Current methodology for the assessment of ADME-Tox properties on drug candidate molecules

Absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADME-Tox) properties should be considered to develop a new drug, because they are the main cause of failures for candidate molecules in drug design. The early evaluation of these properties durin drug design could save time and money. Physicochemical properties, tridimensional (3D) structural information, and mathematical methods can be combined to develop an in silico approach to predict ADME-Tox properties. Some of these in silico methods can be used to predict these properties in a large number of compounds at an early stage in drug design, but there is no general methodology for the computer prediction of ADME-Tox properties. In this review we summarize some of the models and available programs to predict ADME-Tox properties.