I have been honored to be appointed as the 19th President of the Japanese Society of Pharmacokinetics, succeeding former President Masao Kato (Kanazawa University). Together with Vice President Hideki Hirabayashi and the members of the 19th Board of Directors and Auditors, I will dedicate my utmost efforts toward the sustainable development of this Society. I sincerely request the continued understanding and support of our members and all related parties for the activities of this Society.
Established in 1985 with the aim of advancing pharmacokinetics and related fields, our Society has functioned as an academic organization bringing together diverse researchers and engineers from industry, academia, and government, spanning basic to applied research. Understanding and predicting drug dynamics within the body is indispensable for drug discovery, development, appropriate use, and safety evaluation, and our Society has played a role in supporting this academic foundation.
In recent years, the environment surrounding pharmaceutical development has undergone significant changes.The emergence of new modalities, advances in personalized medicine, accelerated international regulatory harmonization, and growing interest in new assessment methods (NAMs) aimed at replacing or reducing animal testing have led to an increasingly diverse set of roles required of pharmacokinetics. Against this backdrop, to clarify the mission our Society should fulfill, I propose the **6Cs** as a guiding principle for our activities.
- Change represents the Society’s commitment to accurately grasp environmental shifts and continuously evolve with flexibility.
- Challenge means boldly tackling fundamental and difficult challenges, such as predicting human pharmacokinetics and understanding individual variability.
- Collaboration means maximizing the value of pharmacokinetics through industry-academia-government partnerships and cross-disciplinary cooperation.
- Communication is the foundation that fosters active dialogue both within and outside the Society, supporting discussions that transcend positions and generations.
- Contribution represents the core mission of the Society: contributing to society through drug development and appropriate use, and widely disseminating scientific knowledge.
Connection signifies linking people, the society with society, and domestic with international communities, positioning Japanese pharmacokinetics within the global academic community.
Among these 6Cs, one initiative that concretely embodies Contribution and Connection is the Society’s publishing activities.The society’s journal, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK), has served as a vital platform for systematically disseminating research findings in pharmacokinetics and returning academic knowledge to society. Furthermore, DMPK functions as an academic hub connecting researchers domestically and internationally, linking Japanese research outcomes to global discussion forums.
Moving forward, through our publishing activities centered on DMPK, we aim to continuously disseminate high-quality research findings. We will also enhance our editorial structure and submission environment to further elevate the journal’s value as a powerful platform for our members to share their work. We consider this an extremely important initiative for our society to contribute to society and strengthen our connections with the international community.
We are committed to doing our utmost to ensure the Japanese Society of Pharmacokinetics remains a valuable forum for academic exchange for our members and continues to develop as a society trusted by society and the international community. We sincerely request your continued support for the activities of this society.
Hiroyuki Kusunohara
Hiroyuki Kusuhara (The University of Tokyo)