PRECLINICAL METHODS FOR PREDICTING DRUG INTERACTIONS
Although understanding and anticipating pharmacokinetic drug interactions areimportant components of rational therapeutics,
there is a limit to the number and scopeof clinical studies that can reasonably be performed.
The development of human invitro models allows information to be obtained without the expense and potential risksinvolved in conducting human trials.
However, scaling of in vitro data to the clinicalsituation is not always accurate,
and the results of these methods may not be definitive.
A primary focus of preclinical screening methods for assessing drug–drug interactionsis the identification of isozymes responsible for the metabolism of these compoundsand the relative contribution of an inhibited pathway to a compound’s overall elimination.