Blood-Brain Barrier in Drug Discovery

Focused on central nervous system (CNS) drug discovery efforts, this book educates drug researchers about the blood-brain barrier (BBB) so they can affect important improvements in one of the most significant and most challenging areas of drug discovery. Written by world experts to provide practical solutions to increase brain penetration or minimize CNS side-effects Reviews state-of-the-art in silico, in vitro, and in vivo tools to assess brain penetration and advanced CNS drug delivery strategies Covers BBB physiology, medicinal chemistry design principles, free drug hypothesis for the BBB, and transport mechanisms including passive diffusion, uptake/efflux transporters, and receptor-mediated processes Highlights the advances in modelling BBB pharmacokinetics and dynamics relationships (PK/PD) and physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) Discusses case studies of successful CNS and non-CNS drugs, lessons learned and paths to the market