Professor Jennifer Dressman Joins Certara Corporation’s Simcyp Scientific Advisory Board

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Certara®, the global leader in model-informed drug development and regulatory science, today announced that Professor Jennifer B. Dressman, PhD, has been appointed to the Simcyp® Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to further strengthen its status in the biopharmaceutics field.

An expert in biopharmaceutics and a pioneer in the development of biorelevant media, Professor Dressman is Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology and Director of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.

“We are delighted that Professor Dressman has agreed to join the Simcyp SAB. She is a visionary scientist, who uses novel biopharmaceutics tools and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models to predict the in vivo performance of oral drugs and dosage forms,” said Simcyp President and Managing Director Stephen Toon, PhD.

“Professor Dressman explores how to enhance the absorption of poorly soluble drugs and modified release dosage forms through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. She also works closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on projects designed to improve the quality of medicines globally,” said Malcolm Rowland, PhD, DSc, Simcyp SAB Chair, Professor Emeritus of the Manchester School of Pharmacy at The University of Manchester, UK, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences in the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

Professor Dressman’s laboratory has been a designated WHO Collaborating Center since 2006.

“Professor Dressman’s research projects include forecasting food effects on drug absorption, studying the behavior of weakly basic drugs in the GI tract, and developing optimized dosage forms for GI diseases,” said Simcyp Vice President of R&D Masoud Jamei, PhD, SMIEEE. “In addition, she led the development of biorelevant GI media that simulate the fasted and fed states in vivo in the late ’90s.”

A recognized global authority on drug absorption, she has been an invited visiting scientist or professor at the NIHS in Tokyo, the University of Paris XI, Glaxo R&D, and the University Clermont Auvergne.

Professor Dressman has served on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and as President of the Controlled Released Society. She is currently on the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s (FIP’s) Executive Committee of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is the Chair of its Special Interest Group on Regulatory Sciences as well as its Focus Group on Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) and Biowaiver.

Professor Dressman has been honored with many research awards, including the Pharmacy Board of Victoria Prize, the C.J. Tonkin Scholarship, an Australian PostGraduate Award, the Ebert Prize, Phoenix Prize, the FIP Distinguished Scientist Award, the Nagai International Woman Pharmaceutical Scientist Award and the Best Paper in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. She has also been named a Fellow of the AAPS, FIP and the Controlled Release Society.

In addition, she is coauthor of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, five books and 13 patents. She has also served as corresponding author on more than 40 biowaiver monographs, and the principal advisor on more than 50 completed doctoral theses.

Professor Dressman joins Professor Rowland and five other esteemed members on the Simcyp SAB. They are

• Lawrence J. Lesko, PhD, Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy at Lake Nona in Orlando, FL and former Director of the Office of Clinical Pharmacology in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration
• J Brian Houston, PhD, DSc, Professor of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics and co-Director of the Centre for Applied Pharmacokinetic Research at the University of Manchester
• Donald Mager, PharmD, PhD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, SUNY
• Geoff Tucker, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Sheffield, UK
• Yuichi Sugiyama, PhD, Head of the Sugiyama Laboratory in the RIKEN Innovation Center in Tokyo and Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at The University of Tokyo.

About Certara

Certara is a leading decision support technology and consulting organization committed to optimizing drug development and improving health outcomes. Certara’s solutions, which span drug discovery through patient care, use the most scientifically-advanced modeling and simulation technologies and regulatory strategies to increase the probability of regulatory and commercial success. Its clients include hundreds of global biopharmaceutical companies, leading academic institutions, and key regulatory agencies. For more information, visit www.certara.com.