Simulations Plus, Inc. (AMEX: SLP), a leading provider of simulation and modeling software for pharmaceutical discovery and development, announced that it has released upgraded versions of its ADMET Predictor(TM) and ADMET Modeler(TM) software products. Both programs, in use for prediction of properties of new molecular structures and for building structure-property prediction models, are licensed in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. ADMET stands for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity, a common acronym in pharmaceutical research.
Dr. Robert Fraczkiewicz, product manager for ADMET Predictor and Team Leader for ADMET Cheminformatics for Simulations Plus, said: “The upgrade to ADMET Predictor now enables researchers to extend the scope of the embedded Simulations Plus predictive models with their own data and without retraining. This powerful new capability, requested by many research scientists, expands the appeal of ADMET Predictor to a greater portion of the marketplace. This capability was incorporated using an advanced mathematical modeling technique known as Associative Neural Networks, as published by Dr. Igor V. Tetko, and expanded and implemented by Simulations Plus. In addition, we’ve added a number of new features that will increase the convenience of ADMET Predictor and productivity of its users.”
Dr. Dechuan Zhuang, product manager for ADMET Modeler, added: “In the past, chemists were sometimes reluctant to use artificial neural network models because they were considered to be ‘black boxes’ that did not give the chemist insight into the effects of changing particular parts of a molecular structure. The upgrade for ADMET Modeler now includes a unique visualization of the sensitivity of predicted properties to different molecular features, such as would result from changing certain atoms within the molecule. With this new capability, chemists can see which molecular features have the strongest and most consistent influence on a property, which can then help them to decide how to modify particular molecules to improve their overall properties. We have also added a number of improvements to ADMET Modeler that make it faster and easier for scientists to build high quality predictive models and a statistically rigorous method for automatic selection of the most significant models.”
Mr. Ron Creeley, vice president of marketing and sales for Simulations Plus, noted: “The decision to combine ADMET Modeler and ADMET Predictor into a single package was made because ADMET Modeler was designed from the start to work with ADMET Predictor. Now, both programs will be provided together, but in the next release, they will be integrated into a single program for even greater user convenience. We believe this will improve the competitive posture of ADMET Predictor /ADMET Modeler in the highly competitive marketplace by providing greater value to our customers.”