NC IUPHAR: National Committee of the International Union of Pharmacology
The International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) is a voluntary, non-profit association representing the interests of pharmacologists around the world through:
Our challenge - developing a database that will define all the main receptor and drug targets encoded by the human genome; linking them to therapeutics and target validation.
The immense recent growth of knowledge about drug targets, with their crystal structures, has been a huge help to drug discovery and IUPHAR classifications are regularly used, together with the database. We approach defining nearly all potentially druggable sites encoded by the human genome. However, drug discovery has not grown at the same rate as our knowledge of drug targets, and part of this is due to the exponentially-increasing number of drug variables, and receptor polymorphisms, which may be crucial in disease states, and also contribute to controversy. Controlling these variables by identifying them via groups of experts has been shown to be a first step in dealing with these difficulties: their work appears in the Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (GtoPdb; www.guidetopharmacology.org). This is done by an expert-driven analysis, using our >80 subcommittees.
The newsletter, Pharmacology International, is published every June and December. It reports on the latest developments within IUPHAR and offers opportunities for member societies to share information about their organizations and meetings.
The IUPHAR Committee on Receptor Nomenclature and Drug Classification (NC-IUPHAR) issues official reports, which are published in leading pharmacology journals. in 2017, the following publications appeared:
Szabo C, Papapetropoulos A. (2017) International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. CII. Pharmacological Modulation of H2S Levels: H2S Donors and H2S Biosynthesis Inhibitors. Pharmacol Rev. 69: 497-564. [PMID:28978633]
Dessauer CW, Watts VJ, Ostrom RS, Conti M, Dove S, Seifert R. (2017) International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. CI. Structures and Small Molecule Modulators of Mammalian Adenylyl Cyclases. Pharmacol Rev. 69: 93-139. [PMID:28255005]
Kaczmarek LK, Aldrich RW, Chandy CG, Grissmer S, Wei AD, Wulff H. (2017) International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. C. Nomenclature and Properties of Calcium-Activated and Sodium-Activated Potassium Channels. Pharmacol Rev. 69: 1-11. [PMID:28267675]
XVIIth World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology 2014 (WCP2014) Cape Town, South Africa July 13 - 18, 2014 Proceedings: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bcpt.2014.115.issue-s1/issuetoc Publisher: Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (Wiley-Blackwell)
The XVIIIth World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology 2018 (WCP2018) will be held July 1 - 5, 2018 in Kyoto, Japan. It will be posted by the Japanese Pharmacological Society and the Japanese Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Please visit www.wcp2018.org for additional information.
Stephen Alexander, UKEamonn Kelly, UKNeil Marrion, UKJohn Peters, UK
For a complete list of contributors please visit the British Journal of Pharmacology site.
The IUPHAR Integrative and Organ Systems Pharmacology Initiative, a subcommittee of the Education Section, assists local organizers in delivering one to three day workshops to early career researchers, primarily in developing countries. Experts are brought in to teach essential laboratory and animal skills, with an emphasis on the 3Rs (replace, reduce, refine).
IUPHAR supported travel fellowships of young scientists from developing countries to meetings.
IUPHAR offers www.PharmacoCareers.org, a career site specifically dedicated to pharmacologists throughout the world. A modest fee is charged to Employers who list their available positions. There is no charge to JobSeekers for posting their curriculum vitae nor for Employers to peruse them. Funds earned through PharmacoCareers support the non-profit activities of IUPHAR.
The IUPHAR database (IUPHAR-DB; www.iuphar-db-org) has been subsumed into this larger effort, a necessary evolution because of our wish to cover all potential drug targets. A collaboration with the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) has also produced the first edition of the new Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY, the successor to the BPS Guide to Receptors and Channels (GRAC). There are now a total of 2664 targets in the database, 6881 ligands, 1000 approved drugs, 575 isotopically-labelled ligands, 41461 binding constants, 489 targets with mapped approved drugs, ~450 kinases with pharmacology.
IUPHAR dedicates substantial resources to assist emerging economies in instituting and growing pharmacology as a discipline. These efforts nclude hands-on workshops, symposia, mentoring and free access to the GUIDE TO PHARMACOLOGY. Where applicable, IUPHAR can offer guidance and templates for creating new national pharmacology societies in those countries that do not currently have one.
IUPHAR dedicates substantial resources to assist emerging economies in instituting and growing pharmacology as a discipline. These efforts nclude hands-on workshops, symposia, mentoring and free access to the GUIDE TO PHARMACOLOGY. Where applicable, IUPHAR can offer guidance and templates for creating new national pharmacology societies in those countries that do not currently have one.