Section: Application Domains

Population pharmacology

Pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) studies (studies investigating the dose-concentration and concentration-effect relationships of drugs) show for many drugs a large variability of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters between individuals. Pharmacokinetic parameters describe processes such as absorption, diffusion and metabolism of drugs. The so-called "population PK/PD approach" has been developed to characterize and quantify this variability. We have developed a complete methodology for the analysis of PK/PD data using a maximum likelihood approach.

An important application is the study of anti-HIV treatment. The efficiency of antiretroviral treatments, whether in HIV or hepatitis B or C pathologies, is quantified by the decrease in viral loads. Models have been developed to describe the time-course of this decrease through a system of ODE, taking into account the physiology of viral replication and the action mechanisms of the different therapeutic options. There is a large inter-patient variability in these pathologies, and the joint study of viral load decrease through mixed effect models in a set of patients provides a better understanding of differences in the response to treatment.