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# FDA Describes New QSAR Model
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-describes-new-qsar-model/
- Published: 2023-04-20T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T18:26:46.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5154265

An FDA online post describes the work done by agency researchers in the Division of Applied Regulatory Science to develop a new quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model to predict blood-brain barrier permeability. The post [says](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/regulatory-science-action/new-developments-regulatory-qsar-modeling-new-qsar-model-predicting-blood-brain-barrier-permeability?ref=fdaweb.com) two statistical-based QSAR models were developed to predict drug permeability across the blood-brain barrier.

“The intended purpose of these models is to assist regulators with abuse liability assessment of drug metabolites or other materials related to drug substances,” the post says. “Furthermore, these models can be used to predict whether an unknown substance of abuse can permeate the blood-brain barrier to produce effects predicted by the Public Health Assessment via Structural Evaluation (PHASE) approach. PHASE is a multi-component computational approach that determines if newly emerging drug substances on the street-drug market are a risk to public safety.”

The post says the identification of drug candidates or other substances in the finished drug product that cross the blood-brain barrier can inform strategies for reducing the potential for abuse liability in a regulatory setting and can assist drug developers with designing drugs intended to act on targets in the central nervous system.