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Cambridge Healthtech Institute Training Seminars offer real-life case studies, problems encountered and solutions applied, along with extensive coverage of the academic theory and background. Each Training Seminar offers a mix of formal lecture and interactive discussions and activities to maximize the learning experience. These Training Seminars are led by experienced instructors who will focus on content applicable to your current research and provide important guidance for those new to their fields.


Training Seminars will be offered IN-PERSON ONLY.





Training Seminars

Tuesday, September 23, 2025 8:00 AM – 3:35 PM | Wednesday, September 24, 2025 8:00 – 10:00 AM

TS8A: Know Your GPCR Molecule: Four Most Common Causes of Drug Candidate Failure

This course discusses the 4 main reasons GPCR candidate molecules often fail in late stage development. I emphasis the correct detection of the pharmacology of the candidate in the disease setting. Topics are: (1) What efficacy is needed to treat the disease? (2) Was the wrong biological target chosen? (3) Was the wrong chemical target chosen? And (4) Know Your Molecule: Were the true efficacies of the candidate molecule adequately known?
Instructor: Terry Kenakin
Terrence P. Kenakin, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This training seminar discusses the 4 main reasons GPCR candidate molecules often fail in late stage development. I focus on the correct detection of the pharmacology of the candidate in the disease setting. Topics are: (1) What efficacy is needed to treat the disease? (2) Was the wrong biological target chosen? (3) Was the wrong chemical target chosen? And (4) Know Your Molecule: Were the true efficacies of the candidate molecule adequately known?

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY:

Photo of Terrence P. Kenakin, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Terrence P. Kenakin, PhD, Professor, Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Beginning his career as a synthetic chemist, Terry Kenakin received a PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Alberta in Canada. After a postdoctoral fellowship at University College London, UK, he joined Burroughs-Wellcome as an associate scientist for 7 years. From there, he continued working in drug discovery for 25 years first at Glaxo, Inc., then Glaxo Wellcome, and finally as a Director at GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development Laboratories at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. Dr. Kenakin is now a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill. Currently he is engaged in studies aimed at the optimal design of drug activity assays systems, the discovery and testing of allosteric molecules for therapeutic application, and the quantitative modeling of drug effects. In addition, he is Director of the Pharmacology graduate courses at the UNC School of Medicine. He is a member of numerous editorial boards, as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction. He has authored numerous articles and has written 10 books on pharmacology.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025 1:45 – 3:25 PM | Thursday, September 25, 2025 8:00 AM – 4:20 PM

TS7B: Drug Exposure at the Target: The Role of ADME and Pharmacokinetics

This training seminar describes how pharmacokinetics (PK) affects drug exposure at the intended target. The seminar opens with a foundation of clinical PK including the determination of key PK parameters from Cp-time data. Course materials also cover common preclinical ADME assays that allow estimation of a compound’s human PK properties. The materials bridge the idea of a compound’s PK and its observed pharmacodynamic effects (PD) through coverage of PK/PD modeling. Various drug modalities (e.g., small molecules, antibodies, and peptides) illustrate the concepts of the course.
Instructor:
Erland Stevens, PhD, James G. Martin Professor, Department of Chemistry, Davidson College

Session 1 

  • Drug discovery—typical order of operations, ADME, and key pharmacokinetic parameters
  • Modeling Cp-time curves from an IV dose
  • Modeling Cp-time curves from an oral dose 

Session 2

  • Oral drug space and membrane permeability
  • Metabolic stability and intrinsic clearance
  • Plasma, PPB, and the free drug hypothesis
  • Compartment models 

Session 3

  • Pre-formulation and formulation
  • Preclinical species and PBPK
  • Non-small molecule drug modalities
  • PK/PD modeling

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY:

Photo of Erland Stevens, PhD, James G. Martin Professor, Department of Chemistry, Davidson College
Erland Stevens, PhD, James G. Martin Professor, Department of Chemistry, Davidson College
Erland Stevens is formally trained as a synthetic organic chemist, with a PhD from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He specialized in nitrogen heterocycle synthetic methodology. After completing his postdoctoral research at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, he joined the chemistry faculty at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. In addition to teaching organic chemistry, he created an undergraduate medicinal chemistry course and later published a textbook, Medicinal Chemistry: The Modern Drug Discovery Process, with Pearson Education. He then created an online medicinal chemistry course, which has been continuously revised and publicly available for approximately 10 years. He subsequently worked with Novartis to create additional online materials that are used with employees for continuing education purposes. He maintains two YouTube channels - Chem Help ASAP and Inside Drug Discovery.