A Useful Microsoft Excel Add-in Program for Pharmacokinetic Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the possibility and versatility of Microsoft Excel in handling pharmacokinetic analysis (including model composing, simulation, and parameter estimation). We have developed the first version of an in-house pharmacokinetic tool XlSimEst, coded in Visual Basic for Application (VBA), which can be used for pharmacokinetic modeling and simulation with user-tailored models consisting of a system of differential equations. The special features of the program are: (1) pharmacokinetic models can be open and saved as ordinary text files, thus the model files can be created and edited using any text editor; (2) a quicker interface to perform simulation studies; (3) capable of a standard error estimation for fitted parameters; and (4) a simple interface for generating concentration-time plots.