Fall 2003

Gordon L. Amidon, the 2003 CRS Founders’ Award Recipient

Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Gordon L. Amidon, PhDPChem’71, was the 2003 recipient of the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Founders’ Award, presented during the opening ceremony of the 30th Annual CRS Meeting and Exposition held July 19-23 in Glasgow, Scotland. CRS is an international organization with 3,000 members representing more than 50 countries. The Founders’ Award, co-sponsored by Alza Corp., is the Society’s most prestigious honor. In choosing Amidon, the CRS Founders’ Award selection committee cited his extensive, internationally recognized body of work, and his outstanding contributions in the science and technology of controlled release, the field of scientific activity concerned with control of the biological effects of therapeutic agents in human and animal health, and of other active agents in environmental, consumer, and in-dustrial applications. The award carries with
it a $10,000 cash prize. E-mail: glamidon@umich.edu.

Professor of Pharmacy Rosemary R. Berardi, PharmD’68, chaired the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Self-Care Institute meeting held in Charleston, S.C., in June. The purpose of the event was to “bring together faculty from schools and colleges of pharmacy across America in order to share best-practice information on teaching pharmacy students self-care material,” Berardi explains. “More than 80 percent of U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy were represented. Those who attended were very enthusiastic, very committed. A lot of excellent knowledge was exchanged.”

Pharmacy Professor Leslie A. Shimp, PharmD’76, BSPharm’74, was a member of the Institute’s advisory board, and Clinical Associate Professor Paul C. Walker was the College’s official representative.

The Institute was offered as a teaching extension of the APhA’s “Handbook of Non-Prescription Drugs,” now in its 13th edition. Berardi was a lead editor of that edition (and section editor on gastrointestinal disorders), and will serve the same role for the 14th edition, slated for release in 2004. Shimp was the 13th edition section editor for topics related to reproductive and genital disorders, and home medical equipment. Walker, who teaches the dermatology sections in College therapeutics courses, was a contributing author, writing a chapter on the effect of drugs in the onset and control of diarrhea.

“There’s an immediate and vital need for pharmacist involvement in the area of self-care,” Berardi remarks. “First, because a growing number of patients are taking an active role in managing their own health, including the use of herbal remedies, dietary supplements, homeopathic therapies, and a growing array of self-diagnosis tests — all available, over the counter, at pharmacies. Further, the FDA has endorsed the change in status of many formerly prescription-only medications to OTC category. That has a host of implications for both patients and pharmacists. Pharmacists have to be informed in order to counsel wisely.”
E-mail: rberardi@med.umich.edu, lshimp@ umich.edu, pcwalker@med.umich.edu.

Hae Mi Choe, a clinical pharmacist in Inpatient Pharmacy Services at U-M Hospital, has been promoted to clinical assistant professor. E-mail: haemi@umich.edu.

In June and July, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Gordon M. Crippen lectured on the topic, “Building a Conformation Space for Proteins and Furnishing It with a Potential Function,” at three different venues. The first was at the University of Hamburg Center for Bioinformatics in Hamburg, Germany; the second was at the 153rd seminar in the series, “Moscow Seminars on Computational Genetics,” held at the Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow; and a third was at the Fifth Canadian Computational Chemistry Conference held at the University of Toronto. E-mail: gcrippen@umich.edu.

Daryl DePestel, PharmD’99, and Michael D. Kraft, PharmD’99, both clinical assistant professors, and Bruce A. Mueller, professor and chair of the College’s Department of Clinical Sciences, were among the co-authors on the article, “Clearance of Linezolid during Continuous Venovenous Hemo-diafiltration: A Case Report,” published in Pharmacotherapy, 2003;23(8):1071-1075. DePestel is a clinical pharmacist in inpatient pharmacy services at U-M Hospital; Kraft is a clinical pharmacist in critical care/surgery/surgical ICU/nutrition support with UMHS. In addition to his aforementioned responsibilities, Mueller is associate director of pharmacy, inpatient pharmacy services, at U-M Hospital. E-mail: daryldd@med.umich.edu, mdkraft@med.umich.edu, muellerb@umich.edu.

Steven R. Erickson, a clinical pharmacist in Inpatient Pharmacy Services at U-M Hospital, has been promoted to associate professor with tenure. E-mail: serick@umich.edu.

Sally K. Guthrie, associate professor of pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry in U-M Medical School, was a co-author of two recent journal articles with Christian Teter, PharmD’99, a post-doctoral researcher in her laboratory. One article, “Acamprosate for the Adjunctive Treatment of Alcohol Dependence,” appeared in the July 9, 2003 issue of the Annals of Pharmacotherapy; the second, “Illicit Methyl-phenidate Use in an Undergraduate Student Sample: Prevalence and Risk Factors,” appeared in the May 17, 2003 issue of Pharmacotherapy.
E-mail: salgut@umich.edu, cjteter@umich.edu.

