Mathematical Pharmacology

Description and Aim

Whilst the costs of pharmaceutical research and development have only increased over the past decades, the productivity, i.e. the number of drugs that is approved for therapeutic use per year, remains continuously in decline. There is increasing awareness that the high level of biological complexity of organisms, pathophysiological conditions, and our inability to capture those features, are major obstacles to rationally design effective pharmacological therapies.

Systems pharmacology is an emerging scientific area that aims to fill the gap between systems biology and pharmacology by integrating modelling approaches. There is a diversity of challenges that still needs to be addressed in order to maximally benefit from its potential to improve drug development and therapeutics. Examples of such challenges are: i) multiple scales and the integration between those scales; ii) integration of modelling approaches outside differential

equation-based models; iii) bridging between highly mechanistic models that are too complex to apply in drug development.  The use of mathematics, mathematical analysis and mathematical modelling to perform such bridging and integration is considered of critical importance to support such integration. As such, a <em>mathematical pharmacology</em> approach has the potential to make a substantial impact to advance the field of systems pharmacology and therefore ultimately to allow for improved rational design of new therapeutic interventions with maximal therapeutic effect and minimal adverse drug effects.

This workshop aims to take a step towards  the further development of mathematical pharmacology by bringing together mathematicians and pharmacologists, from both academia and industry, and stimulate discussions about the challenges and opportunities when applying mathematical approaches in systems pharmacology. The workshop will be focused (25 participants) and apart from a number of presentations, there will be ample of time for discussions and interactions amongst the participants