How desirable are your IC50s? A way to enhance screening-based decision making.

Dose-response curves, resulting in estimates of endpoints such as the IC(50), are fundamental to drug discovery. However, some estimates are more reliable than others. It is important to know just how reliable an estimate is if we want to base decisions on it or use it in further modeling. In this study, the authors propose a new measure of endpoint reliability, based on the concept of desirability first introduced by Harrington. The solution is not dependent on the application used to analyze the experimental data, provided a number of parameters to characterize the dose-response curve are available. The authors show how this score can be used as an objective and consistent measure to rank screening results, combine information from groups of experiments, and determine optimal levels of characterization of a compound's biological activity.