Can We Agree on Conferences?

Conferences are back—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Each attendee experiences their own personal journey of unanticipated surprises, small misfortunes, physical and mental challenges, beneath the general background chaos. A constellation of unknown glittering prizes draws us back each year. In some ways, it feels like being part of an instinctual migratory movement. We are swept up in the excitement of the new, whilst transformed through reunification with the old.

It was my personal pleasure to be part of the 30-year celebration award dinner for the International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council (IPEC). Over friendly and informed conversation (I sat beside Stephen Hoag from the University of Maryland), we enjoyed a fabulous meal while hearing from five new scientists on the salient points of their award-winning research. One of these, Rishi Thakkar from the University of Texas at Austin, employed one of my favorite technologies— selective laser sintering—to improve formulation porosity when dealing with poorly soluble APIs. I had not previously appreciated in any real sense the potential benefits of 3D printed drugs.

At the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), PharmSci 360 event in Philadelphia and INTERPHEX in New York City, we assembled in large num- bers huddled around gleaming machines in capacious exhibit halls. We met at intimate restaurants with new sales prospects, or past colleagues. We sat in classroom-like auditoriums to hear scientific presentations redolent of our university youth. And we arranged site visits to local suppliers or customers.