Newsletter No. 404

10 No. 404, 4.10.2012 藥物有何引人入勝之處? 自從上世紀四十年代盤尼西林面世開始,藥物在延長全球人口平均壽命方面舉足輕重。服藥竟可退 熱止咳,令小時候的我覺得很神奇。但我當時根本沒有想過唸藥劑學,我想做的是藝術家,但父親 勸我做別的。科學有種內蘊的創意,就像藝術一樣。有些科學家退休後轉投藝術,未必是偶然。我 以前閒暇時喜歡製作彩繪玻璃,玩黑房攝影,現在則把創意投入閱讀,思索新科技將怎樣帶領我 們。 怎樣會在美國修讀藥劑學? 我在皇仁書院唸中學,本想碰運氣敲港大醫科的門,不過,唸完中六那年,父母卻把我送到美國。由 於在美國唸醫科須先有本科學位,我就選了藥劑學。在藥劑學院的第二年,教授覺得我在有機化學 方面有天分,把我帶到研究之路,就此沒有回頭。 你曾是南加州大學的眼科教授,可以談一下眼科藥物嗎? 我領導了一個由美國國家衞生研究院資助的研究,改善眼科藥物療效,歷時二十多年。眼睛是最典 型的矛盾體,你可以接觸它,但注入的藥物,被它吸收的不會超過百分之一,其餘可能會進入血管, 由此造成藥物安全的問題,在孩童和老人身上尤其堪虞。年紀大了,黃斑部病變的機會隨之增加。 有效的藥物是有的,但要靠每隔一或兩個月直接注射進眼部,舒 緩或停止視力退化的速度。這個程序帶有風險,對病人也非常 不便。很明顯,當前急務是發明一種非介入的方法把挽留視 力的藥物傳輸給病人。 你希望藥劑學院在教學、研究和學術連繫等方面怎 樣發展? 現時,每位教學人員的教學與行政負荷是相當高的。由於 教員人數將因應學額倍增而上升,學院將抓緊機會,提升 研究表現。我們的長遠目標是成為亞洲地區的臨床試驗中 心,類似美國國家衞生研究院的那一種。但這不能單 靠我們自己成事,必須協同姊妹院校的網絡。 我希望學院持續擔當領導角色,改進香港藥劑專 業和醫療保健的水平。我們的臨牀藥劑學碩士 課程辦得非常成功,最新推出的藥物製造及品 質學理學碩士課程,將有助提高香港的製藥水 準。 身為藥品專家,會否特別在意人們如何服 用處方藥物? 不正確用藥、或濫用藥物,不知不覺形成 了一股席捲全球的趨勢。目前,醫療保健 體系負擔過重,只得給長期病患者處 方足夠三四個月用的大量藥物, 藥物不良反應便是這樣導致 的。身為柏金遜症病人,我 受惠於香港的醫療保健系 統,也正好能指出制度中 藥物安全的漏洞,藥劑師 正是最有資格去填補這 漏洞的。 談談你設計的藥劑學 院院徽吧。 藥劑學是科學為本的學 科,院徽掌握了這個主 題,蘊含把科學轉化為安 全、有效和可負擔的藥物 之意。藍色緞帶代表學 院,綠色代表師生和校 友,兩者形成雙螺旋狀, 恰好是數學中代表無限 的符號。 請掃描QR碼閱讀全文版 Scan the QR code for the full version Photos of Professor Lee in this issue are by Keith Hiro What’s so fascinating about drugs? Drugs have played a pivotal role in the impressive rise in life expectancy worldwide beginning with the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s. As a kid, I was fascinated by how medicine made my fever and coughing magically go away. But pharmacy wasn’t on my radar screen then. My dream was to become an artist, but my dad convinced me otherwise. There’s an innate creativity in science, as there is in art. It may not be a coincidence that some scientists turn to art in their retirement. I used to make stained glass and do darkroom photography in my spare time. Now I indulge my creative side by reading and pondering about where the new technologies would lead us. How did you get into pharmacy in the US? I was a student at Queen’s College on my way to try my luck at pursuing medicine at HKU. Instead my parents sent me to America after I finished Lower Form 6. Since an undergraduate degree was an admission requirement for medical school in the US, I selected pharmacy. During my second year in pharmacy school, my aptitude for organic chemistry caught the attention of my professor, who introduced me to the world of research. There was no turning back. You were also professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California. Could you tell us a little about drugs for the eyes? I led an NIH-funded research programme in optimizing ocular drug therapeutics for more than two decades. The eye is a perfect example of paradox. It is accessible, yet it does not allow more than 1% of the instilled dose to be absorbed. The remainder may find its way into the bloodstream, thereby posing a drug safety concern. This is especially relevant for children and seniors. As we age, the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration increases. Nevertheless, potent medicine is available but only by direct injection into the eye, either monthly or bimonthly, to slow down or halt the deterioration in vision. This is a risky procedure that probably is inconvenient to the patient. Clearly, a non-invasive way for administering vision-saving medicine into patients’ eyes is urgently needed. How would you like to see the school develop in terms of teaching, research and academic links? Currently, the teaching and administrative load of our teaching staff per capita is relatively high. In anticipation of the increase in staff with a rise in student quota, the school should seize this opportunity to raise its research profile. It should be so bold as to champion the cause of establishing a regional clinical trial centre for Asia, akin to the NIH Clinical Center. We cannot do this alone. We must engage our network of sister institutions. I like to see our school continue its leadership role in improving the standard of pharmacy practice, and, in turn, health care, in Hong Kong. Our Master of Clinical Pharmacy Programme has been very successful. Our brand-new Master of Science Programme in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Quality has the capacity of lifting the quality standard of pharmaceuticals manufactured in Hong Kong. Does being an expert in pharmaceuticals make you particularly sensitive to how people use prescription drugs? There’s a silent epidemic of prescription drug misuse or abuse worldwide. Our over-burdened health care system has tried to cope with the avalanche of patients by providing those with chronic diseases lots of pills for as long as three to four months. This is a recipe for adverse drug events. As a beneficiary of the Hong Kong health care system by way of my Parkinson’s disease, I can pinpoint the gaps in drug safety that pharmacists are most qualified to fill. You designed the logo of the School of Pharmacy. Tell us about it. Pharmacy is a science-based profession. The logo captures this theme, which drives the translation of scientific advances into safe, efficacious, and affordable medicine. The blue ribbon represents the school, the green its students, staff and alumni. Together the two arms trace out the shape of a double helix, which happens to be the mathematical symbol for infinity. Prof. Vincent H.L. Lee Director, School of Pharmacy 李漢良教授 藥劑學院院長

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