Combined translational pharmacometrics approach to support the design and conduct of the first-in-human study of DWP16001

Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2024 Jan;90(1):286-298. doi: 10.1111/bcp.15891. Epub 2023 Sep 22.

Abstract

Aims: The objective of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD) of DWP16001, a novel sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, and predict efficacious doses for the first-in-human study using various translational approaches.

Methods: A mechanistic PK/PD model was developed for DWP16001 using nonlinear mixed-effect modelling to describe animal PK/PD properties. Using allometry and in silico physiologically based equations, human PK parameters were predicted. Human PD parameters were scaled by applying interspecies difference and in vitro drug-specific factors. Human parameters were refined using early clinical data. Model-predicted PK and PD outcomes were compared to observations before and after parameter refinement.

Results: The PK/PD model of DWP16001 was developed using a 2-compartment model with first-order absorption and indirect response. Efficacious doses of 0.3 and 2 mg of DWP16001 were predicted using human half-maximal inhibitory concentration values translated from Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats and normal rats, respectively. After parameter refinement, doses of 0.2 and 1 mg were predicted to be efficacious for each disease model, which improved the prediction results to within a 1.2-fold difference between the model prediction and observation.

Conclusions: This study predicted efficacious human doses of DWP16001 using population PK/PD modelling and a combined translational pharmacometrics approach. Early clinical data allowed the methods used to translate in vitro and in vivo findings to clinical PK/PD values for DWP16001 to be optimized. This study has shown that a refinement step can be readily applied to improve model prediction and further support the study design and conduct of a first-in-human study.

Keywords: diabetes; modelling and simulation; optimal design; pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic; translational research.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Zucker