Predicting Method for the Human Plasma Concentration Time Profile of a Monoclonal Antibody from the Half-life of Non-human Primates

Efficiency (speed and cost) and animal welfare are important factors in the development of new drugs. A novel method (the half-life method) was developed to predict the human plasma concentration time profile of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) after intravenous (i.v.) administration using less data compared to the conventional approach; moreover, predicted results were comparable to conventional method. This new method use human geometric means of pharmacokinetics (PK) parameters and the non-human primates (NHP) halflife of each mAb. PK data on mAbs in humans and NHPs were collected from literature focusing on linear elimination, and the two-compartment model was used for analysis. The following features were revealed in humans: 1) the coefficient of variation in the distribution volume of the central compartment and at steady state of mAbs was small (22.6 and 23.8%, respectively) and 2) half-life at the elimination phase (11124) was the main contributor to plasma clearance. Moreover, distribution volume showed no significant correlation between humans and NHPs, and human 11124 showed a good correlation with allometrically scaled 11/24 of NHP. Based on the features revealed in this study, we propose a new method for predicting the human plasma concentration time profile of mAbs after i.v. dosing. When tested, this half-life method showed reasonable human prediction compared with a conventional empirical approach. The half-life method only requires 11/24 to predict human PK, and is therefore able to improve animal welfare and potentially accelerate the drug development process.