In silico organ modelling in predicting efficacy and safety of new medicines

Book section

The development of new medicines faces important challenges due to difficulties in the assessment of their efficacy and their safety in the targeted human population. In silico approaches through the use of mathematical modelling and computer simulations are increasingly being used to overcome some of the limitations of current experimental methods used in the development of new medicines. This chapter describes state-of-the-art in silico approaches for the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of medicines targeting important causes of mortality such as cardiovascular disease. Firstly, we describe the in silico multi-scale mathematical models and simulation techniques required to describe drug-induced effects on physiological systems such as the heart from the subcellular to the whole organ level. Then we illustrate the power of in silico approaches used to augment experimental and clinical investigations, by providing the framework to unravel multi-scale mechanisms underlying variability in the response to medicines and to focus on effects in human rather than animal models. We devote the last part of the chapter to discussing the process of validation of in silico models and simulations, which is key in building up their credibility.

Authors: Rodriguez, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Volume: 2015-January
• Issue: 41
• Pages: 219-240
• Series: RSC Drug Discovery Series: Human-based Systems for Translational Research
• Publication date: 2014-12-09
• DOI: 10.1039/9781782620136-00219
• EISSN: 2041-3211
• ISSN: 2041-3203
• ISBN: 9781782623557
• Language: English