Lloyd Wei Tat Tang is the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for the August 2022 issue. He is currently a fourth and final-year PhD candidate in the Department of Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore under the tutelage of Professor Eric Chan. The JPET article that earned his selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Identification of Infigratinib as a Potent Reversible Inhibitor and Mechanism-Based Inactivator of CYP2J2: Nascent Evidence for a Potential In Vivo Metabolic Drug-Drug Interaction with Rivaroxaban” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.122.001222.

Mr. Tang’s doctoral research focuses on the biochemical basis and pharmacokinetic implications of cytochrome P450-mediated metabolic activation of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitors. In this publication, he and his collaborators illuminated that infigratinib elicited potent reversible inhibition and mechanism-based inactivation of CYP2J2 and predicted its co-administration with the direct oral anticoagulant, rivaroxaban, might potentially culminate in a metabolic drug-drug interaction (DDI) and lead to an increased risk of major bleeding via static model.

Given the emerging role of infigratinib as a therapeutic agent for FGFR-linked cancers along with the fact that rivaroxaban is steadily gaining prominence as the anticoagulant of choice in the treatment of cancer-associated venous thromboembolism, the DDI projections reported here are clinically relevant and warrants further investigation via physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling and simulation. He is currently working on wrapping up his dissertation and aspires to continue postdoctoral research in the field of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics.

When not working in the laboratory, Lloyd enjoys scuba diving and reading poetry. He also enjoys experimenting with exotic coffee blends and different brewing methods.