Simulations Plus, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLP), a leading provider of population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling and simulation services, today announced that its Cognigen division has awarded a grant to the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, the country’s largest and oldest institution of higher learning, to fund upgraded internet capabilities, ensuring access to Cognigen’s KIWITM platform. Access to this web-based knowledge-sharing platform will accelerate the University’s pharmaceutical research efforts and quantitative approaches, including modeling and simulation.
With this award, researchers and students at the Makerere University Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics have improved internet access, allowing them to become a local KIWI user group and further collaborate with Cognigen to support future research and mentorship opportunities. As KIWI users, researchers, faculty, and students at the University will gain access to a state-of-the-art platform to dynamically build, compare, refine, and evaluate pharmacometric models. The Cognigen team will provide training and oversight to ensure KIWI is optimally leveraged to support the University’s initiatives.
Dr. Joel Owen, vice president of Pharmacometric Services, Cognigen Corporation, and Dr. Jackson Mukonzo, Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Makerere University College of Health Science, will serve as project leads and will oversee the award and use of KIWI. “Through the Cognigen grant, internet connectivity at our department is tremendously improved, and now researchers and students can use the KIWI application. I think we are on our way to great exploits in the field of pharmacometrics and its applications,” said Dr. Mukonzo. Dr. Owen added, “Cognigen’s grant to Makerere University has already enhanced our ability to communicate and foster collaborative research and teaching opportunities with Dr. Mukonzo and his students. I am grateful that Cognigen continues to support initiatives to improve global health and opportunities for service and contributions worldwide.”
KIWI is a cloud-based web application developed to efficiently organize, process, maintain, and communicate the volume of data and results generated by pharmacologists and scientists throughout a drug development program or research initiative. KIWI provides the functionality to meet the scientist’s need for extensive documentation of the analysis pathway and collateral results, management’s need for summaries of modeling and simulation highlights, and regulatory agencies’ needs for transparency and reproducibility. “We are continuously working to improve our ability to collaborate with our clients and with researchers engaged in model-informed drug development. With this grant, we hope to promote the widespread use of quantitative modeling and simulation-based approaches to optimize treatment options and improve patients’ lives,” said Jill Fiedler-Kelly, president of the Cognigen Corporation division of Simulations Plus.