Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 2030

Welcome to the first issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (CPT) produced by the journals' new editorial team (Table 1). We have chosen the theme Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2030 (Figure 1) for this occasion, to share our vision for the journal with the readers, which is illustrated by a series of perspectives from thought leaders. These perspectives focus on disciplines that have traditionally been a part of CPT, as well as ones in which the field is expanding.1, 2 This decade will be the era when precision medicine and personalized therapeutics transition from concepts to routine clinical practice and clinical pharmacologists will play a leading role in not only driving this innovation but also translating it into patient benefit.2-5 This will require novel ways of collaboration that transcend geographic, organizational, and discipline boundaries6, 7 as well as adaptation of conventional linear and sequential drug development paradigm. Regulators will play an increasingly proactive role in driving and facilitating such innovation and CPT will continue to be a leading platform for dissemination of regulatory science and guidance.8-11 Data science, which continues to transform many disciplines and indeed society as a whole, will have a major impact on clinical pharmacology and health care in general. CPT aims to be the catalyst of innovation and application of data science and technology in clinical pharmacology, drug development, personalized medicine, and use of therapeutics, and by bringing together scientists at the intersection of their disciplines in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning, real-world data, integration of multi-omics, and imaging data in pharmacology models, registry-based cohorts as alternatives to randomized controlled trial design, virtual trials, social media to monitor efficacy and safety, electronic health records,12 and “open data.” Indeed, the next CPT themed issue in April 2020 is fully dedicated to Data Science, underscoring the importance of this topic. In addition, the new role of Chief Statistical Advisor has been created to ensure that the highest standard of study design, analysis, and interpretation are maintained across the journal and that all articles adhere to common best statistical practices.13 CPT will increasingly emphasize therapeutics, as the revolution in modalities results in a spectrum of novel treatment options, which requires clinical pharmacologists and educators14 to adapt and develop a new set of skills, knowledge, and expertise in areas like cell-based and gene-based therapies, and immune and combination therapies15, 16 as well as delivery technology.17 New therapeutic targets will be discovered as the druggable genome is revealed and extends beyond the human genome to the microbiome, which is now considered to be amenable for therapeutic interventions.18 The journal will continue to focus on therapeutic innovations across all therapeutic areas and diseases. In some cases, most notably oncology, there is a wide belief and expectation that this will be a transformational decade for scientists, clinicians, and, most importantly, patients, and that diseases that are currently considered to be untreatable and deathly will become curable. The Perspectives in this issue should be considered as a preview of the full themed issue scheduled for September 2020 on Therapeutic Innovations in Oncology.16, 19 In other “big” therapeutic areas, the focus is perhaps more on evolution than revolution of therapy. One of society's biggest challenges, Alzheimer's disease, sits at the other end of the excitement spectrum; by any standards clinical pharmacology (among many other disciplines) has not yet been able to make a significant contribution to patients' lives.20 Rare diseases and global health have been largely ignored for too long but there are encouraging signs that we will witness a significant shift in this decade, due to scientific breakthroughs as well as changes in the socio-economic and demographic landscape.21, 22 In addition, patient perspective is recognized as a driver for therapeutic innovation23 and CPT aims to provide a platform for novel patient-oriented drug development approaches and precision and personalized medicine in special populations.24-26 CPT will continue to publish authoritative guidelines and position papers by leading experts in the field. For example, in addition to the highly impactful guidelines by the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC),27 the journal will now also publish reviews by the Pharmacogene Variation (PharmVar) consortium to facilitate the interpretation of pharmacogenetic test results to guide precision medicine.28, 29 The journal will continue to publish themed issues, but they will appear less frequently and will contain a larger number and broader range of articles aligned with the theme, including original research. An important new feature is that contributions for themed issues will no longer be by invitation only and open calls for papers will be issued. Every publication in CPT has gone through a rigorous peer and editorial review process and we are indebted to the large number of expert volunteers and our Editorial Board without whom this would not be possible. We are honored and excited to embark on CPT's journey through the next decade. No funding was received for this work. The authors declared no competing interests for this work.