Prof. Yan Xiaoyu

About me

Yan Xiaoyu 閆曉宇

Assistant Professor
School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 3943 5012
Fax:(852) 2603 5295
Email: xiaoyuyan@cuhk.edu.hk

Personal Details

Xiaoyu Yan received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, China. He also received a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences from University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He obtained his PhD in 2012 from Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo (SUNY). After his PhD, he worked as a clinical pharmacometrician/pharmacologist at Janssen Research & Development (Johnson & Johnson) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, USA.

During his time in pharmaceutical industry, Xiaoyu applied model informed drug development approaches to help the development team not only better understand disease and target, but also find the right dose for the right patient at right time. He has contributed to the global approval of several new therapies for diseases in various areas, such as oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, and neuroscience.

Xiaoyu joined the School of Pharmacy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in September 2018. His research interests are focused on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of therapeutic biologics, and utilization of modeling and simulation approaches to optimize drug therapy and develop new treatment strategy.

***Xiaoyu’s group has openings for postdoctoral fellows, MPhil/PhD students, research assistants, visiting scholars. Candidates with a background in relative areas (biochemistry/molecular biology, pharmacology, cell biology, immunology, biochemical engineering, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, mathematics, statistics or other field related) are welcome to apply. Please contact Dr. Yan (xiaoyuyan@cuhk.edu.hk) for more information.***

Research

Research Interests

Xiaoyu’s current research is focused on the development of new therapies for anemic patients demonstrating resistance to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). ESAs is a class of therapeutic proteins functioning as erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) agonists. They stimulate the production of red blood cells by binding to EPOR on erythroid cells in bone marrow, and stimulate their proliferation and differentiation.

ESAs has transformed the way of managing the anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), who may need blood transfusion otherwise. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is the first approved ESA by US FDA in 1989 to treat anemia associated with CKD. However, up to 10% of anemic patients failed to show a satisfactory response to rHuEPO, and still require blood transfusion eventually. This phenomenon was named EPO resistance. The EPO resistance is also associated with increased risk of death or cardiovascular events.

Xiaoyu’s previous work suggested the rHuEPO treatment can induce erythroid precursor pool depletion, which may contribute to EPO resistance. Accordingly, his current work is to further the understanding role of precursor depletion in EPO resistance, and look for new therapeutic strategy that may alleviate rHuEPO induced precursor depletion. This work may provide new treatment option for anemic patients showing EPO resistance, and reduce their transfusion burden.

Teaching

Teaching

  • MEDF1021 Faculty Package: Public Health & Healthcare Ethics
  • MEDF1031 Faculty Package: Communication Skills
  • PHAR1004 Personal Development in Pharmacy
  • PHAR2220 Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics
  • PHAR2313 Pharmaceutical Product Development and Manufacturing
  • PHAR3420 Pharmacogenomics and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
  • PHAR4401 Industrial Pharmacy Clerkship : Multi-national Company
  • PHAR4911 Research Project I
  • PHAR5130 Overview of Drug Development
  • GENA1113 General Education

Publications

Representative Publications

(* Corresponding author)

  1. Zou H, Wong RSM, Yan X*. Thrombopoietin treats erythropoietin resistance by correcting EPO-induced progenitorcell depletion. Biochem Pharmacol. 2023 Dec 26:220:116008. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2023.116008.
  2. Fan X, Krzyzanski W, Wong RSM, Liu D*, Yan X*. A novel combination of erythropoietin and romiplostim to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia and thrombocytopenia via pharmacodynamic interaction on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. ACS Pharmacol. Transl. Sci. 2023 Nov 15;6(12):1884-1897. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.3c00194
  3. Xu P, Wong RSM, Yan X*. The influence of precursor depletion and dose regimens on resistance to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents: insights from simulations with instantaneous dose-adaptation algorithm. J. Pharm. Sci. 2023 Oct 10. doi: 10.1016/j.xphs.2023.10.037
  4. Chen C, Fan X, Zhang Lin, Xu P, Zou H, Zhao X, Gupta M, Feng YS, Xu SX*, Yan X*. Clearance as an early indicator of efficacy for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies: circumventing dose selection challenges in oncology. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2023 Mar 17. doi: 10.1007/s40262-023-01231-9.
  5. Fan X, Krzyzanski W, Liu D, Wong RSM, Yan X*. Scaling pharmacodynamics from rats to humans to support erythropoietin and romiplostim combination therapy to treat erythropoietin-resistant anemia. Pharmaceutics. 2023;15(2):344. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020344
  6. Zhang L, Sun H, Liu Y, Lai X, Gong Y, Liu X, Li Y, Yang H, Zhang EY, Yan X*. Semi-mechanistic population pharmacokinetics analysis reveals distinct CYP2C19 dependency in the bioactivation of vicagrel and clopidogrel to active metabolite M15-2. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2022 Jul 20;177:106264. doi: 10.1016/j.ejps.2022.106264.
  7. Zou H, Xu P, Wong RSM, Yan X*. A novel combination therapy of erythropoietin and thrombopoietin to treat erythropoietin-resistance anemia. Pharm Res. 2022 Jun 3. doi: 10.1007/s11095-022-03304-z.
  8. Xu P, Wong RSM, Krzyzanski W, Yan X*. Dynamics of erythroferrone response to erythropoietin in rats. Front Pharmacol. 2022 Apr 20;13:876573. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.876573.
  9. Fan X, Krzyzanski W, Wong RSM, Yan X*. Fate determination role of erythropoietin and romiplostim in the lineage commitment of hematopoietic progenitors. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2022 Apr 30. doi: 10.1124/jpet.122.001130.
  10. Zou H, Zhang Y, Zhong D, Jiang Y, Liu F, Zho Q, Zuo Z, Zhang Y*, Yan X*. Effect of autoinduction and food on the pharmacokinetics of furmonertinib and its active metabolite characterized by a population pharmacokinetic model. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica. 2021 Nov 17. doi: 10.1038/s41401-021-00798-y.

More Publications

Supplementary Information

Awards

  • Janssen R&D, Innovation Leadership Awards, 2016
  • Janssen R&D, Innovation Leadership Awards, 2015
  • Janssen R&D, Innovation Leadership Awards, 2014
  • McKeen Cattell Memorial Award, American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) Recognition Award, Washington, DC 2013
  • American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (ASCPT) Presidential Trainee Award, ASCPT Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN 2013
  • Graduate Student Symposium Award PPDM/CPTR, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2011
  • Travel Award by AAPS Executive Council, AAPS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2010
  • Pfizer Canada Centennial Pharmacy Research Award, Saskatoon, Canada 2006

Professional Memberships

  • American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
  • American College of Clinical Pharmacology
  • International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISoP)
  • American Society Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

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