas they represent," said AAPS Annual Meeting Program Chair Diane Burgess, Ph.D. "The session will highlight the unmet medical needs for several non-communicable and communicable disease states including diabetes, cancer, CNS disorders, and AIDS, along with the impact of the pharmaceutical sciences on the discovery, delivery, and development of new therapies."
The meeting will offer more than 70 educational sessions including symposia, short courses, and roundtable discussions. Topics to be presented include:
- "Predicting human pharmacokinetics"--pharmacokinetics is the study of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of a drug,
- "New therapeutic agents from the CNS frontier"--explores research efforts to discover and develop new therapeutic agents for the brain,
- "The roles of the internet and electronic commerce in drug development and marketing,"
- "Developing formulation for toxicological evaluation of new drug candidates,"
- "Novel targets and strategies for the treatment of cancer,"
- "Nutraceuticals--issues and opportunities," and
- "The gene therapist's toolbox."
An open forum, entitled "Exposure-Response: How and When Will It Affect Drug Development and Regulatory Decision Making," will take place November 2, 1:30 p.m.
- 5:00 p.m. In this session, participants will discuss the strengths and limitations of pharmacokinetics (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD) in drug development and regulatory decision making, and ways to advance the value of PK/PD in the future. The forum will provide feedback on key principles of "best practices" that should be considered for inclusion in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) draft PK/PD guidance.
More than 450 companies will exhibit at this year's Exposition, October 30 - November 1 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Exhibiting companies are involved in areas such as contract research and analytical services, contract manufacturing, drug delivery systems, drug development, and laboratory instruments and equipment.
For detailed information about the meeting and overviews of the presentations, visit AAPS Online at http://www.aaps.org/annualmeet/2000.html . For press registration information, contact Debbie Werfel at 703-248-4743 or werfel@aaps.org .
Editor's Note: In early September, abstracts of the papers to be presented at the meeting will be published in AAPS PharmSciSM at http://www.pharmsci.org .
AAPS PharmSciSM is an exclusively online journal of AAPS. AAPS PharmSci offers a forum for the rapid exchange and dissemination of scientific knowledge in the pharmaceutical sciences.
AAPS is a professional, scientific society of more than 10,000 members employed in academia, industry, government and other research institutes worldwide. Founded in 1986, AAPS aims to advance science through the open exchange of scientific knowledge, serve as an information resource, and contribute to human health through pharmaceutical research and development. For more information about AAPS, visit AAPS Online at http://www.aaps.org .