This hybrid course/workshop was organized by BelTox in collaboration with the research group of Prof. Pieter Annaert of the KULeuven (Drug Delivery and Disposition Lab) and took place at the Campus Gasthuisberg of the KULeuven on May 13th , 2022. In the morning session there were three presentations with the audience being both on-line and on campus. In the afternoon there was a hands-on training on the use of a publicly available PBPK model (PK-SIM) which was followed by the participants present on campus at the KU Leuven. The morning session started with a presentation on the “Basic concepts in PBPK modelling” given by Prof. Pieter Annaert (KULeuven) to introduce the audience to the principles of pharmacokinetics and the application of PBPK modelling in the development of drugs. This was followed by a presentation entitled “Industry perspective of PBPK modelling” by Dr. An Vermeulen from Janssen R&D with the use of advanced PBPK modelling to address challenges in non-linear pharmacokinetics. The last presentation of the morning session was given by Dr. Flora Musuamba Tshinanu from the Belgian Federal Medicines Agency (FAGG/AFMPS) on “Regulatory aspects of PBPK modelling” in the preclinical and clinical development of drugs.
The hybrid morning session was attended by 19 participants. 9 registrants were present on campus to continue with the hands-on workshop in the afternoon on PBPK modelling using PK-SIM software. This workshop was very much appreciated by the participants and it may well be that it will be repeated later this year because it was noticed that there is a need to become more familiar with PBPK in the cosmetics and chemical sectors.