NEOMED IPhO ranks in Top 25 in national competition
For the first time in NEOMED’s history, students from the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO) competed in the VIP (Value of Industry Pharmacy) Case Competition.
The VIP Case Competition is an annual professional development competition presented by the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO) and the National Fellows Council (NFC). It highlights the key roles and contributions of industry pharmacists within the drug development process, as well as provides student pharmacists with the opportunity to improve analytical, project management, and written and oral presentation skills.
This year’s competition challenged Pharm.D. students from schools across the nation to pitch their ideas to develop “vipaglutide,” a fictional GLP-1 agonist indicated for weight loss. Teams developed strategies beginning with an Investigative New Drug application and progressing all the way to New Drug Application approval and post-market surveillance by the FDA. Strategies carefully detailed operations in four functional areas, which included drug trial development, navigation of regulatory and medical affairs, and development of marketing and promotional campaigns for the fictional weight loss drug.
“I am most proud of our team’s persistent efforts over the five-month project timeline, as well as our P1 members Adil Hasan and Deanna Laughlin who went above and beyond expectations,” Patrick Wyszynski, P3, project lead, shared. “I am very excited to see what next year’s NEOMED IPhO team is able to accomplish on the national stage."
66 teams participated nationally. The five-month endeavor tested the small NEOMED team of nine students in many ways but culminated in a much greater shared understanding of the drug development process. The presentation of the team’s novel extended-release hydrogel matrix formulation impressed the judges. For their efforts, the team ranked in the top 25 of all submissions.
Project Leads: Patrick Wyszynski, P3, and Diana Morus, P3 (Clinical Development)
Regulatory Affairs: Kero Saleh, P3, and Adil Hasan, P1
Medical Affairs: Alexis Axtell, P4, and Kiro Zakhary, P3
Marketing: John Rensel, P3, Erika Quedding, P3, and Deanna Laughlin, P1
Competition Consultant: Moses Oyewumi, B.Pharm., Ph.D.
Not pictured: Kero Saleh and Alexis Axtell
- Submitted by Patrick Wyszynski, P3