Introducing Season Three of the I'm Pharmacy Podcast: Big Problems, Bigger Solutions dropping January 24.

Big thanks to everyone who showed their support for the show and helped us bring home a silver and listener's choice signal award in the category of science and education!

The global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $1.6 trillion this year. In Canada alone, we spend close to $35 billion a year on prescription drugs. This is big money, and Big Pharma.

On the last episode of season two, we explore the world of drug pricing and access, chatting with Vice President and Head of Medical, Global Influenza and COVID Franchises Dr. Ayman Chit, and GreenShield Canada Vice-President Pharmacy Benefits Management, Dr. Ned Pojskic.

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you soon for season three!

Recent estimates suggest that close to 40% of adults over the age of 65 are prescribed at least five drugs. But is more better?

On this episode on the I'm Pharmacy Podcast we tackle the topic of optimized use, discussing the process of deprescribing, prescribing cascades, and polypharmacy with Clinician Scientist Lisa McCarthy and Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy Professor and Dean Lisa Dolovich.

How do we study the safety of drugs? Who studies them? And what does that mean to our risk tolerance of medications? Host Mina Tadrous explores these questions with Pharmacoepidemiologist Dr. Tara Gomes and Clinical Pharmacologist Dr. David Juurlink.

Today, and as we've seen throughout this pandemic, clinical trials are the commonplace for how any new treatment gets approved. It is the gatekeeper to anything getting stocked on the shelves of pharmacies or hospitals. And that's what I want to dive into in this episode. How are trials planned? What does it take to complete one? What are all the different components that go into this gold standard for clinical evidence, the final step before market access.

To help answer these questions, we chat with Dr. Rob Van Exan, a veteran of the industry with over 35 years of experience in vaccine development, and Dr. Lee Dupuis, a Clinician Scientist at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Hospital for Sick Children.

How do we pick how to introduce the right molecule into the body in the right way? Well, there's a lot of things to consider. How was it absorbed into the body? Where and how is it broken down? What's the size of the molecule? What is it treating? And where do we want it to go? There's lots of different questions to determine the right formulation. So today we explore the magic of formulations. Why is it important? How do we decide from a laundry list of different medications formulations And how do we develop new formulations that haven't yet been developed?

The process of moving from a potential drug molecule to being on the shelf of a pharmacy is a long and winding journey. On average, from the time the molecule is discovered to when it's actually approved by the FDA, it takes 12 to 15 years. More importantly, it costs close to $1 billion to bring a drug to market. It's also estimated that of the 1000s of molecules that are looked at, only a few will make it to clinical development, and following that, only five to six percent will survive and ended up being submitted for regulatory review.

So how do we choose the winning horse? On this episode of the I'm Pharmacy Podcast we talk to Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy researchers Professor Micheline Piquette Miller, Professor Raymond Reilly, and Dr. Jennifer Doucet on just what it takes to conduct translational research, and the excitement of seeing one's research leave the lab.

On this episode of the I'm Pharmacy Podcast, host Mina Tadrous finds answers to the questions: How do we figure out how where drugs work? Does this ever change? And are there more than just one way to find that final target?

Featuring discussions with Stèphane Angers, Director and Professor of U of T's Donnelly Centre, and Rob Bonin, Assistant Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Co-director of the U of T Centre for the Study of Pain.

In 1921. At the corner of university and college in Toronto, two scientists Frederick Banting, and Charles best figured out how to remove insulin from a dog's pancreas. They extracted thick brown sludge. Fast-forward 100 years, and the world is still benefiting from this momentous discovery.

As we kick-off the second season of the I'm Pharmacy Podcast, host Mina Tadrous starts with the pivotal question: Where do the ideas for new drugs start from? Where do they even start by inventing a new drug? And how does one find the next insulin?

In our last episode of the season, host Laura Lee discusses how pharmacists can use social media as a tool with Kate Richards, Director of Communications for the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.