Dr. Arthur Lo, Theravance, to Discuss a Viral Kinetics Modeling Rosa’s Impact Webinar Series

Nov. 6, 2012 - PRLog -- Rosa & Co. LLC today announced that Dr. Arthur Lo, Senior Scientist at Theravance, will present a webinar “Integration of in vitro data into a viral kinetics model to investigate rapid development of Hepatitis C resistance to therapy” on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at 1:00 2:00 PM EST as part of Rosa’s ongoing monthly public webinar series. The purpose of the series, “Impact of Modeling & Simulation in Drug Development”, is to foster the use of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) activities in biotechnology, pharmaceutics, and other life science industries. This series is geared to illustrate current applications and advantages of using M&S in product discovery, development, and marketing programs.

According to Dr. Lo, “Viral kinetics is a classic example of mathematical biology, where insights derived from modeling have had significant impact on the understanding and treatment of viral diseases that cause chronic infection. The fundamental structure of the viral kinetics model for HIV has been adapted to other diseases, such as Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV), resulting in a broader understanding of chronic viral infection."

Dr. Lo explained that, currently, pharmaceutical companies are searching for approvable, interferon-free, combination therapies for HCV. This has led to significant investment in developing therapies with different mechanisms of action. Intense research on these new therapies has produced data from a combination of approaches, including clinical data, preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) data, and in vitro data for comparable compounds. Thus, an opportunity has arisen for refining existing models to optimize compound selection and predicted efficacy compared to current standards of care.

Dr. Lo will describe one approach to viral kinetics modeling, where preclinical and clinical data from competitor compounds were incorporated into an existing model that included the dynamics of mutant viral strains. He will illustrate the insights derived from this modeling work, and how they improved the understanding of proprietary candidate compounds. In addition, he will demonstrate the model’s ability to differentiate between competing compounds, based on the predicted ability to reduce the viral load in patients.

Register for this free webinar at http://www.rosaandco.com/webinar. After registering, a confirmation email will be sent with directions for joining the webinar. More information about the webinar series, an archive of past webinars, and a list of future webinar speakers may be found at http://www.rosaandco.com/webinar.

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Rosa informs our customer’s most critical decisions – from preclinical through clinical development – with the creation and use of mathematical models that simulate disease physiology, drug action, patient variability, and trial outcomes. To address the full spectrum of related issues, Rosa offers two customized approaches: classic pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) models and Rosa’s innovative PhysioPD™ models. With these approaches, Rosa’s clients collaborate in model creation and testing, retain the final model, and acquire the ability to use it and understand its implications for their drug development programs. Rosa’s staff have unparalleled professional experience in using drug-disease modeling and simulation (M&S) to accelerate drug development and have completed hundreds of engagements with dozens of clients in multiple therapeutic areas. The Rosa team is unique in their breadth and depth of disease area experience, which includes metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, oncology, gastro-intestinal disease, inflammatory diseases, immune dysfunction (including rheumatoid arthritis), pain, skin conditions, respiratory disorders, and antibacterials/antivirals. More information can be found online at http://www.rosaandco.com
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