Proteasome inhibitor drugs have been transformative in multiple myeloma therapy, but their therapeutic potential in other cancers remains to be fully explored. Carfilzomib, a second-generation epoxyketone proteasome inhibitor, offers improved efficacy and safety over bortezomib, but has room for improvements in terms of its pharmacokinetic profiles and formulation. In collaboration with Dr. Yoon Yeo of Purdue University, we are developing innovative carfilzomib nanoformulations to improve its biopharmaceutical properties and anticancer efficacy in multiple myeloma and other cancers.

Peptides offer a valuable therapeutic approach due to their target specificity and safety. However, their metabolic instability, poor cell permeability, and limitations of current predictive models present challenges. We are collaborating with researchers developing novel peptide therapeutics to predict and evaluate their pharmacokinetics, a critical step in successful drug development.

Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling is a powerful tool in drug development and clinical pharmacy, predicting PK profiles of drug candidates and existing drugs in pre-clinical and clinical settings. PBPK modeling can also predict and simulate PK profiles in special populations including pediatric and geriatric populations. Our research focuses on improving the translation of preclinical PK data to clinical settings using PBPK modeling.