Project 1: Potential Drug for Prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and Obesity
Alzheimer’s disease leads to nerve cell death and tissue loss throughout the brain. Over time, the brain shrinks dramatically, affecting nearly all its functions.
A pharmaceutical company is conducting a Phase I clinical trial to test the safety of compound XYZ9910 in humans. The drug, when given to mice, was shown to decrease brain tissue loss. Much to their surprise, mice treated with compound XYZ9910 also showed a decrease in body mass index (BMI) and an increase in alertness, compared with the placebo and non-treated animals.
Scientists at the company are considering to test the drug for both weight loss and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. To be able to conduct the study they need to find a state in the USA that has a large incidence of cases of Alzheimer’s as well as obesity. They also need to decide the best dose of the drug to test.

Characteristics of Compound XYZ9910, as found from a small pilot study, are given below.
a) The drug is known to be substantially excreted by the kidneys. A blood concentration above 12.5 µg/dl can cause kidney failure.
b) Side effects include vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and loss of appetite.

Data on cases of Alzheimer’s per US state is given in an Excel file on eCampus. The file also includes results from the small pilot study in which human volunteers were treated with three different doses (Dose 1, Dose 2, and Dose 3) of compound XYZ9910. In this pilot study, the concentration of the drug in blood was measured as a function of time and initial dose.

Your task is to help the scientists:
a) Identify five potential states in which the study could be conducted.
b) Find the best dose of compound XYZ9910 to be tested.
c) Determine the half life of the compound in blood. Define the half life of the compound as the time required for the maximum concentration of the drug to reach half of its maximum value in blood.
d) Determine how often the drug needs to be taken to maintain a minimum concentration of 2 µg/kg of body weight for 10 consecutive hours.

To answer the questions, write a MatLab program that:
a) Imports the data from excel to MatLab

b) Creates an overlaid plot of concentration of drug as a function of time (for all three doses).

c) Creates a table to display the data with the 5 potential states where the study can be conducted.

State % Adults Overweight Alzheimer’s Death Rate
State 1
State 2
State 3
State 4
State 5

d) For each dose tested, create a table to display the maximum concentration in blood, the time at which the maximum concentration is reached, and the half life of the compound.
Property Dose 1 Dose 2 Dose 3
Maximum Concentration in Blood
Time point at which maximum concentration is reached
Half life of the compound in blood

e) Based on the above answers, recommend the best dose. Explain the reasoning to support selection.

f) Based on results from part e), determine how often the drug needs to be taken, to maintain a minimum concentration of 2 µg/kg of body weight for 10 consecutive hours. To solve this problem, assume that the average human weight is 73 kg and that the volume of blood in the average human is 4.7 Liters.
Deliverables:

a) MatLab Code (60%) – Individual work
Individually upload your code to eCampus by due date. Also, submit a hardcopy of the editor, command, and figure windows at the beginning of class on due date.

b) Technical Report (40%) – Individual Work
The technical report must include an abstract, TOC, introduction, methodology, results and discussion, conclusions, references, and an appendix. The appendix should contain a representative copy of your solution.