Preclinical drug metabolism in the age of high-throughput screening: An industrial perspective

With the advent of genomics, combinatorial paradigms and high-throughput screen (HTS)-based pharmacological testing, the number of compounds flowing through the discovery pipeline is likely to escalate. At the same time, with increased knowledge of the human drug-metabolizing enzymes and the availability of in vitro absorption-metabolism (AM) models, Preclinical Drug Metabolism is poised to meet the challenges of HTS. In order to be successful, however, a rational HTS strategy (vs. serendipitous HTS) has to be employed. Such a strategy is based on automation, validation and integration of in vitro AM models and database management (AVID). A generalized strategy for rational (AVID-based) HTS in Preclinical Drug Metabolism is described briefly.