Workshop on Pharmacotherapeutic Modelling

Sunday, July 2: 13:00-18:00 – Meeting Room 2

This workshop will present an introduction to nonlinear mixed-effects modeling and simulation, with some practical case studies.

13:00 – 13:30: Lunch

13:30 – 14:00: Introduction to the NLME approach; basic concepts and theory behind population PK modeling

14:00 – 15:30: Modeling workflow using the Monolix suite

• Data visualization
• Model building
• Model evaluation
• Model validation
• Model management (Sycomore)

15:30 – 16:00: Break

16:00 – 16:30: From modeling to simulations of clinical trials with the Simulx software

16:30 – 18:00: Hands-on tutorial; case study with real life data

Workshop on pharmacological education
and teaching

Sunday, July 2: 13:00 – 18:00 – Meeting Room 1

Threshold concepts in veterinary pharmacology, what, why and how?

Passionate about veterinary pharmacology education? What are the transformative, irreversible, integrative, bounded, and inherently troublesome concepts for your students?

Threshold concepts have been defined as ‘portals’ that lead to a transformed way of understanding or thinking. They enable learners to progress whilst utilizing the knowledge of the concept and the discipline and have been adopted to inform teaching approaches and curriculum design.

In this interactive workshop we will discuss and define the major threshold concepts in veterinary pharmacology and in the second part of the workshop we will address ways to approach teaching of these concepts.

In the first half of the afternoon, we will discuss and define threshold concepts in veterinary pharmacology, based on previously identified concepts. What technical and medical terms do your students struggle with, and how well are they able to transfer pharmacological principles from theory to practice? 

In the second half of the afternoon, we will address the how: what makes the concept relevant to clinical practice and what is the best way to teach the concepts we have identified in the first half of the workshop?

VetCAST workshop on Quantitative methods for determination of clinical breakpoint

Wednesday, July 5: 14:00 – 17:00 and Thursday, July 6: 08:00 – 17:00 – Meeting room 1

This hands-on workshops will illustrate the VetCAST methodology for the determination of clinical breakpoint (CBP). It will use real PK data from the example of penicillin in horses processed in a Non Linear Mixed Effect model (NLME, Phoenix, Certara):

• Basic plotting and data exploration in the Phoenix interface.
• Performing initial Non Compartmental Analysis to determine starting values
• Step by Step building of a bespoke population PK model in the Phoenix interface, initially with data from intravascular administration and combining data from and extravascular administrations
• Performing Monte Carlo simulation to compute PKPD Cut-off for 2 clinical uses:
  • Intramuscular administration (routine use)
  • Extended infusions in intensive care setup
• Combination of PK-PD cut-off with epidemiological cut off (ECOFF) to compute the clinical breakpoint (CBP)

The course will be divided into didactic presentations and hands-on exercises with tutors. A license of Phoenix will be provided for attendees to install on their PC ahead of the workshop (not MAC compatible). You will also receive at the same time as your license the Phoenix file of the workshop as you will have to redo it. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the objectives to be achieved, in particular to write the code in textual mode.

Workshop on Mycotoxins

Wednesday, July 5: 13:00 – 18:00 – Meeting room 2

In this workshop, world renowned speakers will bring you up to speed on mycotoxins and their implications for veterinary medicine. Below is the detailed outline:

13:30 – 14:15: Dr. Isabelle Oswald (INRA, France): Global occurrence and significance of mycotoxins and the EFSA approach in risk assessment and risk communication

14:15 – 15:00: Prof. Sarah de Saeger (UGent, Belgium): Setting up (bio)analytical methods: from screening to confirmation

15:00 – 15:45: Prof. Siska Croubels (UGent, Belgium): Comparative kinetics of mycotoxins in target animal species and drug-toxin interactions

15:45 – 16:30: Break

16:30 – 17:15: Dr. Gerd Schatzmayr (DSM, Austria): Risk Mitigating strategies: Mechanisms of Action and Assessment of Efficacy of Mycotoxin Mitigating Compounds

17:15 – 18:00: Prof. Johanna Fink-Gremmels (Utrecht University, The Netherlands): Moulds, Mycotoxins and One Health: The role of the veterinary profession