An APL computer program for estimating rate constants of drug absorption

Area of Science:

• Pharmacokinetics
• Computational drug modeling

Background:

• Accurate estimation of drug absorption rate constants is crucial for effective drug development and dosing.
• Existing methods may lack flexibility in modeling different pharmacokinetic scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a flexible computer program for estimating drug absorption rate constants.
• To incorporate various pharmacokinetic models and area under the curve calculation methods.
• To enable the design of optimal drug sampling schemes through simulation.

Main Methods:

• The program is based on the Loo-Riegelman method for estimating absorption rate constants.
• It supports one-, two-, and three-compartment open models with first-order elimination.
• Includes the trapezoidal and Lagrange combined with log-trapezoidal approximation methods for area under the curve calculation.

Main Results:

• The developed program offers enhanced flexibility for pharmacokinetic analysis.
• It successfully estimates drug absorption rate constants across different model complexities.
• A subroutine for simulating plasma drug concentration-time courses is integrated for optimal sampling design.

Conclusions:

• This program provides a versatile tool for pharmacokinetic analysis and drug absorption estimation.
• Its flexibility and simulation capabilities support the optimization of clinical trial sampling strategies.
• The Loo-Riegelman method forms a robust basis for absorption rate constant estimation in this program.