[Model and inference for quantal response pharmacological assay]

Abstract

A quantal response bioassay is defined as an experiment for estimating the potency of a drug, material or process by means of the reaction (quantal response) that follows its application to living matter. For example, the main object of bioassays in drug development is to measure the potency of some new compounds relative to some standard drug in terms of magnitudes of their effects on responses from living subjects. The quantitative estimates of their potency are summarized by comparing these dose-response curves. In this paper, we focus on analyses intended to compare two dose-response curves with quantal response and consider the model validation and the interpretation of fitting results from a statistical point of view.