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About this Virtual Workshop:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in collaboration with the University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) will host a one-day virtual public workshop entitled “Bridging Efficacy and Safety to the Obese: Considerations and Scientific Approaches” on November 9, 2022. The purpose of this workshop is to review the implications of obesity in adult and pediatric patients on safety, efficacy, drug dosing and disposition.

Besides the major health and socioeconomic implications of obesity, there are great challenges in ensuring the optimal use and development of drugs for the growing population of obese persons. Obese patients are a large segment of the U.S. population and should be included in drug development studies. There are presently no clear dosing guidelines for obese pediatric patients. Although smaller clinical studies have begun to examine drug pharmacokinetics in obese pediatric patients, the relationship between pediatric obesity and drug response, including efficacy and safety, has not been thoroughly elucidated. Advancing this field requires identifying key knowledge gaps and barriers to the conduct of such studies and potential innovative solutions to improve data generation and analysis.

Workshop Objectives:

1. Review the implications of obesity in adult and pediatric patients on safety, efficacy, drug dosing and disposition.

2. Discuss:

(a) If adult and pediatric patients should be identified and studied as a special population in new drug development programs.
(b) When it may be appropriate to include obese patients in drug development studies to develop specific dosing guidelines for obese patients.

Meeting Information and Registration:

This virtual workshop is open to the public with no cost to attend, but registration is required. To register, visit: https://bioeumd.wufoo.com/forms/m16xw7q80ra8tsz/.

For more information and to view the draft Agenda, visit the MCERSI Webpage.

Contact:

For questions regarding this event, please contact:

Althea Cuff
Office of Clinical Pharmacology
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
[email protected]