Cracking the PK/PD Code for Targeted Covalent Inhibitors

Moderated by:

Nicolas Duchemin – Senior Manager, Business Development at Pharmaron

Nicolas Duchemin is a Senior Business Development Manager at Pharmaron, based in France, with responsibility for the Benelux, and Switzerland. In his role, he partners with venture‑backed biotechs, emerging companies, and large pharmaceutical organisations to design and advance integrated R&D programmes spanning early discovery through preclinical development and CMC, leveraging Pharmaron’s global end‑to‑end platforms. Nicolas holds a PhD in organic synthesis from Queen Mary University of London, bringing a strong scientific foundation to his work.

Speakers:

Upendra Dhal – Scientific Director at Amgen

Upendra Dhal serves as Scientific Director within Amgen’s PKDM-BA Department. He provides representation for PKDM on cross-functional teams spanning from discovery through development, manages small molecule projects and oversees the outsourcing of ADME studies, and offers guidance to scientists and project team members. Upendra is responsible for designing and assessing both in vitro and in vivo studies to inform compound development, with particular emphasis on mitigating metabolic and drug-drug interaction risks. He leads the biotransformation group, addresses PKDM-related challenges, and prepares/reviews regulatory documentation for IND/NDA submissions. His prior experience includes roles at Celgene and Pfizer, and he has published extensively across multiple scientific disciplines. Upendra earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry, specializing in the kinetics and mechanism of Cytochrome P450, from Washington State University under Professor Jeff Jones.

Nashid Farhan – Modeling and Simulation Expert at Amgen

Nashid Farhan is a modeling and simulation expert working in the Pharmacokinetic and Drug Metabolism (PKDM) Department at Amgen. His specialization lies in small molecule pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) and physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation. As a subject matter expert (SME), he regularly develops models to predict human dose/dosing regimen, assess cardiac safety, and evaluate drug-drug interaction liabilities of small molecule drugs. In addition, Nashid is a Shiny App developer and has created multiple applications for PK/PD model fittings and simulations. Before joining Amgen, Nashid was a post-doctoral associate at the University of Florida’s Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology, where he worked both on population PK/PD and PBPK models. He received his PhD in Pharmaceutics from the University of Houston, focusing on pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, and PK/PD modeling