The 39th National Conference of Italian Society of Pharmacology (SIF) was held on the 20 – 23 November 2019, in Florence. The event was the occasion to enrich the knowledge and skills on the world of pharmaceuticals that is currently evolving.
Research methodologies have radically changed compared to the past and there are thousands of new potential drugs in preclinical and clinical development. Promoting clinical research and innovation is very crucial in order to guarantee the access to new and innovative medicines for the whole population. The personalization of therapies and precision medicine are rapidly developing. Moreover, big data, artificial intelligence and digitization are changing the drug development process.
Three researchers from Fondazione Gianni Benzi took part in the conference presenting several posters that highlight and foster some of the topics addressed by the event.
Annalisa Landi presented two posters; the first one described the clinical study designed to develop an innovative non-pharmacological approach specific for vaginitis; while the second one focused on the paediatric sector and unmet needs of this population. Particularly it presented a market and economic analysis of Clonidine, a sedative drug used to treat paediatric patients admitted in Intensive Care Unit.
In order to accelerate the drug discovery process, drug repositioning approach is currently spreading. It is based on the identification of a novel clinical use for an existing drug approved for a different indication.In this framework, a poster on the proposal for Atropine repositioning in the paediatric sector was presented by Maddalena Toma. Atropine has been on the market for 50 years as drug authorised for the treatment of some ocular diseases. In this project a new indication for Atropine was proposed.
Promotion of age appropriate medicines for children is a major challenge in drug development. This topic was described by Lucia Ruggieri who presented a poster focused on the EPTRI project. It aims to design a framework to setup a new Research Infrastructure. It would be the first in Europe dedicated to paediatric research, in which the main innovative technologies are tailored on children specificities and implemented to be used in support of clinical research and paediatric medicines development.
Moreover, particular attention was payed to the safety of medicines. This aspect, that plays a crucial role in the paediatric field, was underlined by Mariagrazia Felisi, researcher from Consorzio per Valutazioni Biologiche e Farmacologiche, in her oral presentation. It reported the results from a collaborative work with the Foundation that collected safety data of Deferiprone, an oral chelator, in more than a thousand paediatric patients with haemoglobinopathies.
You can find further information on the SIF here !
