Emetic liability testing in ferrets

Curr Protoc Pharmacol. 2003 May:Chapter 5:Unit5.31. doi: 10.1002/0471141755.ph0531s20.

Abstract

Evidence of a candidate drug's efficacy and safety is mandatory for successful drug registration by regulatory authorities. However, a third property, tolerability, often determines a drug's acceptance by the patient population. Gastrointestinal events often determine the maximum tolerated dose in Phase I clinical trials. If the plasma concentrations achieved at the maximum tolerable dose are below those required for efficacy, the drug will certainly fail. The identification of a compound's emetic/nauseogenic liability early in the discovery process can be critical to the ultimate success of the drug discovery project. Ferrets are small carnivores (~1 kg) of the Mustelidae family that vomit in response to many pharmacological classes of drugs as well as to cytotoxic chemotherapeutics and radiation. This unit describes a simple method for evaluating the emetic and nauseogenic potential of drug candidates in ferrets.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Drug Discovery*
  • Ferrets
  • Male
  • Nausea / chemically induced*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Vomiting / chemically induced*