The seventh World Conference in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT 2000) and the fourth meeting of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) were held as a joint venture in Florence, Italy during last summer. Our Italian colleagues, in particular Prof. Giampaolo Velo, Prof. Emilio Perucca and Dr. Ugo Moretti are to be congratulated for an excellent congress, scientifically as well as socially. The total number of participants was close to 2000 representing 76 different countries. As expected the organizing country had most participants followed by Japan, Germany, UK, USA and Spain (table 1). There were 438 delegates from emerging countries, partly supported by almost 100 bursaries to young scientists from these countries. The success and high attendance which was twice that of the previous five EACPT-CPT congresses, resulted in a net profit which will benefit future academic arrangements by the two organizations.

A total of 1127 abstracts were accepted, the top six nations being Italy, Germany, Japan, USA, Spain and France. The subjects included: classical, clinical and pharmacological topics but also a high number of contributions in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacotherapy e.g. neurology, psychiatry, chemotherapy and cancer therapy (table 3). An innovative approach chosen by the organizers was to combine pure clinical pharmacological subjects and a half-day pharmacotherapeutic session of particular interest to clinical subspecialists. There were 213 invited speakers in 44 symposia covering the whole spectrum of clinical pharmacology from pharmacogenomics to pharmacopolitics and herbal medicines. The symposia included both state-of-the-art presentations and original contributions.

The plenary lectures included a brilliant presentation of fraud in clinical research by Richard Smith, the editor of Br. Med. J, and the perspectives of a multinational drug company (Fred Hassan, Pharmacia Corporation) on drug development and drug information directly to the customer (the patient).

A leading theme of the congress was the rational use of drugs with emphasis on the problems in developing countries. A significant pharmacopolitical development was the adoption of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, IUPHAR, of reformulated statutes focussing on rational drug use and being in harmony with the aims of EACP. In his opening address Folke Sjöqvist made a plea for closer collaboration between preclinical and clinical pharmacology and international collaboration.

This large and successful international conference demonstrated so much strength and enthusiasm and innovative development within our broad discipline of clinical pharmacology. We certainly look forward to the forthcoming conferences: the EACPT Conference in Odense in September this year and the CPT Conference in Brisbane in 2004.

The Editors of Eur. J. Clin. Pharmacol.

Table 1

Participants from different countries (top twelve)

Italy	234
Japan	156
Germany	137
U.K.	124
USA	123
Spain	98
France	80
Sweden	74
Switzerland	61
Denmark	48
Canada	44
Yugoslavia	40

 

TABLE 2

Submitted abstracts per country

Italy	107	India	16
Germany	92	Australia, Finland	14
Japan	85	Romania, Mexico	13
U.S.A	82	Croatia, Norway	12
Spain	74	Cuba,Bosnia Herzegovina, Chile, Czech Republic	11
France	60	Bulgaria, Brazil	10
U.K.	51	South Africa, Turkey, Belgium	9
Sweden	41	China, Hong Kong	6
Yugoslavia	35	Indonesia, Israel, Ukraine, Belarus	5
Switzerland	29	Slovak Republic, New Zealand	4
Canada	27	Uzbekistan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Saudi Arabia	3
Poland	26	Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Taiwan, Singapore, Portugal, Slovakia, Tobago, Greece, Kenya, Estonia	2
Argentina, Iran, The Netherlands	23	Gambia, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Ireland, Taiwan, Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia, Jamaica, Nepal, Slovenia, Egypt, Serbia	1
Austria, Russia	20
Venezuela	17

 

TABLE 3

Topics of abstracts

Metabolism	202
Cardiovascular Pharmacology	157
Pharmacokinetics/Drug interactions	106
Pharmacoepidemiology	101
Neurology	94
Psychiatry	79
Chemotherapy, Anti-infectives	67
Cancer therapy	49
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring	42
Herbal Medicines	40
Gastrointestinals	20
Endocrine and Metabolic	20
Respiratory	20
Urogenital system	10
Others	183

 

Professors Pepeu, Cuomo, and Velo,

Colleagues in IUPHAR, in particular Professors Fleming and Vanhoutte,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Friends from 76 countries

Twenty years have elapsed since the first World Conference in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in London in 1980. During these years, the discipline of clinical pharmacology has developed not only as a science but also as an important part of health care delivery. Several sub-disciplines of clinical pharmacology that were in their infancy in 1980 are flourishing today and in focus of the scientific program of CPT 2000. These examples include drug education, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomy, and molecular pharmacogenetics. At the same time, classical clinical pharmacology has broadened its scope and impact on clinical medicine. As an example, the present emphasis on evidence-based pharmacotherapy is, in a way, a rediscovery of the principles of the controlled clinical trial that were outlined by the first generation of clinical pharmacologists some 40 years ago.

The Division of Clinical Pharmacology, IUPHAR, realizes that clinical pharmacology must be interactive and much more society-oriented to survive as an independent clinical discipline. At the General Assembly on Monday we will present changes of our statutes that will harmonize with some of the aims of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. These changes will emphasize teaching of medical students and training of prescribers in rational use of drugs, promotion of problem- and patient-oriented drug information for physicians, other health professionals and a more intensive collaboration with agencies such as the WHO in questions related to rational use of drugs.

Another important priority for clinical pharmacology is to develop international collaboration. Let us enable individual countries to benefit from the international diversification of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. We should also intensify the collaboration between preclinical and clinical pharmacology and join forces in science and pharmacopolitics. Perhaps it is time to consider that, in the future, IUPHAR should stand for the International Union of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology.

When considering the future of clinical pharmacology it is imperative to realize the importance to recruit young scientists, theoreticians as well as clinicians, to the discipline. The shortage of clinical pharmacologists, particularly in the public health sector, not the least in emerging countries, will remain for a long time, because many countries appear to lack long-term plans for the development and maintenance of the discipline. In this regard, IUPHAR particularly appreciates that CPT 2000 has offered 100 bursaries for young scientists from emerging countries.

Professor Giampaolo Velo and his associates, in particular the Secretary General, Professor Emilio Perucca, and within the local committee Dr. Ugo Moretti, have worked hard to organize this 7^th CPT conference. They are to be congratulated on an excellent and innovative scientific program. Only persons who have organized international meetings of this caliber may realize the workload that our Italian colleagues have had during the last few years. They have indeed contributed in a most generous way to the further development of our discipline. It is our hope that this joint World and European Congress will have a significant impact on the future of clinical pharmacology.

Folke Sjöqvist

Chairman, Division of Clinical Pharmacology

IUPHAR