The potential of enzyme inhibition of a drug is frequently quantified in terms of IC50 values. While this is a suitable quantity for reversible inhibitors, concerns arise when dealing with irreversible, or mechanism-based inhibitors (MBI). IC50 values of MBI are time-dependent, causing serious problems when aiming at ranking different compounds with respect to their inhibitory potential. As a consequence, most studies and ranking schemes related to MBI rely on the inhibition constant (K I ) and the rate of enzyme inactivation (k inact ) rather than on IC50 values. In this article we derive a novel relation between potentially time-dependent IC50 values and K I , k inact parameters for different types of inhibition. This allows for direct estimation of K I and k inact values from time-dependent IC50 values, even without the need of additional pre-incubation experiments. The application of this approach is illustrated using a fluorimetric assay to access the drug-drug interaction potential associated with new chemical entities. The approach can easily be implemented using standard software tools (e.g., XLfit) and may also be suitable for applications where mechanism-based inhibition is a desired mode of actions, e.g., at particular pharmacological drug targets.