The work done by the Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool to improve the safety and effectiveness of medicines has led to the university being awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in higher education. The department counts a number of Society members among its research and teaching staff, including Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, the Society’s incoming President-Elect, and Professor David MacEwan, a Fellow of the Society and a Senior Editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Particular mention was made of the HIV drug therapy work of the department, namely: that it pioneered the use of protease inhibitors as a drug combination; it developed websites and apps for HIV physicians that suggest optimal drug combinations and predict which drug combinations will lead to adverse drug reactions; and, it developed innovative nanoformulations of HIV drugs that have greater efficacy and reduced toxicity.
Professor MacEwan said:
It is a great honour to be awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize, which recognises the excellent work carried out by our staff.
The knowledge from our molecular and clinical research has had an enormous impact on the daily lives of people by not only developing new drugs and treatments, but identifying problems in existing treatments and circumventing side-effects in future therapies.
Through our bench to bedside approach we continuously strive to ensure our work improves the development of medicines, for the benefit of society”. The Prize will be presented to the university in February 2018 at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.