Rudolf Buchheim Award 2026: solanidine as a dietary derived CYP2D6 biomarker

The German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT) is annually awarding the Rudolf Buchheim Award. This year the Rudolf Buchheim Award was awarded to Julian Peter Müller for outstanding work of a young researcher in the field of clinical pharmacology. He investigated the performance and applicability of the novel CYP2D6 biomarker solanidine. CYP2D6 is a genotypic and phenotypic highly variable drug-metabolizing enzyme involved in the metabolism of about 20% of commonly used drugs. Variability in CYP2D6 activity may lead to pronounced interindividual deviations in the pharmacokinetics of its drug substrates, potentially leading to adverse events or therapy failure. CYP2D6 genotyping allows to predict metabolizer phenotypes, e.g., poor, intermediate, normal or ultrarapid, but cannot take into account additional variation due to co-medication or other factors. In the awarded work he could demonstrate that a single plasma sample is sufficient for accurate CYP2D6 phenotyping, and that by using solanidine, CYP2D6 phenoconversion, a genotype-phenotype mismatch, due to polypharmacy can be elucidated. The use of the CYP2D6 biomarker solanidine allows to study non-genetic variation of CYP2D6 activity and opens up new possibilities in personalized medicine. Application of solanidine phenotyping may help to understand factors of CYP2D6 phenoconversion and may be applied with patients to optimize therapy decisions and to improve outcomes and safety.