In memoriam: Alan Richens

We are saddened to report the death of Alan Richens, recognized internationally for his research and a major driving force behind the impressive developments in the clinical pharmacology of epilepsy which took place in the 70s and the 80s. He made seminal contributions to elucidating the clinical pharmacokinetics and drug interaction profiles of ASMs and to defining the role of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in the management of epilepsy. Together with Charles Pippenger, on the other side of the Atlantic, he was the first to highlight concerns with unacceptably large inter-laboratory variability in drug assays. The international external quality control scheme that he set up in the early 70s, which still exists to these days, played a key role in improving the reliability of methods used to measure serum levels of drugs used to treat epilepsy around the word. Alan Richens was also among the first to realize the value of the randomized controlled trial in evaluating the efficacy and safety of epilepsy treatments. 

Read complete memorial tribute to Alan Richens