RPS Pharma Scene #15 - Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs)
With Anne Black and David Caulfield
In this episode, RPS English Pharmacy Board member Ciara Duffy talks to Anne Black, of NHS England’s Specialist Pharmacy Service, and David Caulfield, Assistant Director of Pharmacy – Quality Assurance at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust.
They look at the remarkable promise of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). In future, these new therapies will be used to treat genetic disorders, cancer or long-term diseases; to treat, diagnose or prevent diseases, and to repair, regenerate or replace human tissue.
About Anne
Anne is a member of NHS England’s Specialist Pharmacy Service. Her role is Regional Quality Assurance Specialist Pharmacist for the North East and North Cumbria.
Anne developed an interest and expertise in clinical trials and, in particular, advanced therapy medicinal products, as she became involved with Newcastle Advanced Therapies as a Qualified Person for investigational medicinal products.
She has since used this expertise to emphasise the important role of Pharmacy to optimise patient safety in the delivery of these medicines.
Anne is Chair of the NHS Pan UK Pharmacy Working Group for ATMPs and a steering group member of the Northern Alliance Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre, as well as sitting on NHS Pharmaceutical QA Committee and the National Pharmacy Clinical Trials Advisory Group. Anne was delighted to be made a Fellow of the RPS in 2020.
About David
David is currently Assistant Director of Pharmacy – Quality Assurance at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, he has spent his career working in the NHS, briefly in clinical pharmacy roles and latterly in production and quality assurance roles.
David is passionate about delivering high quality care and with a love for science and innovation he was drawn to the field of advanced therapies. David passed his Qualified Person VIVA in 2016 and has been an operational Qualified Person across numerous dosage forms since then. He is now a Qualified Person Assessor on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and is passionate in supporting candidates within the NHS and industry in their own QP journeys, including lecturing at The University of Manchester where he did his original undergraduate degree.
He has a unique perspective of the disruption that can face the NHS in adopting these exciting therapies, but also an understanding of the extremely complicated and highly regulated area of manufacture,
David now assists industry in the shaping the design of the next generation of ATMPs to optimise adoption, maximising the incredible promise many of these therapies offer.