Professor of Pharmacy Cary E. Johnson, PharmD’72, Brenda Cichon-Hensley, PharmD’03, Sherry DeLoach, PharmD’03, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Deborah S. Wagner, BSPharm’76, PharmD’82, co-authored the article, “Stability of Oral Liquid Preparations of Tramadol in Strawberry Syrup and a Sugar-free Vehicle,” published in the June 15, 2003 issue of American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHSP). The article was based on Cichon-Hensley and DeLoach’s research investigations project for which Cichon-Hensley received the 2003 College of Pharmacy Student Research Award. (As only one student is eligible to receive the award each year, Cichon-Hensley insisted that the honor be shared with DeLoach, her classmate and collaborator.) Cichon-Hensley and DeLoach also completed a second, follow-up project with Johnson and Wagner on the “Stability of Tramadol and Acetaminophen (Ultracet) in Strawberry Syrup and a Sugar-free Vehicle” that also has been accepted for publication in AJHSP’s October 2003 issue. (Johnson notes that this is the first occasion he knows of that two U-M PharmD students published two, peer-reviewed research articles based on their work at the College, while students.) E-mail: cejohn@umich.edu, dswagner@umich.edu.

Henry I. Mosberg, associate dean for research and graduate education and professor of medicinal chemistry, gave a plenary lecture, entitled “Complementarity of Opioid Ligand and Receptor Models: Structural Basis for Selectivity,” at the 18th American Peptide Symposium, held July 22 in Boston. E-mail: him@umich.edu.

David E. Smith, professor and chair in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, gave an invited presentation, “PEPT2 Transport of Peptides and Mimetics at the Choroid Plexus,” at the Fifth International Conference of Cerebral Vascular Biology, held June 15-19 in Amarillo, Tex. He also gave an invited presentation on the “Role of Proton-Coupled Oligopeptide Transporters (POT) in Peptide/Mimetic Disposition,” at Pfizer Global Research and Development, Ann Arbor, on July 15, 2003. E-mail: smithb@umich.edu.

In a keynote presentation to physicians attending the Wayne County Medical Society’s 11th Annual Francis P. Rhoades, MD, Memorial Lecture at the Detroit Yacht Club on March 21, James G. Stevenson, associate dean for clinical sciences and professor of pharmacy in College of Pharmacy and director of Pharmacy Services at UMHS, offered a vivid assessment of the social, political, and economic forces colliding in the national dialogue on prescription drug costs.

“Americans spent $160 billion on prescription drugs in 2002 — up from $60 billion just seven years ago — and drug spending is expected to top $400 billion by 2012,” noted Stevenson. “Contributing to this growth is the impact of inflation, increased utilization, and mix changes toward new products.”

An aging population virtually guarantees that total spending on prescription medications will increase, Stevenson said. “Indeed, prescription drug spending among the Medicare population is expected to triple over the next seven years, when it will reach $228 billion.”

While drugmakers acknowledge that they have profited from the growth in prescription drug use, they also contend that, because drugs are being used in place of invasive and riskier medical procedures, the cost to society is lower than it might be otherwise.

Stevenson countered this argument with the observation that “drug companies maximize the current drug franchises by legal intervention, influencing policy changes, and developing new versions of existing drugs. Despite the increased use of generic drugs and fewer new patented drugs reaching the market, the pharmaceutical industry still enjoys an average profit margin of nearly 20 percent.”

The net effect is that patients are squeezed between opposing market forces.

To safeguard their bottom line, employers are refusing to accept prescription-drug-cost creep, Stevenson observed. As a result, patients are paying a greater percentage of their own income for prescription drugs, often at a rate that exceeds personal income growth. To compensate, some patients travel to Canada for lower cost medications, and disenfranchised indigent and elderly patients are forgoing necessary medications entirely, stated Stevenson.

Many employers have instituted multi-tier co-pay systems, “sharing cost risks with prescribers, erecting administrative barriers such as prior authorizations, and promoting less expensive generic alternatives,” Stevenson said.

He predicted that political pressure will help moderate prescription drug price increases, as will improved financial incentives to health plans and health care providers who can demonstrate cost efficiency and improved outcomes through better decision-making.

In July, Victor C. Yang, Albert B. Prescott Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was named the 2003 recipient of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Research Achievement Award in Biotechnology. The award, given by the BIOTEC Section of AAPS, is presented every other year at the AAPS annual meeting to recognize an outstanding scientist who has conducted fundamental research that has had a
significant impact in the field. BIOTEC members come from diverse backgrounds in industry and academia; however, they share a common interest in the evolving field of biotechnology. The primary goal of the BIOTEC section is to unite multiple scientific disciplines in a forum where they can share experimental results as well as concerns regarding the research, development, and commercialization of new biotechnology-based pharmaceuticals. E-mail: vcyang@umich.edu.