Virtual twins for model-informed precision dosing of clozapine in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Abstract

Model-informed precision dosing using virtual twins (MIPD-VTs) is an emerging strategy to predict target drug concentrations in clinical practice. Using a high virtualization MIPD-VT approach (Simcyp version 21), we predicted the steady-state clozapine concentration and clozapine dosage range to achieve a target concentration of 350 to 600 ng/mL in hospitalized patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (N = 11). We confirmed that high virtualization MIPD-VT can reasonably predict clozapine concentrations in individual patients with a coefficient of determination (R2 ) ranging between 0.29 and 0.60. Importantly, our approach predicted the final dosage range to achieve the desired target clozapine concentrations in 73% of patients. In two thirds of patients treated with fluvoxamine augmentation, steady-state clozapine concentrations were overpredicted two to four-fold. This work supports the application of a high virtualization MIPD-VT approach to inform the titration of clozapine doses in clinical practice. However, refinement is required to improve the prediction of pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions, particularly with fluvoxamine augmentation.