Worldwide competition recognizes next-generation scientific talent in Graduate Pharmaceutical Science Programs

The academic competition aims to identify emerging scientific talent, foster drug delivery education and reward academic excellence. Winners were chosen from leading U.S. and European universities with graduate programs in pharmaceutical science including St. John’s University, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Purdue University and Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Competition entries consisted of original review articles addressing topics such as drug development, delivery technologies, improving therapeutic profiles and bioavailability, pre-formulation, and pediatric drugs. The academic competition reflects the Institute’s commitment to fostering education, collaboration and adoption of drug delivery technologies to develop better treatments for patients.

The competition’s grand prize of $5,000 was awarded to James Byrne of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose winning submission focused on “Treating Human Autoimmunity with Immunotherapy”.  Additionally, each of the following students was awarded a first place prize of $2,000 as the top submission from their university:

• Shashank Jain, St. John's University, “Rationale for Selection of Solubility and Dissolution Enhancement Strategies”

• Maxim Osipovs, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, “Challenges for the Oral Delivery of Macromolecules”

• Maxx Capece, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), “Modified Release of Dry-Polymer Coated Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.”

As an investment in the future life science leaders of tomorrow, the Catalent Institute has collaborated with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) to reward students’ participation in the academic competition with a complimentary, one-year AAPS membership.

“Partnering with leading academic centers throughout the world is an important part of our mission at the Institute,” said Terry Robinson, Executive Director of the Catalent Applied Drug Delivery Institute. “Research and development collaborations with academic institutions foster innovation in applied drug delivery technology which can result in better treatments and improved patient care. The Institute is grateful to the participating universities for encouraging their students to pursue this wonderful opportunity.”