AASLD to Co-sponsor DILI Meeting 

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By Ann Haran, AASLD Staff

A landmark hepatotoxicity conference “Drug-Induced Liver Injury: Getting the Medicine and Science Together” will be held March 24 – 25, 2010, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. This course will be co-sponsored by AASLD, the FDA, and PhRMA, bringing together nationally known experts in the field of hepatotoxicity to share their knowledge.

This workshop will consist of national and international discussions of recent clinical and basic findings in the field of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), with presentations by experts in clinical hepatology and scientific investigation of underlying mechanisms, with a goal of encouraging active discussions with interested audience registrants. The target audience for the workshop is scientists in government, industry, and academia interested in pharmaceutical hepatotoxicity from a clinical, non-clinical, and post-marketing perspective.  According to AASLD Hepatotoxicity Special Interest Group (SIG) Chair Dr. Paul Watkins, “this is simply the annual meeting for those interested in DILI.”

AASLD’s partnership with the FDA and PhRMA dates back almost ten years, when the three organizations first decided to co-sponsor what turned out to be a hallmark conference on DILI in 2001. Since then, the former Steering Committee has met annually to discuss new and evolving information. Interest continued to grow, and the group decided that it was important to expand the area of influence to a broader population once again. AASLD has access to experts in the field, and PhRMA companies have an interest in the outcome of any new discoveries.  As organizer Dr. John Senior points out, “this conference will get scientists together with the clinicians who are actually seeing the patients. The program is half clinical, half basic science.”

As Dr. Senior explains, the livers of certain individuals become injured very easily. He credits Dr. William Lee with the discovery that Acute Liver Failure (ALF) “is more often caused by drugs than by everything else put together,” and, according to Dr. Senior, “these are very challenging issues, as we do not know why certain individuals are so susceptible to liver injury while others are not.” He stresses that this meeting is a research program, not directed at the average practitioner but for scientists and clinicians specifically interested in the explanation and generation of new knowledge. He also mentions the importance of the FDA regulators—those in charge of decisions regarding drug approval and labeling—who will attend the conference in an effort to determine: “is the drug doing more good than harm?”

Dr. Senior looks forward to “getting the medicine and the science together” and encourages interested attendees to sign up “to learn, question, understand, and discuss” this important topic. Dr. Watkins strongly endorses the conference as well, stating “I commend John Senior for putting together another absolutely outstanding program that will once again unite the entire spectrum of individuals interested in this area, including basic scientists, clinicians, and regulators.”

Click here to register for this exciting conference!

Click here for more information on the history of AASLD’s partnership with the FDA and PhRMA.