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Photo: Professor Isadore (Izzy) Kanfer
The third Biennial International Bioeqivalence, Biowaivers and Dissolution Testing Conference is underway at Rhodes University (from 2 December to 3 December), where leading international pharmaceutical industry, regulatory personnel, academics and graduate students are gathering to discuss possibilities for more affordable and accessible medicine for members of the Southern African Democratic Community (SADC).
This year’s theme, “In a quest for more affordable and more accessible medicines: Update on international bioequivalence guidelines, compendial dissolution testing and biowaivers” follows on from previous successful American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Outreach Dissolution Workshops held at Rhodes University in 2009 and 2011.
Presentations will be made by speakers from the US FDA, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Europe, Canada and South Africa.
According to the first Professor of Pharmaceutics (1980) and head of Department of Pharmacy at Rhodes University (1999-2007), Professor Isadore (Izzy) Kanfer this type of workshop is an important international initiative intended to provide a forum to facilitate networking and provide an opportunity for persons involved in the development, marketing and regulation of medicines in the SADC and other African countries to meet and personally interact with internationally recognised leaders in the fields of Bioequivalence and Dissolution.
Prof Kanfer said the intention of the conference is to share cutting edge information on food and drug administration and to “bring southern Africa up to speed on developments in international trends in drug quality, safety and efficacy”.
He organised the first conference in 2009 while he chaired the AAPS’s Bioequivalence focus group. “We wanted to extend knowledge and information from North America to the third world where there is a general lack of information. This is a high priority for the AAPS,” he added.
Keynote speakers include Dr Johannes Krämer, founder and managing director of the PHAST group with sites in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Dr Krämer has worked in the field of dosage form performance testing since 1987, and is an elected member of the USP Dosage Forms Expert Committee and chairman of USP’s Subcommittee K (medicated gums) and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)’s Focus Group on Dissolution/In Vitro Release Performance Testing.
Another speaker, is Dr Raimar Löbenberg who is the founder and director of the Drug Development and Innovation Centre at the University of Alberta and president elect of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research interests include Biopharmaceutics to predict the oral performance of drugs and botanical and inhalable nanoparticles to treat lung cancer. He is a member of the United States Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplement Expert Committee and Vice Chair of the Specialty Committee of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Pharmaceutics of the World Foundation of Chinese Medicine Science.
The conference is supported and endorsed by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), Rhodes University and the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS), and cosponsored by Erweka, Microsep, Aspen, Pharma Dynamics, Specpharm, Randbaxy, Adcock Ingram and BRI.
Download Programme here: