History

The Controlled Release Society (CRS) was established in 1973. In 1978, the society was incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation, devoted to the advancement of the science and technology in the controlled release field.

The CRS has established local "chapters" of the organization around the World. The Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter (SPLC-CRS) was formed in 1995 in Santiago de Compostela, under the auspices of Prof. Nicholas Peppas who proposed the idea in 1994. The promoters of this local chapter came from Research Centers and Academia, such as Departments of Pharmaceutical Technology from Universities of Santiago de Compostela, La Laguna, Coimbra and INETI in Lisbon.

The First Committee was headed by Prof. María José Alonso (President) and included Dr. María Eugenia Meirinhos da Cruz (Vice-president), Prof. Matías Llabrés (Treasurer), Prof. Dolores Torres López (Secretary) and Prof. Rogério Pinto de Sá Gaspar (Vice-secretary).

One of the main activities of the SPLC-CRS has been the organization of an international conference on topics pertaining to its mission and that of the CRS.

 

The I Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on September 1995.

 


Some of the Organization Committee members of the "Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery" at the City Hall of Santiago de Compostela. From left to right: Juan José Torres, María José Alonso and Dolores Torres.

 

The II Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery took place in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Spain on February 1997. It was organized in collaboration with the "Asociación de Docentes de Farmacia Galénica" (today SEFIG or Spanish Association in Industrial Pharmacy and Galenics). The new Committee elected was formed by María Eugénia Cruz (President), Manuel Guzmán, María José Alonso and Antonio Almeida.

 

The III Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held at the "Instituto Nacional de Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial" (INETI) in Lisbon, Portugal on Sseptember 1998. This event was inaugurated by the Vice-Secretary of the Minister of Economy in Portugal (Dr. Vitor Ramalho) and the President of INFARMED (Dr. Aranda da Silva). The scientific program was divided in one workshop, entitled "Trends and Future in Drug Delivery" and 5 sessions In addition, during the conference, Dr. Sergio Simões (Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra) was awarded for his excellent PhD work entitled "Delivery of Antisense Oligonucleotides and Ribozymes Mediated by pH-sensitive Enhances their anti-HIV Effect". The Committee elected was formed by José Luis Pedraz (President), António Almeida María Jose Alonso, María Barbara Martins and Rosa Hernández (Treasurer).

 

Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony of the III Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Drug Delivery. Lisbon, Portugal. From left to right: José Luis Pedraz (University of the Basque Country), Maria Eugénia Cruz (INETI) and António Almeida (University of Lisbon).

 

The IV Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery took place in Vitoria, Spain on September 2000. The conference was split into seven different sessions and one Workshop ('Patents, Generics, and Controlled Release Formulations'). The Committee elected was formed by Prof. António Rabasco (President) and Prof. Juan Manuel Ginés (Treasurer).

 

Participants
Participants in the IV Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Vitoria, Spain.

 

The V Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Seville, Spain on November 2002. Within the conference activities, the following workshops were organized: "New Trends in Controlled Release Systems" and "Therapeutical Advances in Cancer". The elected committee was headed by Prof. Rogério Gaspar and Prof. Sérgio Simões as main Secretary.

 

The VI Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Coimbra, Portugal, on March/April 2005. This conference was organized in collaboration with “Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências Farmacêuticas” and was divided into six plenary sessions and two short symposiums. All the presented works were published in "Revista Portuguesa de Farmácia" (Volume LII, nº 2). The new Eudragit-CRS award to the best PhD work was given to Dr. Angel Montero Carcaboso, from the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria, for his work entitled "Microparticulate Systems to Potentate and Modulate the Immunogenicity of the Synthetic Antimalaria Vaccine".

 

participants
Some of the participants in the VI Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Coimbra, Portugal.

 

The VII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Pamplona, Spain on October 2006. This conference was organized in several plenary sessions and a Round Table, Future trends in drug delivery.

The VIII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Alcalá de Henares, Spain on October 2008. This conference was organized in several plenary sessions and a Round Table, Future trends in drug delivery.

The IX Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Porto, Portugal on October 2011. This conference was organized in collaboration with "Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências Farmacêuticas". The conference activities included the symposium "New Regulatory Developments In Pharmacokinetic Assessment".

The X Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Valencia, Spain on November 2013, under the topic "Drug Delivery Systems from Lab to Clinic. New Trends and Opportunities".


Some of the participants in the X Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Valencia, Spain.

 

The XI Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Granada, Spain on January 2016 under the topic "Revolutionary Approaches in Nanomedicine Development".

 


Opening Ceremony of the XI Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Granada, Spain.

 

The XII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Coimbra, Portugal on January, 2018, and celebrated the 25 years of SPLC-CRS. under the topic "Tailoring Drug Delivery Systems to the Patients Needs".

 


Group photo of the participants of the XII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Coimbra, Portugal.

 

The XIII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in January 2020, and celebrated the 25th Anniversary of SPLC-CRS. Plenary Speakers included Prof. Alexander T. Florence (University of London, UK), Prof. Mark Prausnitz (Georgia Tech, USA), Prof. Steven R. Little (University of Pittsburgh, USA), Prof. Ignacio Melero (University of Navarra, Spain) and Prof. Luis Liz-Marzán (CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain). Specific topics discussed in the conference included transdermal and transmucosal delivery, therapy and prevention of infectious diseases, regenerative medicine and cell therapy, targeted drug delivery and combination therapies, delivery of biomacromolecules and oligonucleotides, and oral delivery of drugs and other active ingredients. The conference also included a discussion panel dedicated to “The perspective of the Industry in Nanomedicine” and a session dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the SPLC-CRS, which included testimonies of the past Presidents of the SPLC-CRS and of the representatives of several CRS European Local Chapters. More information can be found at the conference website: https://www.splc-crs.org/meeting-2020/

 


Group photo of the participants of the XIII Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

 

The XIV Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery was held online in January 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, under the topic "Designing the way to the peak". The conference featured Plenary Speakers Prof. Camilla Foged (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Prof. Alvaro Mata (University of Nottingham, UK) and Prof. Ben Boyd (University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Monash University, Australia), and Invited Speakers Prof. Pieter Vader (University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands), Prof. Nuno Azevedo (University of Porto, Portugal), Prof. Jesús Santamaría (University of Zaragoza, Spain), Prof. José Luis Lanciego (University of Navarra, Spain) and Dr. Meritxell Teixidó (Gate2Brain S.L., Barcelona, Spain). Discussed topics included technological tools in advanced drug delivery systems, biomimetic structures for diagnosis and therapy, hydrogels and 3d models for drug delivery systems, and innovative strategies for drug targeting. The conference also included a “Young Scientist Networking” session, a discussion session dedicated to “Positive-Negative aspects of Brain Targeted Drug Delivery Systems” and various sessions with short talks selected from abstracts and poster presentations. More information can be found at the conference website: https://www.splc-crs.org/meeting-2022/

 


Some of the participants in the XIV Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery, Online.