EACPT Lifetime Achievement Award for Professor Michel Eichelbaum

The 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and

Therapeutics will go to German researcher Professor Michel Eichelbaum for his outstanding contribution to the national and international benefits of clinical pharmacology for medicine, health care and patient safety. The Award, which includes the EACPT silver medal, will be presented to Professor Eichelbaum during the 12th EACPT Congress in Madrid on Saturday 27th June 2015.

Michel Eichelbaum's primary research interest is pharmacogenetics of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporter proteins. He was a pioneer in the study of the stereochemistry of drugs,  use of stable isotopes in clinical pharmacology, and intestinal metabolism and transport of drugs. 

In 1975, he discovered a genetic polymorphism in the oxidation of the antiarrhythmic and oxytocic drug, sparteine, which later became known as CYP2D6 polymorphism. This is considered his single most important scientific discovery. Later, he became involved in research on factors involved in the regulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters with special emphasis on nuclear receptors.

See more about Professor Eichelbaum in my blog on the EACPT site.

The EACPT was founded 22 years ago and now includes as members all national organisations for clinical pharmacology in Europe, as well as organisations from further afield internationally. The EACPT aims to provide educational and scientific support for the more than 4000 individual professionals interested in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics throughout the European region, with its congresses attended by a global audience. The EACPT also advises policy makers on how the specialty can contribute to human health and wealth.