Quantitative analysis of EEG modifications induced by psychoactive drugs (pharmaco-EEG) and statistical mapping techniques are used in our facilities as early as phase I studies in order to show the central effects of a new compound (dose/response relationships or time/efficacy potential, brain bioavailability, effects on vigilance).
New compounds can also be compared with reference drugs in terms of the pharmaco-EEG profiles obtained in “resting” or “ vigilance controlled ” even in healthy volunteers. Evoked potentials (pharmaco-ERP) induced by auditory or visual stimuli can also be recorded in order to obtain an additional functional profile of the molecule.
Moreover, coupling of these EEG surrogate markers with disease models in healthy volunteers (e.g., drug-induced schizophrenic-like symptoms, drug-induced aging-related impairments) allow to save time in the efficacy assessment of a new compound.
