Patent Document ID: 20040203043
Application ID: 10807811
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying highly synergistic combinations of biologically active agents comprising: i. selecting a library of potential actives in which synergy is sought; ii. identifying a subset of components S( 1 ) which display significant activity by testing each component of the library for activity in a Multi-Pathway High Throughput Assay that targets a biological end effect for which synergy is sought, and has a known useful range of detectability; iii. identifying a subset of binary mixtures designated S( 2 ) that display synergy, by testing in the Multi-Pathway High Throughput Assay all or a portion of S( 1 ) in binary mixtures with substantially each component of the library, including components that exhibited marginal or no activity in step ii), wherein the concentration of the S( 1 ) component in the binary mixture is adjusted using a Single Component Scaling Protocol such that its activity is scaled back to a value &lgr; C Max,1, where &lgr; is a scaling factor in the range from about 0.01 to 1, and C Max,1 is the maximum activity reliably detectable at the top end of the useful range of the Multi-Pathway High Throughput Assay; iv. optionally identifying a subset of ternary synergistic mixtures, S( 3 ) by testing in the Multi-Pathway High Throughput Assay all or a portion of the synergistic binary mixtures S( 2 ) in combination with substantially each component of the library, including components that exhibited marginal or no activity in step ii), wherein the concentrations of S( 2 ) components used in the ternary mixture are adjusted using a Multiple Component Scaling Protocol such that the activity of S( 2 ) is scaled back to a value &lgr; C Max,1 ; v. optionally identifying a subset of N component synergistic combinations, designated S(N), wherein N is an integer greater than 3, by testing in the Multi-Pathway High Throughput Assay all or a portion of the synergistic mixtures containing (N−1) components, designated S(N−1) and identified in a manner analogous to step iv), in combination with substantially each component of the library including components that exhibited marginal or no activity in step ii), wherein the concentrations of the S(N−1) components used in this N component mixture are adjusted using the Multiple Component Scaling Protocol such that the activity of the S(N−1) mixture is scaled back to a value &lgr; C Max,1 ;