3^rd International Conference on Biopharmaceutics and Biologic Drugs August 30-31, 2017 Philadelphia, USA
(10 Plenary Forums - 1Event)

Xiping Zhan has his expertise in Neuropharmacology. His lab uses multiple interdisciplinary approaches to study neural circuits and underlying functional implications. He applies behavior measures to evaluate the neuropharmacology of small molecular drugs on tinnitus, tremor or mood behavior, and uses patch clamping or single unit in vivo recording to address the molecular mechanisms. In addition, he uses human iPS cell derived dopamine neurons to model pharmacology in human. He has been focused on tinnitus and tremor for years in research and teaching.

Essential tremor is one of the most common neurological disorders characterized by uncontrollable shaking and tremors throughout the body. Well known to aff ect adults, it can also aff ect children. Harmaline induced tremor is an established animal model for human essential tremor, but its underlying mechanism and eff ects on mood behavior are still elusive. Th is study aims to use pharmacological and behavioral methods to investigate the pharmacology in harmaline-induced tremor and the auditory startle response. Mice tremors and auditory startle responses were recorded by the Kinder Startle Monitor System. Harmaline (12.5 mg/kg) reliably induced tremor, and that can be attenuated by ethanol (1.5 mg/kg) and sulpiride (20 mg/kg). In addition, it caused the startle response to decrease signifi cantly. Prepulse inhibition and gap responses also decreased upon harmaline injection and increased the following day, but not signifi cantly from the controls. Supplemental administration following recovery can signifi cantly attenuate gap detection without aff ecting prepulse inhibition. Our data confi rms the frequency of the tremor was from 10-15 Hz, and the ethanol eff ect, which indicates validity as novel tremor assay. We also found that harmaline attenuates the auditory startle refl ex by causing the refl ex and gap detection to be suppressed, but did not aff ect prepulse inhibition signifi cantly. Th ese fi ndings suggest harmaline not only specifi cally modulates sensory-motor integration, but also the timing of gap detection. Our data provides additional information that D2 receptors are involved in harmaline-induced tremor

Dewilka Simons is currently a third-year Pharmacy student at Temple University School of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. She has received her BS in Life Science from the Pennsylvania State University in 2014 with an emphasis in cultural studies. Her interests are transplant therapy, critical care and infectious disease in immunocompromised patients and patient education. She is the Vice President of the Interdisciplinary Health Advocacy (IDHA) a student run organization that promotes interprofessional patient outreach. She hopes to pursue PGY-1 and PGY-2 residency in solid organ transplant upon graduation.

Keytruda (Pembrolizumab) is the only anti-PD-1 treatment approved for fi rst-line combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin and/or as monotherapy for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) in appropriate patients. Lung cancer is the second most common form of cancer in both men and women and NSCLC accounts for 80%- 85% of all lung cancers. Th e 5-year survival rate for metastatic lung cancer is <18.1%. Cancer immunotherapy works by enhancing or allowing the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Clinical responses targeting the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) pathway have shown promise in improving survival while maintaining a relatively tolerable toxicity profi le. Combination therapy with pemetrexed and carboplatin received accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and progression-free survival in clinical trials. In combination therapy, the use of Keytruda is irrespective of PD-L1 status. Th e use of Keytruda in the fi rst-line monotherapy setting requires to have high expressions of PD-L1 with a tumor proportion score (TPS) ≥50% in which the TPS must be determined by an FDA-approved test. Th e monotherapy indication received approval based on overall survival and progression-free survival data in clinical trials

Sajid Bashir has expertise in solubility and bioavailability enhancement of hydrophobic drugs and has devotedly enhanced solubility of various drugs by utilizing various techniques including the introduction of hydrogel microparticles in solubility enhancement in his Doctorate degree. Currently, he is working on nanocomposite hydrogels.

Statement of the Problem: Low solubility in water as well as biological media leads to poor bioavailability that refl ects subtherapeutic response even at low doses. Rosuvastatin calcium (RST) is a synthetic lipid lowering agent of statin group that is widely used for the treatment of hyperlipidemia. It belongs to BCS-II and has crystalline nature. It presents solubility issues and poor bioavailability i.e. 20% with gastric media leading to patient non – compliance. Th ese properties lead towards high cost of product as well as wastage of pharmaceutical resources. Methodology & Th eoretical Orientation: Aqueous free radical polymerization technique was adapted to prepare polymeric microparticles. Resultant lyophilized products were characterized for entrapment effi ciency, FTIR, thermal analysis i.e. DSC & TGA, SEM, TEM, sol-gel fraction, PXRD, zeta size and zeta potential, swelling behavior, solubility studies, dissolution studies and pharmacokinetic evaluation. Release data was subjected to kinetic models to fi nd out best fi t model and mechanism of release of RST from micro-particles. Findings: A highly stable, biocompatible and non-toxic polymeric network containing methacrylic acid as monomer was successfully developed. pH dependent swelling and ultimate higher drug release (85.74%) was seen at basic pH. 9.59 folds increased solubility of RST was proved when compared to the pure drug. Amorphous nature of RST within the microparticles was confi rmed by PXRD. Compatibility among ingredients was confi rmed by FTIR studies. Conclusion & Signifi cance: RST loaded hydrogel microparticles were prepared and optimized successfully to improve solubility. At pH 6.8 a marked increase in solubility of RST was seen. A rapid release and improved bioavailability of RST was off ered by this newly prepared polymeric carrier system. Th ese cheaper, non-toxic and biocompatible matrices can be used for solubility enhancement of other hydrophobic drugs.