Pharmacokinetics of Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation

Dear Colleagues,

Pregnancy and the postpartum period are associated with several anatomical and physiological changes that can alter the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of many drugs. For certain drugs, dosing changes may be required during pregnancy and postpartum to achieve drug exposures comparable to what is observed in non-pregnant populations. Currently, there is a lack in data on fetal drug exposure during pregnancy, and neonatal exposure through transfer of drugs via human milk during breastfeeding. The reason for this is that these populations are considerably underrepresented in clinical trials, and thereby crucial information on PK/PD is widely lacking. Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the application of modeling and simulation approaches such as population PK (PopPK) and physiologically based PK (PBPK) modelling, in combination with in vitro and ex vivo experiments, to provide guidance on drug dosing in these special patient populations. This Special Issue focuses on the current status of the application of pharmacokinetic techniques (e.g., population PK modelling, PBPK modelling) or in vitro (e.g., organ-on-a-chip) and ex vivo (placenta perfusion experiments) techniques to predict maternal and fetal exposure of drugs, and thereby guide drug therapy, during pregnancy, postpartum period and/or lactation.

Dr. Paola Mian
Prof. Dr. Daniel J. Touw
Guest Editors

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