Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport Committee
About
What We Do
We are a group of scientists, clinicians and pharmacists working in Universities, Research Institutes, Hospitals and Government Regulatory Organisations dedicated to the disciplines of basic and clinical pharmacology in relation of Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport. The Committee aims to encourage and support international collaboration in Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport by:
- Supporting worldwide collaborative studies in pharmacogenetics, drug metabolism, and transport, including drug safety studies.
- Supporting the establishment of Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport Sections or Interest Groups in national and regional pharmacology societies.
- Contributing to national, regional and international guidelines for the implementation of pharmacogenetics into clinical practice.
- Collaborating with similar-minded regional and international societies in the promotion of Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport by co-sponsoring symposia and workshops.
- Promoting undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes and supporting research scientists in developing countries
- promoting high scientific and ethical standards in Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport research worldwide
- Acting as the conduit between national/regional pharmacogenetics sections and IUPHAR in research, education and implementation of Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport
- Contributing Pharmacogenetic, Drug Metabolism and Transport knowledge and expertise to other IUPHAR Committees and Sections.
- Contributing to worldwide efforts to provide region-specific indicators for pharmacogenetic testing for government healthcare regulatory bodies.
Who We Are
We have representatives from Europe, Africa, Middle East, North and South East Asia, Oceania, North and South America.
We meet in person or online at each of the WCP conferences.
Our History | Pharmacogenetics
History
In the summer of 2006, a new Sub-Committee of Pharmacogenetics was established by IUPHAR within the Subdivision of Clinical Pharmacology.
(For a more detailed history, please see below.)
The subcommittee’s aims were to:
- Promote exchange of pharmacogenetic knowledge by organization of symposia and workshops in the field of pharmacogenetics and –genomics
- Evaluate the clinical impact of pharmacogenetics
- Develop a drug-related pharmacogenetic database
- Create a population based “biobank” to conduct translational research in clinical pharmacogenomics.
- Establish international collaborative clinical studies to investigate the benefits of pharmacogenetics.
Members of this new sub-committee were:
- Ingolf Cascorbi, Kiel, Germany (Chair)
- Laurent Bequemont, Paris, France
- Kim Brøsen, Odense, Denmark
- Ann Daly, Newcastle, UK
- Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg, Stockholm, Sweden
- Julia Kirchheiner, Ulm, Germany
- Vural Özdemir, Irvine, USA
- Mathias Schwab, Stuttgart, Germany
- Guilherme Suarez-Kurtz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Toshiyuki Someya, Niigata, Japan
- Andrew Somogyi, Adelaide, Australia
- Bryn Williams-Jones, Montreal, Canada
In 2022, the subcommittee was merged with the Drug Metabolism and Transport Section (see below for its History) to become the Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport Committee, a Committee within the Clinical and Translational Sciences Section.
Memorandum of Understanding: ESPT
In March 2013, the then Section of Pharmacogenetics chair Prof Ingolf Cascorbi signed an MOU with the chair of ESPT (European Society for Pharmacogenomics and Theranostics) Prof Siest to foster cooperation and to advance clinical and fundamental pharmacology, pharmacogenomics and drug metabolism and xenobiotic drug metabolism studies. Specifically, we agreed to cooperate and collaborate on programs and activities of mutual interest, and from time to time to cooperate in providing speakers, programs and support for each other’s meetings.
Our History | Drug Metabolism
1998-2002
The Drug Metabolism Section revised constitution was approved by the IUPHAR Executive Committee in 1998 and ratified by the IUPHAR Council in the General Assembly at the Thirteenth International Congress of IUPHAR (Munich, 1998).
Aims and Functions
- To encourage international co-operation among pharmacologists and other scientists interested in the metabolism and physiological disposition of drugs and environmental chemicals.
- To sponsor international symposia, workshops and collaborative research in the area of drug metabolism.
- To promote the use of innovative concepts and methodology in the area of drug metabolism.
- To encourage collaboration and communication with other regional and international organisations interested in furthering the development of the field of drug metabolism.
- To promote symposia, workshops, and other teaching programmes with developing countries and to encourage the exchange of fellows and visiting lecturers between those countries and other countries.
- To encourage scientists from developing countries to obtain training in laboratories of leading investigators in other countries.
The following officers were elected at the General Meeting held during the 13th International Congress of Pharmacology in Munich in 1998, providing a geographical distribution of expertise and experience.
