Katherine Kay, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Manager Science Communications

Katherine joined Metrum in August 2018 as a Research Scientist. Katherine completed her Ph.D at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), University of Liverpool, UK. Her dissertation work involved developing and implementing pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) models of antimalarial drug action. In collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Katherine translated these models of drug action into their open-source simulation platform of malaria epidemiology and control, “OpenMalaria”. Katherine continued to collaborate with Swiss TPH as a post-doctoral research associate based at LSTM. Her work extended antimalarial PK-PD model methodology to investigate drug resistance and to optimize dosing regimens in malaria treatment, and contributed to ongoing insecticide resistance modeling.

In 2015, Katherine moved to the University at Buffalo, NY, USA, where she developed a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to characterize the physiological structure of the vaginal space and the absorption/distribution of vaginally administered drugs. The model specifically focused on the administration of antiretroviral compounds delivered via either a ring or film formulation and aimed at optimizing the probability of success of vaginally administered antiretroviral drugs.

Recent publications by this scientist

Population Pharmacokinetic (PK) and Exposure-Response (ER) Analysis of Empagliflozin in Pediatric Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM)

November 15, 2023

Presented at ACoP14. Empagliflozin, effective for type 2 diabetes in adults and children, underwent Study 1218.91 to assess its safety and efficacy over 26 weeks (with potential extension to 52 weeks) in children and adolescents. Using pediatric data from this study, researchers re-evaluated empagliflozin’s models in a Bayesian framework. Results showed similar drug exposure between children and adults at a 10 mg dose. At week 26, pediatric patients displayed a slightly larger but variable decrease in A1c compared to adults. This Bayesian method allowed insights into empagliflozin’s effects in children, drawing from knowledge gained in adult studies.

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Population Pharmacokinetic and Exposure-Response Analysis of Linagliptin in Pediatric Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

November 15, 2023

Presented at ACoP14. This study assessed linagliptin’s effectiveness and safety in children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes over 26 weeks, potentially extending to 52 weeks. The study re-evaluated models developed for adults and adolescents to understand linagliptin’s impact on pediatric patients’ HbA1c levels. Results indicated slightly higher and more varied linagliptin exposure in children compared to adults at a 5 mg dose. Although pediatric patients had a smaller and variable HbA1c reduction versus adults at week 26, the Bayesian approach helped characterize linagliptin’s effects in children based on limited data, borrowing insights from adult studies.

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Impact of Drug Exposure on Resistance Selection Following Artemether-Lumefantrine Treatment for Malaria in Children With and Without HIV in Uganda

November 14, 2022

Katherine Kay, Justin Goodwin, Hanna Ehrlich, Joyce Ou, Tracey Freeman, Kaicheng Wang, Fangyong Li, Martina Wade, Jonathan French, Liusheng Huang, Francesca Aweeka, Norah Mwebaza, Richard Kajubi, Matthew Riggs, Ana Ruiz-Garcia, Sunil Parikh. Clin Pharmacol Ther. Published online October 19, 2022. doi:10.1002/cpt.2768

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