Dear colleagues and friends,
The 19th Congress of the IATDMCT, held for the first time in Italy, has just ended. During the days of the Congress (19-22 September 2021), the participants had the opportunity to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology
We are confident that those present, as it happened to us, breathed the desire to meet again, discuss not only scientific topics but also to share experiences and lessons that this pandemic has taught us. We still carry all these emotions in our minds and hearts, combined with the happiness of meeting again people who in the previous months were just faces projected from a monitor.
There are so many people to thank for this wonderful journey that has come to an end, starting with Symposia, to the members of the LOC, to the Program Committee, to the reviewers of the abstracts, to all the people who have encouraged us in recent months not to give up, and to continue with our crazy idea of creating a hybrid congress! But above all, a special thank goes to all the participants (more than 400) who have decided to be present in Rome….You were the cornerstones of the success of the Rome congress! Last but not least, we also have to thank our overseas colleagues who wanted to be present virtually and in spirit despite the different hours of time difference!
The leitmotiv of the Congress was nobody is average to underline the need of individualized approaches to drug safety and efficacy through a continuous cross-talk between the laboratory and the clinicians. But, in the end, the lesson that we have learned from all of you is that IATDMCT is a true family-like friendly community!!!
Thank you
Mario Regazzi
Chair, IATDMCT 2021 Rome Congress
Dario Cattaneo
IATDMCT President
CONGRESS THEME
The proposed theme for the IATDMCT 2021 follows coherently with the themes of the last Congresses, ie. pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics, toxicology, the analysis of drugs in biological fluids and new analytical applications, the safety of patients and so on.
The program will therefore be focused on the process of using concentrations of drugs, on the principles of pharmacokinetic and on the pharmacodynamic relationships, in order to optimize therapy in individual patients. Particular attention will be paid to the following topics:
Anti-infective Agents
Immunosuppressants
Alternative Sampling Strategy
Pharmacogenetics
Pharmacometrics
TDM in Oncology
TDM of Biologics
TDM in real word
Nanotechnologies/nanomedicine
Others
Clinical Toxicology/Drug of Abuse
Clinical Toxicology/Environmental Health
In memory of Delfina
On June 5, 2021 Dr. Maria Delfina Molinaro passed away in her home of Pavia. After the master degree in Biological Sciences in 1987, Dr. Delfina Molinaro started attending the Department of Pharmacology at San Matteo Hospital in Pavia, at that time directed by prof. Renato Rondanelli, one of the founding fathers of Pharmacology in Italy. Subsequently, Dr. Delfina Molinaro joined the Therapeutic Monitoring Lab lead by Dr. Mario Regazzi who, over the course of time, became her teacher and mentor. In over thirty years spent at San Matteo, Dr. Delfina Molinaro has been mainly involved in both research activities and clinical diagnostics in the therapeutic drug monitoring of anti-infectious and immunosuppressive drugs, with dozens of scientific publications in the fields.
I personally met Delfina twenty years ago during an IATDMCT congress and immediately an affinity was born which then became a solid friendship. Our “fights” were proverbial, being both very stubborn and bloodthirsty, because this was our way of discussing. But at the end of each quarrel our friendship came out more and more strengthened …
Only a few months ago, immediately before the dramatic discovery of her disease, Delfina was interviewed by Jana Stojanova for the IATDMCT Blog. When Jana asked her “What sort of research do you have on the horizon that you think might influence clinical practice in the future?”, The reply of Delfina was “I feel lucky to be part of an enthusiastic group of professionals who have also become very close friends over time and who have proved to be a source of ideas about methods to improve patients’ care. We have already come a long way, but I am sure that many improvements can still be made to truly personalize therapy, keeping in mind that more and more often we deal with combination therapies including immunosuppressive drugs, antimicrobials, antifungals, antivirals, and so on”.
Let us, therefore, honor Dr Molinaro’s memory by remembering that patients are not averages but individuals. Each patient deserves pharmacologic therapies with optimized, tailored dosing. For this reason, the members of the local organizing committee of the Rome IATDMCT 2021 Meeting unanimously decided to establish the “Maria Delfina Molinaro Award” for the best work presented at the congress in the field of personalization of therapy.
Rest in peace my dear friend
Dario Cattaneo
President-Elect IATDMCT