Chair: Prof Gabrielle Hawksworth (UK)
Vice Chair: Prof John Miners (Australia)
Secretary: Prof Jaime Kapitulnik (Israel)
Treasurer: Prof Grant Wilkinson (USA)
Councillors: Prof Philippe Beaune (France), Prof Jin-ding Huang (Taiwan), Prof Tetsuya Kamataki (Japan), Prof Marios Marselos (Greece), Prof Olavi Pelkonen (Finland), Prof Stanislav Yanev (Bulgaria)
Section Sponsored Workshops
4th Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity Workshop of Balkan Countries (Antayla, Turkey [April 2000]. Professor M Iscan was Chair of the local organising committee and there were over 130 participants from 30 different countries.
Drug Metabolism Workshop for Africa “Ethnic differences in drug metabolism and response’” was hosted by the Department of Pharmacology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa (March 2001). The Chair of the local organising committee was Professor A Walubo and there were 45 delegates from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden. The workshop aimed to encourage collaboration amongst researchers in Africa. The workshop included a “hands on” teaching session and the conclusions were to set up an African Drug Metabolism Group with an internet interactive site.
The Section was delighted with its success in the number of plenary lectures and symposia that will be included in the 14th World Congress of Pharmacology (San Francisco) in July 2002. All the suggestions of the Section were accepted by the Organising Committee including plenary lectures by Prof Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg and Prof Urs Meyer and six symposia.
The final initiative of the Section only began at the end of 2001. The Section received a grant from ICSU for $50,000 to set up a database “Enhancing Global Input into a Human Drug Metabolism Database’. This is a collaborative project and will extend data collection beyond the large pharmaceutical companies’ clinical data, to include representation of ethnic genotypes and phenotypes. It is being coordinated by Dr Paul Erhardt, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. The focus initially is on anticancer drugs and the geographical distribution of members of the Drug Metabolism Section will be valuable for providing data input.
In summary, the workshops to promote drug metabolism activities in developing countries have been an outstanding success at a regional level and there is continuing enthusiasm for future workshops. The workshops obviously pose a challenge for raising funds and this is even more difficult in developing countries. At least 70-80% of the funding for these workshops has to be raised without IUPHAR, but the seed funding from IUPHAR is extremely valuable. Professor Grant Wilkinson, as Treasurer, has been effective in raising funding to support these workshops in developing countries.
2002-2004
Chair: Prof John Miners (Australia)
Vice-Chair: Prof Jaime Kapitulnik (Israel)
Past Chair Prof Gabrielle Hawksworth (UK)
Secretary: Prof Olavi Pelkonen (Finland)
Treasurer: Prof Grant Wilkinson (USA)
Councillors: Prof. P Beaune (France), Prof. A Mottino (Argentina), Prof. A Walubo (South Africa), Prof. Yuichi Sugiyama (Japan), Prof. Stanislav Yanev (Bulgaria), Prof. Hong-Hao Zhou (China)
Section Sponsored Workshops
5th Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity Workshop of Balkan Countries (Constanta, Romania [May 29 – June 1, 2002]
African Society for Drug Metabolism and Development (ASDMD), “Pharmacokinetics and Herbal Medicines” (Nairobi, Kenya) [August 20-22, 2003]
6th Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity
Workshop of Balkan Countries (Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina) [June 16 -19, 2004]
The Section has also been active in supporting workshops in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, and is a co-sponsor of the International Conference on Pharmacogenetics, which will be held in Changsha (China) in 2006. In addition, the Section has provided financial support for scientists from developing countries to participate in international meetings in the area of Drug Metabolism.
IUPHAR:
14th World Congress of Pharmacology (San Francisco, 2002).
Plenary Lectures:
Prof Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg (Pharmacogenetics: an opportunity for a safer and more
efficient pharmacotherapy)
Prof Urs Meyer (Drug induction of cytochromes P450: the role of orphan nuclear receptors)
Symposia:
In vitro models for the prediction of human drug metabolism and clearance in vivo
Receptor-mediated cytochrome P450 induction
Role of transporters in drug metabolism
Structure-function of cytochromes P450: implications for drug metabolism, design and therapy
Role of cytochrome P450s in proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis
New perspectives in drug conjugation
Members of the Section contributed to the organisation of the 8th World Conference on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 1-6 August 2004. Drug metabolism and disposition was well represented on the meeting program, and feedback regarding the content and quality of sessions was highly favourable. An informal meeting of the Section Executive was held during the course of the Congress.
