'Virtual human' aids drug discovery

UK company Cyprotex has launched a novel and proprietary software system that uses a 'virtual human' model to predict accurately the pharmacokinetics of potential drug compounds.

Several large pharmaceutical companies are understood to be trialling Cloe PK (Cyprotex Lead Optimisation Engine for PharmacoKinetics), which uses a combination of laboratory tests and sophisticated computer methods, with a view to employing it as a decision-making tool to support their drug discovery programmes.

Cloe PK's software effectively provides a virtual model of the human body and delivers an accurate estimation of the likely amounts and distribution over time of compound present in the blood and major organs after it has been given in pill or injection form, thus helping to evaluate whether a pharmaceutical compound would be an effective drug.

The application of the Cloe PK model at the earliest stages in the drug discovery process could also cut down the numbers of laboratory animals needed and shorten the drug discovery process, says Cyprotex.

Cloe PK is part of a suite of technologies that Cyprotex has created for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. It offers pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies the ability to screen hundreds of compounds within minutes and provides a way to foresee problems associated with administering the compound, the company claims.

'Drug discovery researchers are faced with the task of having to improve the success rates of their projects, yet they often have to base their decision-making on incomplete and confusing information,' says David Leahy, cso at Cyprotex.