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A series of tests including computational predictions, biological assays, and live-animal studies has revealed that while the majority of inactive drug ingredients are indeed inert, many can interact with biological targets with the potential to cause physiologically relevant effects. The findings are published today (July 23) in Science.
“It seems to me to be quite a tour de force,” says epidemiologist Mady Hornig of Columbia University who was not involved in the study. “We’ve been quite data-starved in this area in general,” she continues, “and this represents an important leap forward in terms of a strategy for identifying candidate [excipients] of concern.” She adds, however, that “it is so important to emphasize . . . these are candidates for concern, not definitive agents of concern.”
The success of a drug often depends not simply on the active ingredients it contains, but on how it is formulated, ...
