Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Professor Tarning leads a diverse team of 30 scientists studying clinical pharmacology at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), a research collaboration between Mahidol University in Thailand and Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust in the UK. The team has responsibilities within pharmacometric data analysis, bioanalytical method development, drug quantification of clinical samples and omics-based research. Professor Tarning is also the Head of the Pharmacometric Modelling Group at the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN).
The main focus of Professor Tarning’s research is antimalarial dose-optimisation in vulnerable populations at risk of treatment failure and resistance development, such as children and pregnant women. He has built a group that develops and uses integrated models for disease transmission, parasite dynamics, drug action, resistance development, pharmacokinetics and patient population characteristics.
“Dr Tarning has demonstrated that he can integrate trial design, data collection and data analysis to respond to a trial aim and also contribute to defining this aim, knowledgeably and efficiently” noted the EUFEPS in its award statement. “His work on population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling of oral dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in children with uncomplicated malaria, and intramuscular artesunate in children with severe malaria, started the debate on new dose recommendations in young children which has informed revised WHO guidelines for the treatment of malaria."
Based in Järfälla, Sweden, EUFEPS serves and advances excellence in the pharmaceutical sciences and innovative drug research in Europe. Founded in 1991, EUFEPS publishes European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, its monthly official scientific journal. The Giorgio Segré Prize is awarded by EUFEPS on a biennial basis to young researchers who have made significant contributions to the pharmacologic discipline of pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics, which studies the effects in patients of administered drug doses over time.
Prof Philippe Guérin, Director of WWARN, said: “Professor Tarning’s work has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the optimal dosing for key antimalarial medicines used to treat children with malaria. The award is a fitting recognition of his work and we are delighted that the EUFPS have acknowledged its significance.”
For press enquiries, please contact:
Per Öhrngren, European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS)
Anne Whitehouse, Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), Centre for Tropical Medicine & Global Health, University of Oxford; tel. +44(0)1865 857 412 or + 44 (0) 7812 165 934
For Asia-based MORU enquiries: John Bleho, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand; tel. +66 81 750 0539
For the Wellcome Trust, please contact Clare Ryan; tel. +44 207 611 7262