Daniel Crona, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, was awarded the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Research Institute Futures Grant Junior Investigator Award.
Crona received the award and a $30,000 grant from the ACCP Research Institute for his proposal, “A Prospective Multi-Dose Study of Apixaban in Nephrotic Syndrome Patients.”
“Currently, there is no established standard of care prophylactic for venous thromboembolic events in nephrotic syndrome patients,” Crona said. “However, direct oral anticoagulants, apixaban in particular, are appealing options for thromboprophylaxis. There is an unmet need to establish a standard of care to be used in primary prevention of VTE in nephrotic syndrome patients.”
Crona’s proposal aims to explain the steady-state apixaban pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variability between nephrotic syndrome patients and control subjects who have not been diagnosed with the disease. His study will be an important step to help determine if apixaban can be safely and effectively used for primary VTE prophylaxis.
“Our study will help establish safe and effective VTE thromboprophylaxis protocols for nephrotic patients,” Crona said. “We plan to use the data collected from this study to determine the apixaban dose that will be used in the prospective, randomized clinical trials we have planned in the very near future.”
Crona’s co-investigator is Vimal Derebail, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at the UNC Kidney Center. Crona’s mentor is Nigel Key, M.D., the Harold R. Roberts Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study will be conducted at UNC.
The ACCP Research Institute is the research arm of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and awards up to $100,000 annually in its Futures Grants program.