The Section was also active in submitting suggestions for symposia for inclusion in the program of the 15th World Congress of Pharmacology (Beijing, 2006), several of which were accepted.
Other
ICSU Grant ($50,000) “Enhancing Global Input into a Human Drug
Metabolism Database”. A collaborative project to develop a database that extends the collection of drug metabolism data beyond the large pharmaceutical companies.
2006-2010
Chair: Prof Jaime Kapitulnik (Israel)
Vice Chair: Prof Allan Rettie (USA)
Past-chair: Prof John Miners (Australia)
Secretary: Prof Olavi Pelkonen (Finland)
Treasurer: Prof Steve Leeder (USA)
Councillors: Prof. Mumtaz Iscan (Turkey), Prof. Aldo Mottino (Argentina), Dr. Amin Rostami-Hodjegan (UK), Prof. H. Suzuki (Japan), Prof. Andrew Walubo (South Africa),
Prof. Hong-Hao Zhou, China
The Executive Committee has satisfactorily worked via e-mail. The current Executive Committee of the DMS will complete its 4-years mandate in 2010. The new committee, which will be elected at the upcoming IUPHAR Congress in Copenhagen (July 18-23, 2010), will make a plan for future activities. This report for 2006-2010 will be delivered to the DMS membership at its annual meeting in Copenhagen.
2006
The Section Executive announced with much sadness, the untimely death of its devoted treasurer Prof. Grant Wilkinson in May. Prof. Wilkinson served the section for many years and made major contributions to the section’s activities in developing countries.
Provided support to the International Conference in Pharmacogenetics (Changsha, China), a satellite meeting of the 15th World Congress of Pharmacology (2006).
Section Sponsored and Supported Workshops & Symposia:
7th Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity Workshop of Balkan Countries (Novi Sad, Serbia), [3-6 June 2008]
The Drug Metabolism Section provided financial support ($5,000) to the meeting. These meetings have been financially supported by the DMS in the past. The Novi Sad Workshop was organized by Professors Momir Mikov and Zdenko Tomic, under the scientific guidance and scrutiny of the DMS. The meeting was very successful and attracted many young investigators from the Balkan countries, who presented their research in oral presentations and posters. We believe that the outcome of the Novi Sad and previous Balkan workshops deserves the support of the DMS of IUPHAR to this important regional initiative.
International Symposium on Drug Transport and Metabolism (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 13-14 October 2009) organized by the Argentinean Society of Experimental Pharmacology (SAFE).
The DMS sponsored and provided financial support (grant of 5,000 ) to the meeting. This was the first symposium of its kind in South America supported by the DMS (the full report was published in the December 2009 issue of Pharmacology International). The symposium was a great success, and it is expected that it will be followed by a series of symposia in South America sponsored by the DMS and IUPHAR.
8th Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity (XEMET) Congress of Southeastern Europe (Thessaloniki, Greece, 1-5 October 2010) will be organized by Prof. Paraskevi Papaioannidou from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. A grant of 5,000 Euros will be provided by the DMS to the organizers, thus continuing its long-standing tradition and commitment to support these important regional meetings, previously named Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity Workshop of Balkan Countries.
The Section will consider sponsoring future workshops in Africa, Southeast Asia or India, and South America.
2010: Changed the name of the Section to ‘Section of Drug Metabolism and Transport’.
DMS proposals to IUPHAR
The Section applied to the Executive Committee of IUPHAR, which convened in
April 2007, asking for special support for two important projects which are
intimately linked to IUPHAR’s Africa Initiative – an initiative warmly endorsed
by the Section at the last IUPHAR congress (Beijing 2006): a) support for the
distribution of the AIBST newsletter (by Dr. Collen Masimirembwa); b) support
for the 1st African Conference on Drug Metabolism and Development (by Prof.
Andrew Walubo, a member of the DMS Executive Committee). These applications were not approved by the IUPHAR Executive Committee.
Collaboration with other IUPHAR sections
A possible collaboration between the Drug Metabolism Section and the Section of Pharmacogenetics of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology has been discussed by Prof. Kapitulnik and the Executive of this division at the Pharmacology Congress in Beijing in 2006, but nothing has developed so far. Further initiatives in this respect are pending.
2011-2014
Chair: Prof Allan Rettie (USA)
Vice Chair: Prof Ann Daly (UK)
Past Chair: Prof Jaime Kapitulnik (Israel)
Secretary: Prof Amin Rostami-Hodjegan (UK)
Treasurer: Prof Steven Leeder (USA)
2013
Organized a symposium on the topic of ‘Active Metabolites’ for IUTOX 2013 (Seoul, S. Korea ) [July]. Two current members of the DMTS Executive, Allan Rettie and Ann Daly gave presentations in the symposium.
