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Paving the way for precision dosing for neonatal infants
Summary:
Newly awarded Banting Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Cindy Yeung is designing models to help predict dosage needs for infants less than four weeks old.
Across Canada approximately 1,100 neonates, infants less than four weeks old, experience adverse drug reactions to off-label prescribed medications each year. Off-label prescribed medications, medications which are not approved by regulatory bodies to treat neonatal populations or neonatal conditions, are often used for neonates in order for physicians to provide adequate care, despite the relative lack of research on this comparatively small population.
Now, newly awarded Banting Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Cindy Hoi Ting Yeung, a postdoctoral fellow in the Translational Medicine program, will develop models to help researchers better predict what dose is needed for two commonly administered medications: indomethacin and furosemide.
“My overall goal is to understand what dose to give infants to achieve a certain exposure that can result in a therapeutic effect. This award highlights my work in populations that are typically left out of the drug development process,” says Yeung, who completed her PhD at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy.
Yeung’s method seeks to optimize dose requirements and incorporate other factors drug-development research, including the infant’s age, weight and sex, to avoid drug-induced toxicity and injuries to the infant. This information will inform the development of more precise drug dosing aligned with Precision Child Health, a movement at SickKids to deliver individualized care to each patient.
“Dr. Yeung is a dedicated scientist who is using her knowledge in pharmacology to design and implement innovative research projects that support SickKids vision of Precision Child Health,” says Yeung’s supervisor Dr. Tamorah Lewis, Division Head of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, Staff Physician and Senior Associate Scientist in the Translational Medicine program. “Her growing research program in lactation and newborn pharmacology will support improved drug dosing for the youngest paediatric patients.”
The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), provides $70,000 per year over two years to postdoctoral fellows who will positively contribute to the country’s economic, social and research-based growth.