Freie Universitaet Berlin Initiates Collaboration For Early-Career Scientists In The Field Of Drug Research
PharMetrX – Pharmacometrics & Computational Disease Modelling, an interdisciplinary doctoral program of Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Potsdam, has gained its seventh international partner with the addition of the research-driven pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. The goal of the collaboration with Novo Nordisk is to discuss methodological and application-relevant aspects of pharmacometrics across universities and companies and to advance the field of pharmacometrics internationally. The new addition means yet another partner is now engaged in the interdisciplinary promotion of early-career researchers in this highly attractive field. PharMetrX stands for interdisciplinary research in life sciences and seeks to build bridges between pharmacy and mathematics, in particular between Clinical Pharmacy at Freie Universität Berlin and Mathematical Modelling & Systems Biology at the University of Potsdam.
“We are excited to welcome Novo Nordisk in the partner consortium; all partners benefit from the exchange on this platform,” say the chairs of the PharMetrX doctoral program, Professor Charlotte Kloft (Freie Universität Berlin) and Professor Wilhelm Huisinga (University of Potsdam). Other industry partners include the research-driven companies AbbVie Deutschland, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Merck, and SANOFI.
“By combining the minds of innovative researchers from academia with extensive experience from drug development, we expect to gain valuable insights that could ultimately help to provide improved solutions for the patients we serve,” says Henrik Agersø, Vice President and Global Head of Pharmacometrics at Novo Nordisk.
The PharMetrX doctoral program is aimed at scientists interested in working across disciplines in the field of pharmacometrics. Research in this field develops pharmacometric models to analyze clinical data on, for example, the concentration and effects of drugs or disease progression. Research focuses on questions related to finding the right drug and right dosing regimen for patients. So far PharMetrX has offered a total of ninety-eight early-career researchers creative space in the development of new mathematical approaches and models for studying the kinetics and dynamics of drugs and diseases primarily in patients. The burgeoning scientific field of pharmacometrics requires transdisciplinary and thus also new collaborative mindsets and research.