Understanding the effect of measurement time on drug characterization

Abstract

In order to determine correct dosage of chemotherapy drugs, the effect of the drug must be properly quantified. There are two important values that characterize the effect of the drug: ε_max is the maximum possible effect from a drug, and IC_50 is the drug concentration where the effect diminishes by half. We use mathematical models to estimate how the values depend on measurement time and model choice. Improper choice of growth model is problematic and can lead to differences in predictions of treatment outcomes for patients. This work intends to understand how choice of model and measurement time affects the relative drug effect and causes the differences in predictions for the most effective dose of anticancer drug for a patient. This work determines the correct doses before trying those in patients to get the most effective therapeutic treatment.