MSU organises international conference on NDDS

The Faculty of Pharmacy, The Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) of Baroda, Vadodara and MSU Pharmacy Alumni Association (MPA)  recently organised an international e-conference on “Recent Advances and Trends in NDDS” to pay a tribute to the contribution of Late Professor A N Misra as an academician and researcher par excellence.

Dr Ketan Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad, in his inaugural address, emphasised on self-belief, commitment  and absolute command on scientific knowledge for design and development of novel formulations. He narrated challenges encountered as innovator company in the development of new intra-nasal, topical delivery and sustained release injection preparations. Further, Professor Anant Paradkar from the University of Bradford delivered the keynote address.

Adding to it, Prof Krutika Sawant, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, in her welcome address, referred to the contribution made by the faculty hitherto in the realm of new Drug Delivery Systems. Dr J B Dave, President, MPA, gave a brief account of the conference and emphasised the importance of innovative formulations for developing new drug products as developing a new molecular entity is a cost-intensive and daunting task.

Professor (Dr) Anand Paradkar, in his talk on Melt processed Drug delivery systems: Opportunities and Challenges, highlighted the advantages of the innovative solvent-free approach for the development of the controlled release formulations of hydrophobic and amorphous therapeutic agents. He showed possible drug delivery approaches using hot-melt extrusion and sono-crystallisation (ultrasound-assisted processing) to generate co-crystals. He talked about the development of polymer/lipid-based nano-particulate drug delivery systems encapsulating poorly-soluble conventional molecules, nutraceuticals and natural products for the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions, cancers and endometriosis. The importance of process analytics, QbD and Process Analytical Technology were also discussed for process development.

Dr Parizad Elchidana, in her talk on the Application of Artificial Intelligence in NDDS presented the ability of AI-enabled robotics to process information and yield the desired outcomes in terms of product development, establishing a suitable correlation between the in-vitro biological systems and clinical studies. Additionally, the application of AI in diverse areas from therapeutic agent development to NDDS product development was also discussed.

Professor (Dr) Mansoor M Amiji in his talk on Translational Nano-Medicine: Targeted Therapeutic Delivery for the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Cancer highlighted the approaches in the field of molecular and personalised nanotechnology-based medicine with aim of translation of innovative experimental approaches into clinically-relevant strategies. He showed the possible ways of surface engineering of the polymeric and lipid-based systems for the site-specific targetted delivery of conventional and newer therapeutic agents. Challenges to development and circumvention of biological barriers using single/combinatorial drug delivery technologies encompassing chemotherapy, gene therapy and RNAi were also presented.

Professor Ajay Banga, in his talk on Advances in Transdermal Delivery Systems, presented various approaches towards successful transdermal delivery of hydrophilic/hydrophobic therapeutic agents. Moderately lipophilic drugs can passively diffuse into the skin and can be formulated as iontophoresis, sonophoresis, or skin microporation achieved by microneedles or by thermal or laser ablation, 3D printing-based transdermal patches. Rationale-based selection of the drug delivery technologies for incorporation of drugs in carrier systems for the delivery across the skin was also discussed. Variability in the in-vitro skin permeation studies and their correlation with the efficiency of permeation in clinical set up were also highlighted.

Dr S P Vyas, H S Gour University, Sagar, and Professor R S Gaud, Director, NMIMS, also shared their valued observations. Dr Ali Asgar Shahiwala-Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls, Dubai; Dr Manish Umrethia– MD and CEO, Auxilla Pharmaceuticals and Research LLP, Ahmedabad and Dr Mahavir Chougule-Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mercer University, USA, also shared their expert views on the theme of conference.

Dr N K Jain, from H S Gour University, Sagar, recalled the human nature and huge contribution of Professor Misra in the realm of drug delivery. The proceedings of the conference including selected abstracts of oral and poster presentation were published on the occasion at the hands of Dr J B Dave. Dr Prashant Murumkar, Dr Hetal Thakkar, Dr Rajshree Mashru, Dr Kirti patel, Dr Richa Dayaramani, Dr Aarti Thakkar, Dr Hemal Tandel, Dr Navnit Prajapati and Dr Bhavik Chauhan played vital roles in organizing the grand event.

More than 500 professionals participated for the conference from across the country, including 11 foreign nationals. A total of 100 abstracts of research work were received from the academia as well as from the industry. Out of this, 15 best participants were invited to present the research work in the form of an oral presentation. The three best presentations were awarded the cash prizes.