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Accomplish More with Phoenix

Phoenix 8.1, the newest version of Certara’s innovative PK/PD modeling and simulation software used globally by researchers and drug developers in pharma, academia, and regulatory agencies, will be available on June 15, 2018. Major enhancements were introduced in the Phoenix workbench last year. And as an ongoing commitment to support compliance and efficiency, many features and functions in our newest version reflect valuable feedback from our Phoenix community. A recent webinar reviewed and demonstrated the innovations made to Phoenix WinNonlin and NLME, and how to get the most out of Phoenix capabilities. This blog post summarizes the key new features and enhancements in Phoenix 8.1—for more detail, watch the webinar.

New NCA Ratios and Differences tool in Phoenix WinNonlin

Calculating ratios of PK parameters is a common post-processing step for study reports and interpreting results. These calculations are typically required for pre-clinical toxicokinetic studies, clinical Phase 1–2 multiple dose studies, and dose range finding studies. Determining average renal clearance, accumulation ratios, gender differences, parent to metabolite exposure ratios, dose proportionality, exposure ratios for food effects, drug-drug interactions, and relative bioavailability is cumbersome and time-consuming, generally requiring 10–15 steps to calculate these PK ratios. The NCA Ratios and Differences tool in Phoenix WinNonlin is a new tool for data processing and preparation that simplifies the ratios calculations from one to two input worksheets. Report-ready tables can be easily created from this tool output. Automate these ratios calculation and tables generation steps by adding these objects to your workflow.

New Descriptive Statistics and enhanced charting capabilities

Descriptive Statistics have been updated to include new statistics including range, min and max when weighting is used, sums or Geometric SD, user-specified percentiles, in addition to an option to select statistics for output. Charting enhancements provide greater flexibility and customization of charts and plots. These include the ability to order the presentation of categorical plots on x-axis  and order of legend labels in XY and categorical plots, utilize the offset function left or right on X-axis, add line to XY (X-categorical), and more.

Validation made fast and easy

Enhancements made to the Phoenix Validation Suite for WinNonlin streamline the validation process. The Validation Suite is now integrated into Phoenix and can be accessed without having to install a separate application. Full software validation can be completed in under 30 minutes while working on other applications. Validation Suite for WinNonlin provides locked PDF reports with links to saved reference output files, user output files, and difference files. Updated ready-to-use validation template documents are aligned with the latest regulatory guidance computer system validation such as ICH E6 Good Clinical Practice (GCP) R2. To learn tips and guidance from quality assurance experts on how to streamline validating new or upgraded software, and to get a better understanding on common validation pitfalls and ways to avoid them, watch an archived webinar by Noreen Muscat from QACV Consulting and Allan Michaels from Certara Phoenix Technology Services. The speakers covered topics from Good Automated Manufacturing Practice guidelines (GAMP® 5) and CFR Part 11 compliance to robust reporting using Validation Suite for WinNonlin.

Visual Predictive Check

Visual Predictive Check (VPC) is a graphical comparison and analysis of observations and simulated predictions1. VPC in Phoenix NLME now provides broader applicability and flexibility for users. These enhanced functionalities include the ability to perform separate analyses for different data types such as continuous data, including Below Quantification Limit (BQL), and discrete observations such as categorical, single time-to-event, and count data. Other improvements include separate Visual Predictive Check and Simulation modes and VPC Stratification for categorical covariates.

New Certara Professional Certification—Phoenix WinNonlin Analyst

The new launch of Phoenix also coincides with the new Certara Professional Certification program which provides online accreditation of user competency and proficiency of PK/PD data analysis using Certara software such as Phoenix WinNonlin.

Earning a Certara Professional certification—after passing a rigorous exam—validates that you have the necessary skills to perform PK/PD analysis using the industry-leading software. The first certification—Certara Certified NCA Analyst using Phoenix WinNonlin Version 8.0/8.1—will be available later this month. Stay tuned for updates and announcements coming shortly.

Certifications will be valid for 3 years.


References

[1] Nguyen THT, Mouksassi M-S, Holford N, et al. (2017). Model evaluation of continuous data pharmacometric models: Metrics and graphics. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol, 6, 87–109.


Want to learn more about the new features in Phoenix 8.1 and Certara Professional Certification? Be sure to check out this webinar I did with my colleagues Nathan Teuscher and Ana Henry.

About the author

By: Venkateswari Muthukrishnan