Header image

Symposium 24: Obesity and pharmacology: innovative solutions to a big problem

Tracks
Track 8
Thursday, July 16, 2026
11:15 AM - 1:15 PM

Details

Obesity is a global health problem with significant economic and clinical implications. Despite advancements in biomedical science, the management of obesity remains a complex challenge requiring multidisciplinary approaches. Clinical pharmacology offers innovative solutions through the integration of pharmaco-economics, in silico modelling, PK-PD analytical techniques, real-world data, and novel treatment strategies. This symposium will cover the following mix of topics: • The role of in silico modelling in predicting treatment effects and optimising drug development. • Evaluation of new pharmacological treatments for obesity. • Drug dosing in the obese and the risk of treatment failure in obese patients receiving antiplatelets for the treatment of thrombosis. • The use of PK/PD analyses to determine drug dosing in obese patients before and after significant weight-loss. • An overview of the economic impact of obesity and the cost-effectiveness of pharmacological interventions.


Speaker

Agenda Item Image
Prof Robert Likic
University of Zagreb School of Medicine

Transforming Obesity Drug Discovery Through In Silico Modelling

Abstract

Biography

Dr. Robert Likic earned his medical degree with honours from the University of Zagreb Medical School in 2001, having previously received the Dean’s Award in 1999 for being the top medical student. Following his internship, he pursued specialist training in general internal medicine at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb, where he developed a strong interest in the effectiveness of problem-based learning in clinical pharmacology education. He became board-certified in internal medicine in 2007 and was awarded a PhD in 2008. Dr. Likic currently holds a tenured professorship in internal medicine and prescribing at the University of Zagreb Medical School. In parallel, he works as a consultant internist and clinical pharmacologist at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. His research interests span medical education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, pharmacoeconomics, health technology assessment, medical informatics, and the rational use of medicines. He has been actively engaged in international collaborations, including organizing a multinational meeting on rational medicine use in Zagreb in 2008, funded by the British Council. In 2009, he was awarded the Matovinovic Fellowship, which enabled him to spend six months as a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. To date, Dr. Likic has published over 100 research papers in journals indexed in Current Contents and has participated in numerous national and international conferences focused on pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, and pharmacoeconomics. He is a member of several national drug committees and scientific societies. Internationally, he serves on the board of the Education Committee of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT), and he is also a councillor and treasurer of the Education Section of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR). Dr. Likic received the “Outstanding Early Educator Award” at the 16th IUPHAR World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology held in Copenhagen in 2010. In 2015, he served as executive advisor for therapeutics to the CEO of the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. Since 2017, he has been a member of the editorial board of the Croatian Medical Journal, and since 2020, he has served as a senior editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Agenda Item Image
Prof Catherijne A.J. Knibbe
St Antonius Hospital & LACDR,Leiden University, the Netherlands

Drug dosing in patients with obesity and following significant weight-loss

Biography

Catherijne Knibbe is clinical pharmacologist-hospital pharmacist in the St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein/Utrecht and professor of Individualized Drug Treatment at the LACDR, Faculty of Science at Leiden University. She leads the Quantitative Clinical Pharmacology group which focuses on the development and application of advanced computational techniques combining the statistical power of the Population approach with Physiologically-Based approaches, to predict the efficacy and safety of drugs and optimize dosing in special patient populations like such as (prematurely born) neonates or children, individuals with obesity or critically ill patients. In the St. Antonius hospital, Dr. Knibbe is consultant for the department of Intensive Care and Anesthesiology, is supervisor of the Clinical Pharmacology training program, is co-supervisor of the Hospital Pharmacy training program, and member of the Daily Board of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy of the St. Antonius hospital. She has supervised 28 PhD students and is co-author of over 280 international peer-reviewed publications and contributions to books. She is a frequently invited speaker on national and international conferences. Dr. Knibbe is an active member of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) where she became Fellow in 2019 and member of the Board of Regents in 2020.
Agenda Item Image
Prof Dinko Vitezic
University of Rijeka

Pharmaco-economics of Obesity Treatments

Biography

Professor Dinko Vitezić, MD, PhD is a specialist in Clinical Pharmacology employed at the University of Rijeka School of Medicine Rijeka, and the University Hospital Centre Rijeka, Croatia. He is conducting undergraduate courses in Clinical Pharmacology and participates in courses which are part of postgraduate studies at the School of Medicine in Rijeka and at the University of Zagreb, School of Medicine and at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry. Professor Vitezić is the author of publications in the field of clinical pharmacology and pharmacoeconomics in different medical journals and co-editor of a textbook Fundamentals of Clinical Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology (in Croatian), author of texts in the field of clinical pharmacology published in several textbooks (25 different chapters). He was invited speaker and a member and chairman on several international and national conferences and meetings. He is a president of the Croatian Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He was and is involved in the drug regulatory field as an expert for drugs (Chairman of the Central Ethical Committee of the Republic of Croatia for clinical drug trials and the Drug Committee of the Ministry of Health and Croatian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices) Professor Vitezić is national counterpart for pharmaceutical strategy implemented (Pharmaceutical counterpart) for the World Health Organization and he was a member for a decade of the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency.
Agenda Item Image
Dr. Andrej Belančić
Clinical Pharmacologist
Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka

Innovations in Pharmacological Treatments for Obesity

Abstract

Biography

Dr. Andrej Belančić is a (31 years old) Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka, Croatia. He also holds the academic title of Lecturer at the Department of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia. In 2024, he was awarded the title of Best Young Scientist at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. Dr. Belančić is the author or co-author of approximately 100 scientific and professional full-text articles and about 200 scientific abstracts. He has contributed as an author or co-author to several national guidelines in the field of metabolic diseases, authored multiple book chapters, and served as editor for several books, textbooks, and manuals. His scientific activities primarily focus on clinical pharmacology (treatment outcomes, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacovigilance, clinical trials), obesity and associated metabolic diseases, and rare disease therapeutics. He serves as Co-chair of the Early Career Clinical Pharmacologists Working Group of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) and is an active member of the Croatian Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the Croatian Medical Association. He is also an active member of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Working Group on Diabetes and Metabolic Risk Factors, and the ESH Working Group on Lifestyle, Cardiovascular Therapy and Adherence. Dr. Belančić is a member of the Croatian Hypertension League, Secretary of the Croatian Society of Obesity of the Croatian Medical Association, and a member of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and the World Obesity Federation (WOF). Furthermore, he is an active member of the Croatian Society for Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders of the Croatian Medical Association.
Agenda Item Image
Mohamed Al-Ghafri
University of Otago

Clopidogrel Resistance or Underdosing: The Role of Obesity on Clopidogrel Treatment Failure

Biography

I'm currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Pharmacy at the University of Otago, New Zealand, with a research focus on personalized medicine and antiplatelet therapy. My clinical journey began in 2006 at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Oman, where I’ve worked as a clinical pharmacist for nearly two decades. I hold both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Toledo, USA. My current research investigates clopidogrel responsiveness in Omani patients, a critical area given that clopidogrel remains the only P2Y12 inhibitor available in tertiary hospitals across Oman. I'm passionate about advancing individualized treatment strategies to improve cardiovascular outcomes in the region.

Session chair

Agenda Item Image
Hesham Al-Sallami
University Of Otago

Agenda Item Image
Andrej Belančić
Clinical Pharmacologist
Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka

loading