Category: Divisions
UNC Spin-Off Company Receives $26.5M Commitment
November 16, 2007Oriel Therapeutics, an inhaled drug-delivery company cofounded by UNC School of Pharmacy professor Anthony Hickey, PhD, has received a $26.5 million commitment from a group of venture capital firms. The commitment comes from a group led by New Leaf Partners, a New York venture capital firm. The money will fund the company’s development of drugs that use its patented dry-powder inhaler technology, which was developed at the School. Based in Research Triangle Park, Oriel was founded in 2001 and holds four U.S. patents. It began as a company that develops inhalers for use with other companies’ medicine, but has since … Read more
UNC Students to Present Posters at AAPS Annual Meeting
November 7, 2007Students from the UNC School of Pharmacy will present posters at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meetings and Expositions at the San Diego Convention Center on November 13-14. The students are: Koji Abe, PhD — Visiting Scholar Faculty adviser: Kim Brouwer, PhD Division: Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics Title of Abstract: “In Vitro Biliary Clearance of Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers and HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors in Sandwich-Cultured Rat Hepatocytes — Comparison to In Vivo Biliary Clearance” Session Date: Tuesday, November 13 Session Time: 1:00-5:00 p.m. Location: Exhibit Hall Dan Bow, PhD Faculty adviser: Kim Brouwer, PhD Division: Pharmacotherapy and Experimental … Read more
Abdelnaser Rezk Promoted to Research Assistant Professor
October 18, 2007The UNC School of Pharmacy has promoted Abdelnaser Rezk, PhD, to research assistant professor. Rezk has been working as a research associate and research instructor in the School’sDivision of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Pharmaceutics since 2004. He also is a research associate and associate director for the Clinical Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry Core at the UNC Center for AIDS Research, as well as the Verne S. Caviness General Clinical Research Center Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. Rezk develops ways to measure drugs and metabolites in biological fluids to answer important questions in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The data he generates … Read more
Three Graduate Students to be Recognized at AAPS Annual Meeting
October 12, 2007Three graduate students from the UNC School of Pharmacy will be recognized at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists annual meeting in San Diego, California, on November 11-15. Dongmei Lu will receive the Ligand Binding Award. She will also participate in the AAPS Graduate Student Symposium in Biotechnology with a presentation titled “Aerosol Delivery of Recombinant Antigen 85B in Microparticle Vaccine Systems for Protection Against Tuberculosis.” Shyh-dar Li is the recipient of the Lipid-based Drug Delivery Award and will participate at the 2007 AAPS Graduate Student Symposium in Drug Delivery and Pharmaceutical Technologies. His presentation is titled “Targeted Delivery of … Read more
Former GSK Exec to Lead UNC Drug Discovery Center
October 12, 2007Stephen Frye, PhD, former worldwide head of discovery, medicinal chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, will lead the new Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The days when large pharmaceutical companies could be solely relied on to effectively translate basic research into new medicines are passing,” Frye said. “Academic science will have to rise to the challenge.” Frye is co-inventor of GSK’s Avodart, a drug used to shrink an enlarged prostate gland that is also under study for prevention of prostate cancer. Prior to his most recent role at GSK, his department … Read more
Sleath Appointed to FDA Risk Communication Advisory Committee
October 11, 2007Betsy Sleath, PhD, an associate professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has received a three-year appointment to the Food and Drug Administration Risk Communication Advisory Committee. The committee was formed in June 2007 to advise the agency on ways to improve communication with the public about the risks and benefits of FDA-regulated products. The establishment of the advisory committee was one of the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s 2006 report, “The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public.” The committee’s responsibilities include helping the FDA better understand the public’s communication needs and priorities, … Read more
Caiola Named Chair of New Division
September 26, 2007Steve Caiola, MS, has been named chair of the new Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education at the UNC School of Pharmacy. Caiola, an associate professor, has served as interim chair of PPEE since it was established on July 1. He first came to UNC in 1969 as an instructor at the School and assistant director of pharmacy services at N.C. Memorial Hospital. He has held numerous positions during his time at UNC and currently serves as the director of the School’s Postgraduate/Continuing Education Program. “I cannot think of anyone more suited to this leadership position than Steve is,” … Read more
J. Liu Creates New Form of Synthetic Heparin
September 21, 2007Researchers at the UNC School of Pharmacy have patented a synthetic version of the drug heparin, called Recomparin, that is less complex chemically and should be easier to produce than previous forms. Led by Jian Liu, PhD, scientists in the UNC School of Pharmacy discovered that they could remove a complex element from the heparin molecule without altering the drug’s function. The component, a single sugar called iduronic acid, is difficult to replicate and was long thought to be an important contributor to heparin’s function as an anticoagulant, Liu says. “We proved we don’t really need that structure for the … Read more
Chemical Biology Expert David Lawrence Joins School Faculty
September 7, 2007David Lawrence, PhD, a leading expert in the field of chemical biology, has joined the faculty of the UNC School of Pharmacy. Before joining the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, Lawrence spent eleven years as a professor of biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York. Before that, he was at the State University of New York at Buffalo for ten years. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. The School of Pharmacy collaborated with the Department of Chemistry, the School of Medicine, and the Lineberger Comprehensive … Read more
IPIT Study Questions FDA Genetic-Screening Guidelines for Cancer Drug
August 27, 2007Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Irinotecan, also known by its brand name Camptosar, is used mainly as a second-line treatment for colorectal cancer. The FDA recommends screening patients for a gene that could make them more susceptible to the harmful side effects of the drug, the most worrisome of which is neutropenia, an abnormally low number of white blood cells. In a paper published in the … Read more