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LABORATORY INFORMATICS


Software at the heart of drug development for COVID-19


SOPHIA KTORI EXPLORES SOFTWARE THAT IS USED TO DEVELOP AND IMPROVE THE EFFICACY OF POTENTIAL DRUGS USED TO FIGHT COVID-19


records, together with data on drug efficacy. This may encompass many thousands of reports, for example, there were in excess of 13,000 records just for the antiviral drug ritonavir, which is one of the drugs under consideration for Covid-19 therapy.’ Fabien Astic, ExactCure cofounder.


Elsevier and ExactCure recently announced a collaboration to develop and offer to hospitals –


without charge – drug-specific exposure models for 20 already approved medicines that are being tested as potential treatments for Covid-19. Each drug-specific model, generated


using ExactCure’s AI-driven simulation platform, will help to predict a drug molecule’s pharmacokinetic properties in each individual patient, according to their age, sex, whether they have other diseases – comorbidities – and other factors, and so give guidance to clinicians on likely optimum dosing. Development of the drug exposure models will leverage data held in thousands of drug-related documents within Elsevier’s PharmaPendium drug data resource, which contains decades’ of searchable FDA and EMA regulatory approval and related documents on the drugs. Olivier Barberan, director of translational


medical solutions at Elsevier explains: ‘We will provide ExactCure with information held in PharmaPendium that spans more than 50 drug-specific parameters, including PK and pharmacodynamic data, safety data, adverse events and drug-drug interaction


20 Scientific Computing World Summer 2020


states: ‘A growing number of marketed drugs, such hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and azithromycin, are being assessed as candidate therapeutics for Covid-19.’ ‘Our simulation models will give clinicians in hospitals, including ICU departments, guidance on the appropriate dose of a drug. Clinicians may not have had experience with some of the drugs that are being repurposed. This, coupled with the fact that we have yet to fully understand Covid-19 disease, means that informed guidance on dosing from potentially years of use in diverse patients could help to ensure that each individual gets the most appropriate amount of drug.’ ‘We have already released the first


couple of models to a French hospital. And as additional models are developed and validated, we may roll them out to general practitioners for use in community medicine. We also expect to expand the collection of drugs as additional therapeutics are repurposed against the SARS-CoV-2 virus,’ added Astic.


Creating a repository of data for drugs and vaccines PharmaPendium is a repository of fully searchable FDA and EMA drug approval documents and extracted information spanning drug safety, pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamics, efficacy and metabolism. Containing data stretching back to the 1930s, PharmaPendium is


used by regulators, the pharma industry and academic organisations for basic drug discovery, R&D, and clinical trials and drug approval programs. Elsevier is making existing regulatory data and reports on drugs that are being repurposed as potential Covid-19 treatments available freely to researchers through its recently launched Covid-19 hub. ‘We held a Webinar to launch the Covid-19 hub in April, to which there were 14,000 attendees,’ Barberan noted. ‘We are sure that it will represent a valuable resource for regulators, industry and academic scientists globally who are working to develop drugs and vaccines against the virus.’ Having generated a repository of


searchable documents, Elsevier is now working to extract the most critical data, including pharmacokinetic data, information on drug inhibition of cytochromes or key enzymes, together with data related to drug-drug interactions, efficacy data from trials, and both premarket and post-market safety data. A key part of this extraction process is working towards standardising that data so that content isn’t lost in search or analyses. Standardisation is key, Barberan commented. ‘Where available, we use existing standards, such as MedDRA, for adverse events.’ ‘And while our day-to-day work is still


compiling and curating the compendium, we are also working internally, and with partners, such as ExactCure, to make use of the huge amount of pharmacokinetic and other key data, in combination with AI tools, for predictive modelling, where we can provide a complete solution to our clients for drug discovery and development, not just offer them the data,’ Barberan continued. Elsevier aims to leverage the database


@scwmagazine | www.scientific-computing.com


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