Director of the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Monash University
Australia
http://www.monash.edu.au/pharm
Susan Charman is Director of the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, and Professor at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The theme of her research is understanding mechanistic relationships between physicochemical properties of drug candidates and their absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) characteristics. Optimisation of ADME properties is essential for new drug candidates to ensure safe and efficacious exposure profiles and convenient dosing regimens. She leads a group of 20 scientists that have established platforms to assess physicochemical, permeation, and protein binding properties, to profile metabolic stability and identify potential metabolites, to assess the potential for metabolic drug interactions, to characterize oral bioavailability and pharmacokinetic properties, and to establish clearance mechanisms. She has created a successful model for conducting collaborative, translational research within a university environment, and her group has contributed to programs that have progressed 22 new drug candidates into clinical trials. She is particularly interested in the lead optimisation of novel drug candidates for neglected and tropical diseases and has contributed to projects resulting in one approved antimalarial, two antimalarial candidates currently in clinical development and four in preclinical development. She has attracted significant funding from industry and competitive grants, has published over 125 manuscripts, and is co-inventor on 7 patent applications.
