Newsletter Volume 40, Number 5, 2025
Introduction
Autumn is the season of harvest, of drug discovery, and of pharmacokinetics. To those of you who attended the 40th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Pharmacokinetics, what did you gain from your visit to the ancient capital of Kyoto? I was simply fascinated by cutting-edge science such as artificial intelligence, regenerative medicine, and structural biology during the three days. The word “Extrapolation” suddenly came to my mind. Pharmacokinetics researchers are familiar with this term in various situations. I opened the Kojien dictionary and found that extrapolation means to infer or predict a value outside the range of known data or information. One of the ultimate goals of pharmacokinetics is to predict the pharmacokinetics of a disease in humans. Extrapolation from animals to humans, from iPS cells and organoids to human tissues, from molecular structure of membrane transporters to permeability of biological barriers, from normal to pathological states. The construction of extrapolative science based on the fusion of cutting-edge science and pharmacokinetics may be a challenge for pharmacokinetics researchers.
This summer was marked by record-breaking heat and natural disasters. Who could have predicted such a summer? Who could have predicted the world situation, climate change, and earthquakes? The diversification of drug discovery modalities has made it difficult to predict pharmacokinetics based on extrapolation. Can our future be extrapolated beyond our experience? Something is changing in the world and, to borrow a phrase from mathematics, we are approaching an inflection point, a discontinuity. Extrapolatable futures may be boring, but we can take precautionary measures as the accuracy of human pharmacokinetic predictions improves. I hope to develop a new technique for predicting the future in the flow of time, which accelerates as I get older. (M.T.)
NEW POWER for pharmacokinetic research
Generalists Fostered by Pharmacokinetics – Challenges in Boron DDS Research
Josai University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Physical Chemistry Laboratory
Satoshi Kitaoka
My name is Satoshi Kitaoka of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai University. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the editorial board members and all those involved for the opportunity to contribute to the newsletter of the Japanese Society for Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, “NEW POWER for Pharmacokinetics Research.
I entered the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hoshi University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences in 2008 and joined the Laboratory of Pharmacokinetics led by Professor Kiyoshi Sugiyama (at that time). After that, I entered the graduate school of Hoshi University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and obtained a doctorate in 2018. After completing the doctoral course, I studied as a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Physical Pharmaceutical Chemistry led by Professor Etsuo Yonemochi (currently Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita), and joined my home laboratory (Professor Kaz Ochiai) as an assistant professor in 2019. … ( To be continued on the NL homepage )
Pharmacokinetics of Engineered Antibodies
Part 1: Introduction – Fundamentals of Antibody Pharmacokinetics
DMPKG, Discovery Biologics Department, Research Division, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., LTD.
Keitaro Nakagawa, Yuki Noguchi, Kenta Haraya
The development of antibody therapeutics has progressed significantly, with over 100 antibodies approved as drugs in both Japan and the United States. These therapeutics are applied across a wide range of indications, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases. In recent years, engineering technologies that enhance the favorable properties of antibodies have attracted increasing attention, and research aimed at creating next-generation antibody drugs has become increasingly active. This article, the first in the series “Pharmacokinetics of Engineered Antibodies,” provides an overview of the basic pharmacokinetics of antibody therapeutics and introduces current trends in antibody engineering technologies that are expanding their potential. … ( To be continued on the NL homepage / members only )
Microphysiological Systems – The Latest Research Platform Supporting Drug Discovery and Development
Part 1: Introduction to microphysiological systems
Translational & Biomedical Science, Astellas Pharma Inc.
Kaori Takama
Starting with this issue, we will begin a new series of articles on “The Latest Research Infrastructure Supporting Drug Discovery and Development Research!
Rapid progress in advanced science and technology, including AI, is having a major impact on various research fields, and drug research and development is no exception. In addition to the advanced quantitative and qualitative analysis and visualization techniques that have been mentioned in the “Introduction to Pharmacokinetic Research in New Modality” series, higher-order culture techniques that partially reproduce the functions of human and animal tissues, as well as mathematical modeling methods, are being utilized.
In this series of articles, we will focus on microphysiological systems (MPS) and introduce the characteristics of MPS and their applications in pharmacokinetics and translational research, including specific research cases. We look forward to seeing you there! … ( To be continued on the NL homepage / members only )