Last August, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center became one of only two academic centers in the nation to secure a competitive contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to perform preclinical and clinical pharmacology research critical to the development of new cancer drugs. Led by Jan Beumer, PharmD, PhD, DABT, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine, and Director of the Hillman Cancer Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Facility, this award could bring up to $9.9 million in research projects to Hillman over five years.
Dr. Beumer’s laboratory evaluates the formulation, dosing, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and toxicity of new drugs prior to their use in phase I (“first-in-human”) clinical trials, to inform routes and doses for drug delivery as well as to predict potential effects of the drug in patients. Through this NCI contract, Dr. Beumer also performs pharmacokinetic analysis in support of clinical trials.
Watch Dr. Beumer discuss his research further in the video, and learn more here and here.