The central thesis is that understanding which transporters are used by drugs to pass through the GI tract can improve patient treatment by preventing drug interference.

MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Duke University researchers have developed a method to identify drug transporters using tissue models and machine learning. The method has revealed that certain antibiotics and blood thinners may interfere with each other due to shared transporters.

The study led by Giovanni Traverso focused on three key transporters, BCRP, MRP2, and PgP, using pig intestinal tissue and siRNA to study drug absorption. Their research, which involved testing 23 drugs, could aid in making drugs safer and predicting potential toxicities, as well as assist drug developers in enhancing absorbability.