Embracing Medicines Development as a Profession.

Medicines development has dramatically transformed in the preceding decades. It has evolved from a task undertaken by a small team to a complex series of activities, involving several functions and qualified professionals, across multiple, interrelated, scientific disciplines, worldwide. Conceptualized as a medical specialty, concerned with the research, development, and monitoring of medicines, and spearheaded largely by pharmaceutical physicians, the discipline has extended to embrace non-medically qualified scientists progressively taking on traditional roles within the medicines development ambit.

Blended e-learning and certification for medicines development professionals: results of a 7-year collaboration between King's College, London and the GMDP Academy, New York.

Introduction: The field of Medicines Development faces a continuous need for educational evolution to match the interdisciplinary and global nature of the pharmaceutical industry. This paper discusses the outcomes of a 7-year collaboration between King's College London and the Global Medicines Development Professionals (GMDP) Academy, which aimed to address this need through a blended e-learning program.

Methods: The collaboration developed a comprehensive curriculum based on the PharmaTrain syllabus, delivered through a combination of asynchronous and synchronous e-learning methods.

Effects of varenicline in adult smokers: a multinational, 24-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Prevalence rates of smoking are rising in developing countries. Previous trials evaluating the efficacy and tolerability of the smoking-cessation medication varenicline have used largely participants of Caucasian origin.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of varenicline in populations of participants from Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East to investigate potential differences in the therapeutic response to varenicline.