NSU Newsroom
SharkBytes
Horizons
This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
NSU Pharmacy Researcher Presents at Conference
Mutasem Rawas-Qalaji, B. Pharm, Ph.D., speaks at the 5th Annual National Conference of the Syrian American Medical Society in Orlando
Mutasem Rawas-Qalaji, B. Pharm, Ph.D., associate professor, NSU College of Pharmacy, spoke about his recent novel approach in treating organophosphate toxicities at the 5th Annual National Conference of the Syrian American Medical Society in Orlando on February 12-14. The title of Rawas-Qalaji’s presentation was “An Overview of Organophosphates Toxicities: Current Treatment and Potential Alternatives.”
The use of organophosphates worldwide, as nerve agents and pesticides, was reported to cause 3 million toxicity cases per year. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, almost 10,000 toxicity cases were recorded between 2011 and 2013 in the United States due to their use as pesticides. The sublingual route has been investigated as an accessible and user-friendly alternative route of administration for atropine, an antidote for organophosphates toxicity.
Rawas-Qalaji, along with his Ph.D. students, developed and evaluated the feasibility of the sublingual diffusion of atropine using novel rapidly disintegrating sublingual tablets. Their ex vivo studies have shown the sublingual membrane is permeable to atropine and has the potential as an alternative route for the administration of atropine for the potential out-of-hospital first-aid treatment of organophosphates toxicity. These findings were patented through the World International Patent Office (WIPO) # PCT/US2015/053713, October 2, 2015 and published as a peer reviewed abstracts in the AAPS 2015:W5147 – Orlando, FL (Oct. 25-29, 2015).
The research team consisted of Mutasem Rawas-Qalaji, B. Pharm., Ph.D., Alhussain Aodah, Ph.D. candidate, and Rawan Bafail, Ph.D. student, at NSU.