Muralidhar Beeram, M.D., M.B.B.S., assistant professor of medical oncology, received the 2005 Merck/AFAR (American Federation for Aging Research) Junior Investigator Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology. The award was created by the Merck Company Foundation and AFAR because of the critical need of developing more physicians in the geriatric clinical pharmacology field.
As the recipient of this prestigious award, Dr. Beeram received a grant that will allow to him to further his research studies concerning medical oncology and pharmacokinetics, the process of how drugs are absorbed and eliminated by the body.
With the two-year, $120,000 grant, Dr. Beeram will look closely at the clearance rate of anti-cancer agents in the elderly. Previous studies have shown that, as the body ages, its ability to remove these drugs from organs decreases. Declines in kidney and liver functions, for example, play a significant role in the body’s ability to eliminate medications, making it less capable of removing toxins.
“I am attempting to distinguish clinically significant relationships between aging and the clearance of cancer drugs,” he said.
Dr. Beeram explains that most modern anti-cancer drugs are tested primarily on younger, healthier individuals before being approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
“Although reduction in drug clearance has often been felt to be the most important factor that influences the toxicity of anti-cancer drugs, little data has been published concerning the relationship of the aging process and the clearance of these drugs,” Dr. Beeram said.
Dr. Beeram will perform his study through clinical evaluations at the Health Science Center, and the Institute for Drug Development at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center.
