TPRG

Adeniyi Olagunju

Ebenezer Adeniyi Olagunju

Dr.

Dr. Adeniyi Olagunju is a Wellcome Trust Fellow and an Affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Adeniyi holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Liverpool. With funding from the Wellcome Trust, he is currently investigating the effect of host genetics on the dynamics of the HIV-1 virus and antiretroviral drugs in fluids associated with mother-to-child transmission of HIV (plasma, genital fluid, and breastmilk).

In addition to developing novel bioanalytical methods to quantify drugs in biological matrices, using physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modelling to assess fetal and infant exposure to maternal therapeutic drugs in utero and through breastmilk is a key aspect of Dr. Olagunju’s work.

Research Interest

  • For the past few years, I have investigated the influence of host genetics on the pharmacokinetics of antiretroviral drugs used for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy and lactation.
  • My research interests presently includes development and application of novel strategies to investigate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs during pregnancy. This includes identifying opportunities for optimizing therapy to maintain efficacy and mitigate toxicity. I am also interested in clinical lactation studies to investigate infant exposure to maternal therapeutic drugs through breast milk, including the development of novel bioanalytical methods to quantify drugs in human breast milk and plasma.
  • I am also interested in novel applications of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling in pregnancy and lactation studies. This includes understanding the pharmacodynamic consequences of pregnancy-induced changes in drug disposition and development of therapy optimisation strategies, as well as predicting infants’ exposure to maternal drugs through breast milk.
  • Completed/Ongoing Research Projects: Click on the links below for details about completed and ongoing projects.

Research grants

  • Wellcome Trust International Training Fellowship. Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom. Title: Investigating the influence of pregnancy-induced changes in antiretroviral pharmacokinetics together with polymorphisms in drug disposition genes on viral decay dynamics in HIV positive women starting therapy late in pregnancy and postpartum.

Publications

1. Adegbola A, Abutaima R, Olagunju A, Ijarotimi O, Siccardi M, Owen A, Soyinka J, Bolaji O. Effect of pregnancy on the pharmacokinetic interaction between efavirenz and lumefantrine in HIV-malaria co-infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018; doi: 10.1128/AAC.01252-18.

2. Olagunju A, Rajoli RKR, Khoo S, Owen A and Siccardi M. Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modelling of infant exposure to efavirenz through breastfeeding. [version 1; referees: 2 approved with reservations]. AAS Open Res. 2018; 1:16 (doi: 10.12688/aasopenres.12860.1).

3. Waitt C, Olagunju A, Nakalema S, Kyohaire I, Owen A, Lamorde M, Khoo S. Plasma and breast milk pharmacokinetics of emtricitabine, tenofovir and lamivudine using dried blood and breast milk spots in nursing African mother-infant pairs. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2018; 73(4):1013-1019.

4. Olagunju A. Schipani, A. Bolaji, O. Khoo, S. Owen, A. Evaluation of universal versus genotype-guided efavirenz dose reduction in pregnant women using population pharmacokinetic modelling. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2018; 73(1):165-172.

5. Neary M, Lamorde M, Olagunju A, Darin KM, Merry C, Byakika-Kibwika P, Back DJ, Siccardi M, Owen A, Scarsi KK. The Effect of Gene Variants on Levonorgestrel Pharmacokinetics when Combined with Antiretroviral Therapy containing Efavirenz or Nevirapine. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2017; 102(3):529-536.

6. Waitt C, Penchala SD, Olagunju A, Amara A, Else LJ, Lamorde M, and Khoo S. Development, validation and clinical application of a method for the simultaneous quantification of lamivudine, emtricitabine and tenofovir in dried blood and dried breast milk spots using LC-MS/MS. Journal of Chromatography B. 2017; 1060:300–307.

7. Izevbekhai O, Adeagbo B, Olagunju A, Bolaji O. Quality of artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs marketed in Nigeria. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2017; 111(2): 90-6.

8. Olagunju A, Bolaji O, Neary M, Back D, Khoo S, Owen A. Pregnancy affects nevirapine pharmacokinetics – evidence from a CYP2B6 genotype-guided observational study. Pharmacogenetics and Genomics. 2016; 26(8):381-9.

9. Olagunju A, Khoo S, Owen A. Pharmacogenetics of nevirapine excretion into breast milk and infants’ exposure through breast milk versus post-exposure prophylaxis. Pharmacogenomics. 2016; 17(8):891-906.

10. Bienczak A, Cook A, Wiesner L, Olagunju A, Mulenga V, Kityo C, Kekitiinwa A, Owen A, Walker S, Gibb D, McIlleron H, Burger D, Denti P. The impact of genetic polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of efavirenz in African children. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2016; 82(1):185-98.

11. Olagunju A, Amara A, Waitt C, Else L, Penchala S, Bolaji O, Soyinka J, Siccardi M, Back D, Owen A, et al. Validation and clinical application of a method to quantify nevirapine in dried blood spots and dried breast milk spots. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2015; 70(10):2816-22.

12. Siccardi M, Olagunju A, Simiele M, D’Avolio A, Calcagno A, Bonora S, Di Perri G, Owen A. Class-specific relative genetic contribution for key antiretroviral drugs. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2015; 70(11):3074-9.

13. Olagunju A, Bolaji O, Amara A, Waitt C, Else L, Adejuyigbe E, Siccardi M, Back D, Khoo S, Owen A. Breast milk pharmacokinetics of efavirenz and breastfed infants’ exposure in genetically-defined subgroups of mother-infant pairs: an observational study. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2015; 61(3):453-63.

