Toxicogenomics

Predictive Human Toxicity and ADME/Tox Studies

These studies revealed two main points: first, that toxicity in animals may be likely to also be present in humans, though this cannot be considered particularly consistent or reliable, due to considerable variability and lack of any clear pattern in types of toxic effects; and secondly, perhaps more crucially, that the absence of toxicity in animals provides essentially no insight into the likelihood of toxicity or absence of toxicity in humans. Pharmacokinetics involves the study of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity of xenobiotics (ADME-Tox). In this sense, the ADME-Tox profile of a bioactive compound can impact its efficacy and safety. Moreover, efficacy and safety were considered some of the major causes of clinical failures in the development of new chemical entities. In this context, machine learning (ML) techniques have been often used in ADME-Tox studies due to the existence of compounds with known pharmacokinetic properties available for generating predictive models.