2014
Organized a satellite meeting – ‘Methods 2014’- to WCP2014 led by former DMTS committee member, Prof. Andrew Walubo (Cape Town).
2015-2018
2015-2018
Chair: Prof Ann Daly (UK)
Vice Chair: Prof Matthias Schwab (Germany)
Past Chair: Prof Allan Rettie (USA)
Secretary: Prof Collen Masimirembwa (Zimbabwe)
Treasurer: Prof Steven Leeder (USA)
2015
- Contributed to the meeting “Methods-2015: The International Symposium on Methods for studying Drug Metabolism and Transport, and African Traditional Medicines” in Pretoria, South Africa (23 – 25 November 2015) by providing invited speakers Professor
Matthias Schwab (section vice-chair,) Professor Collen Masimirembwa, (section secretary) and Professor Olavi Pelkonen (former section chair).
- Interacted with NC-IUPHAR on a proposal (subject to funding) to involve the section together with the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX) in updating and extending areas of the Guide to Pharmacology portal concerned with drug metabolism.
2016
- Joint symposium with IUPHAR Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Section at
2016 IUTOX (Merida, Mexico) [October 2-6, 2016). Session chairs – Guilherme Suarez-Kurtz (Rio de Janeiro) and Ann Daly (Newcastle).
Publication strategy for the section proposed: (i) Widespread dissemination of all content presented at symposia organised or co-organised by the section by electronic means; (ii) Continuing to contribute to NC-IUPHAR in areas relevant to the section and to future NC-IUPHAR publications in those areas; (iii) Providing occasional updates on the section’s activities to Pharmacology International; (iv) Explore the possibility of section members authoring minireviews on a range of drug metabolism topics under the IUPHAR umbrella. Precise format and target journal requires further discussion within the section.
2019-2022
Chair: Prof Matthias Schwab (Germany)
Vice Chair: Prof Nuala Helsby
Past Chair: Prof Ann Daly (UK)
Secretary: Prof Collen Masimirembwa (Zimbabwe)
Treasurer: Prof Edward Morgan (USA)
Councillors: Prof Momir Mikov (Serbia), Prof Hiroyuki Kusuhara (Japan), Prof Guilherme Suarez-Kurtz (Brazil), Prof Ingolf Cascorbi (Germany), Prof Balram Chowbay (Singapore)
Section Sponsored and Supported Workshops & Symposia:
IUPHAR Symposium (symposium 13) at 4th GERMAN PHARM-TOX SUMMIT (Stuttgart, Germany, February 25-28, 2019). The organizer of the symposium was Professor Matthias Schwab and the symposium addressed topics covering Drug Metabolism and Drug Transport and pharmacogenomics issues. Chairs of the symposium were the IUPHAR president Prof. I. Cascorbi (Kiel, Germany) and the past-chair of the Drug metabolism and Drug transport section Prof. A. K. Daly (Newcastle, UK) who was also speaker.
ICTXV2019 (co-hosted by SOT) Honolulu, USA (July 15–18, 2019) “Precision Medicine and ADME-Targets” joint symposium of the IUPHAR subsections Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics (chair Prof. Andrew Somogyi) and Drug Metabolism and Drug Transport (chair Prof Matthias Schwab). Symposium chair- Prof. Andrew Somogyi (Adelaide, Australia) who was also speaker at the symposium with additional invited speakers included Assoc.-Prof. Nuala Helsby (Auckland, New Zealand), Professor Bhagwat Prasad (Seattle, USA) and Prof. Deanna Kroetz (San Francisco, USA).
International Conference Personalized and Precision Medicine PEMED 2020 (February 19-21, Munich, Germany). This was organised by Section Chair (Prof. Matthias Schwab) and past-chair (Prof. Ann Daly). The meeting covers issues related to diagnostics, bioinformatics, drug discovery, and therapies including ADME and pharmacogenomics with the aim of translating precision medicine into direct improvements in health care.
Assoc.Prof. Nuala Helsby was involved in the update of the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology (Cytochrome P450, version 2019.4, in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database)
2022 Merging with Pharmacogenetics Section to become the Pharmacogenetics, Drug Metabolism and Transport Committee, a Committee within the Clinical and Translational Sciences section.