BETHLEHEM, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Salvatore J. Salamone, Ph.D. received the prestigious Dr. C.E. Pippenger Award at the 2021 International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT) annual meeting in Rome, Italy. This award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM). TDM is a field of medical science that seeks to ensure that patients receive a personalized dose of drugs to achieve an optimum therapeutic result. Unfortunately, many medications, such as anticancer, antibiotics, and antifungal treatments, have severe toxicities when overdosed and are ineffective when underdosed. TDM seeks to ensure that the patient receives enough drug to treat the condition but not too much to cause toxicities and potentially death.
Dr. Salamone received this award for his contributions to TDM in oncology. He began his work in TDM of anticancer drugs after personally witnessing the adverse reactions caused by toxicity during chemotherapy treatment of family members. He made it his goal that no patient should ever be given anticancer drugs without TDM to ensure proper dosing. He has advocated establishing clinical guidelines for TDM and pharmacology in oncology for over 15 years.
Dr. Salamone accepted this award as a great honor and paid tribute to the influence Dr. Pippenger had on the field of TDM and on him personally. With over 30 years of experience developing diagnostics, Dr. Salamone is recognized globally in the field of drug monitoring and has published extensively in this area. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Salamone spoke about the significant role that TDM plays in personalized medicine.
Dr. Salamone went on to describe that the “unfortunate reality in oncology is that many, if not the majority of, patients are not receiving the correct dose of chemotherapy and we need to act.“ Dr Salamone continued, “Patients are needlessly suffering adverse effects because the dose is too high while others aren’t receiving enough drug to treat the cancer effectively. Using the standard body surface area (BSA) dosing method developed in 1916 to administer chemotherapy is now obsolete. Welcome to the 21st century.” He described the lack of knowledge of and resistance to TDM by the oncology community. “I urge all IATDMCT members to become more active in engaging the oncology community,” stated Dr Salamone. “Receiving this award inspires me to continue pursuing my goal of making TDM the standard of care in oncology.”
“We will not fully achieve the promise of personalized medicine until every patient receives the correct amount of drug for their body,” said Dr. Salamone. “As the first individual from industry to receive this prestigious award, I am deeply honored and touched that my life’s work has been recognized by such an esteemed organization.”
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