JAMAICA is, within a few years at least, expected to benefit from a course designed to bring new expertise to the field of pharmacology.

This course — biopharmaceutics and clinical pharmacokinetics — is being introduced as a part of the second-year master’s in applied pharmacology programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

“The Pharmacology Department at UWI is strictly pharmacology. We are trying to branch into other aspects of drug research and drug teaching. That’s one of the reasons that course was introduced — to offer that aspect of research to persons interested,” said senior lecturer in the department, Dr Maxine Gossell-Williams.

As such, she said she contacted Dr Leon Shargel, the American author of a text being used for the course, and he agreed to lecture it.

Through the Fullbright US Specialist Programme, which offers experts in particular areas to help build universities worldwide, Shargel will, over a seven-week period, work directly with students and faculty to develop proficiency in biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics.

According to Shargel, biopharmaceutics is the study of the relationship between the dosage form of a drug and the way it gets into the body.

“Not only does a drug do something, whether good or bad, but how do we relate that to the manufacturing, the dosage, and delivery of the drug in the body. Once you know, you have a drug that’s good for a certain disease [and] you want to be able to give it to patients in a way that they can take it comfortably,” he said.

Shargel, who has 17 years of full-time teaching experience, has also worked in the drug manufacturing industry. He currently owns and operates Applied Biopharmaceutics LLC, which provides technical and consulting services to players in the pharmaceutical industry.

While in Jamaica, Shargel intends to host a workshop that brings together people with an interest in the area.

“It’s an honor to represent my country. I also feel strongly that at this point one should give back and I can share my 30 years of experience and knowledge base. I realise that when you have a smaller country than the United States, resources are not as great. Still, with the resources that you do have, [we can see] what we can do to make it better,” he said.

Gossell-Williams is confident the new course will change the face of drug research and development in Jamaica.

“UWI is not so involved in drug formulation, but now we have the potential to develop that arm in terms of formulation which is key because a lot of our research is actually into plant extracts,” she said.

“A number of our students have been able to look at the how they work, but they haven’t been able to take it beyond the lab. So developing the whole thing of biopharmaceutics, that’s our long-term vision, to be able to actually go into formulations and take the drugs or the chemicals from the lab to the market,” Gossell-Williams added.

After Shargel leaves, she said there will be at least four members of the academic staff in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences who will be able to assist with the course.