RE: SAS program or SAS macro to prepare NonMem ready data

From: Michael.J.Fossler@gsk.com Subject: RE: [NMusers] SAS program or SAS macro to prepare NonMem ready data Date: Wed, December 8, 2004 12:08 pm Although I am sure that vB and SAS do a fine job of building NM datasets, if you are a new user looking to develop some programming skills in this area, I would recomend that you give S-plus (or its open-source version, R) a serious look. S was design to perform data manipulation, particularly data arranged in columns. The advantage of this data vector orientation is that there are many simple "one-step" commands in S+ that will do what many lines of a traditional programming language (where you might need many for-next loops) can accomplish. This is just my perception, but it seems to me that far too many modelers still build datasets by hand in Excel, particularly in small companies or in academia where there aren't SAS programmers for hire. Not only is this prone to error, but it's way too much work!! If you are new to population PK, take the time to learn a tool to help you with this important step - it will pay off quickly. Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael J. Fossler, Pharm. D., Ph. D., F.C.P. Principal Clinical Pharmacokineticist Clinical Pharmacokinetics, Modeling & Simulation GlaxoSmithKline (610) 270 - 4797 FAX: (610) 270-5598 Cell: (443) 350-1194 Michael_J_Fossler@gsk.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~