Article Text
Abstract
The placenta plays a key role in maintaining a healthy pregnancy. In order to improve drug safety during pregnancy, it is therefore relevant to understand to which extent and at which rate drugs are transferred across the placenta and how pharmaceuticals may affect placental function. Translational and predictive pharmacology studies based on human tissues and cells are becoming increasingly important in characterizing the effects and disposition of pharmaceuticals. With regard to the placenta, such approaches may for example be readily combined with physiology-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to predict fetal exposure of drugs, as well as placental tissue exposure in the clinic. In addition, placental tissue and cells can be used to study potential effects of drugs, as well. The current presentation, will highlight several studies that investigated the placental disposition and effects of both small and large molecule pharmaceuticals, as well as how such data can help to better understand the clinical pharmacology of therapeutics.