14. Olagunju A, Bolaji O, Amara A, Else L, Okafor O, Adejuyigbe E, Oyigboja J, Back D, Khoo S, Owen A. Pharmacogenetics of pregnancy-induced changes in efavirenz pharmacokinetics. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2015; 97(3):298-306.

15. Olagunju A, Bolaji O, Amara A, Waitt C, Else L, Soyinka J, Adeagbo B, Adejuyigbe E, Siccardi M, Back D, Owen A, Khoo S. Development, validation and clinical application of a novel method for the quantification of efavirenz in dried breast milk spots using LC-MS/MS. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2015; 70(2):555-61.

16. Amara A, Else L, Tjia J, Olagunju A, Puls RL, Khoo S, Back DJ. A validated method for quantification of efavirenz in dried blood spots (DBS) using HPLC-MS/MS. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 2015; 37:220-8.

17. Olagunju A, Siccardi M, Amara A, Jevtovic D, Kusic J, Owen A, Dragovic G. CYP2B6 516G>T (rs3745274) and smoking status are associated with efavirenz plasma concentration in a Serbian cohort of HIV patients. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 2014; 36(6):734-8.

18. Olagunju A, Schipani A, Siccardi M, Egan D, Khoo S, Back D, Owen A. CYP3A4*22 (c.522-191 C>T; rs35599367) is associated with lopinavir pharmacokinetics in HIV-positive adults. Pharmacogenetics and Genomics. 2014; 24(9):459-463.

19. Siccardi M, Rajoli RKR, Curley P, Olagunju A, Moss D, Owen A. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic models for the optimization of antiretroviral therapy: recent progress and future perspective. Future Virology. 2013;8(9):871-90.

20. Siccardi M, Olagunju A, Seden K, Ebrahimjee F, Rannard S, Back D, Owen A. Use of a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model to simulate artemether dose adjustment for overcoming the drug-drug interaction with efavirenz. In Silico Pharmacology. 2013;1(4).

21. Olagunju A, Owen A and Cressey TR. Potential effect of pharmacogenetics on maternal, fetal and infant antiretroviral drug exposure during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Pharmacogenomics. 2012; 13(13): 1501-1522.

Conference Papers:

1. Olagunju A, Rajoli RKR, Bolaji O, Back D, et al. Prediction of Infant Exposure to Maternal Drugs from Breast Milk Using PBPK Modeling. The 23rd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, USA; February 22-25, 2016.

2. Olagunju A, Amara A, Else L, Back D, et al. Pharmacogenetics of Pregnancy-Induced Changes in Efavirenz Pharmacokinetics. The 22nd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). Washington State Convention Centre, Seattle, WA, USA; February 23-26, 2015.

3. Olagunju A, Schipani A, Siccardi M, Egan D, et al. Effect of CYP3A4*22 (rs35599367) on lopinavir pharmacokinetics in HIV-positive adults. 15th International Workshop on Clinical Pharmacology of HIV & Hepatitis Therapy. W Washington Hotel, Washington DC, USA; May 19 – 21, 2014.

4. Olagunju A, Siccardi M, Okafor O, Bolaji O, Khoo S, Owen A. Pharmacogenetics of efavirenz excretion into human breast milk and transfer to breastfed infants. The 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). March 3-6, 2014, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, USA.

5. Siccardi M, Olagunju A, Simiele M, D’Avolio A, Calcagno A, Di Perri G, Bonora S, Owen A. Relative genetic contribution (rGC) for Cmin across a range of commonly prescribed antiretroviral drugs. The 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). March 3-6, 2014, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, USA.

6. Olagunju A, Amara A, Tjia J, Siccardi M, Oyigboja J, Bolaji O, Khoo S, Owen A. Exposure of breastfed infants to maternal efavirenz from breast milk. The 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. March 3-6, 2013, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, USA.

7. Siccardi M, Olagunju A, Curley P, Khoo S, Back D, Owen A. Prediction of Etravirine Pharmacogenetics using a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic approach. The 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. March 3-6, 2013, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, USA.

8. Amara A, Tjia J, Olagunju A, Else L, Khoo S, Back D. Development and validation of a HPLC-MS/MS assay to quantify the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) anti-retroviral drug efavirenz in dried blood spots (DBS). British Mass Spectrometry Society Annual Meeting 2012 – Speeding Things Up; 17-18 April 2012.

9. Bolaji O, Olagunju A. Quality of artesunate-containing antimalarials marketed in Nigeria. Abstract # MIM16701029. Oral presentation at the 5th MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference, 2 – 6 November 2009, Nairobi, Kenya.

Teaching and Learning

  • Practical Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PHC 203)
  • Medicinal Chemistry I (PHC 401)
  • Medicinal Chemistry II (PHC 402)
  • Principles of Drug Development and Design (PHC 501)
  • Pharmaceutical Analysis and Drug Quality Control (PHC 508)
  • Chemistry of Natural Products and Newer Synthetic Drugs (PHC 601)
  • Biopharmaceutics and Relevant Pharmacokinetics (PHC 602)

Collaborators

Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex

  • Professor Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe

Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi

  • Dr. Damien Anweh

University of Liverpool

  • Professor David Back
  • Professor Andrew
  • Professor Saye Khoo
  • Dr Marco Siccardi

University of California San Diego

  • Professor Douglas Richman

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

  • Professor Judith Glynn

Professional Membership

  • Member, International Antiviral Society
  • Member, International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology
  • Member, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria
  • Member, Nigerian Association of Pharmacists in Academia
  • Member, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists