ABSTRACT
Voriconazole is both a substrate and a potent inhibitor of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A. It has a high bioavailability and non-linear pharmacokinetics. We investigated the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of 50 mg and 400 mg doses of intravenous and oral voriconazole in 14 healthy volunteers. Concurrently, we determined systemic and presystemic CYP3A activity with microdosed midazolam. Bioavailability of voriconazole 50 mg was 39 % compared with 86 % of the 400 mg dose. Voriconazole area under the concentration-time curve extrapolated to infinity (AUC∞) was 416 and 16,700 h·ng/mL for the 50 and 400 mg oral doses, respectively, and 1110 and 19,760 h·ng/mL for the 50 and 400 mg intravenous doses, respectively. Midazolam metabolism was dose-dependently inhibited by voriconazole. Dose-dependent autoinhibition of CYP3A-dependent first-pass metabolism and systemic metabolism is a possible explanation for the dose-dependent bioavailability and elimination of voriconazole, either as additional mechanism to, or instead of, saturation of presystemic metabolism. Higher bioavailability and non-linear pharmacokinetics are expected to be a common property of drugs that are substrates and inhibitors of CYP3A, e.g. clarithromycin.
Subject(s)
Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors/pharmacology , Midazolam/pharmacokinetics , Voriconazole/pharmacology , Administration, Intravenous , Administration, Oral , Adult , Area Under Curve , Biological Availability , Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C19/genetics , Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors/pharmacokinetics , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Female , Half-Life , Humans , Male , Metabolic Clearance Rate , Middle Aged , Voriconazole/pharmacokineticsABSTRACT
AIM: We aimed to establish a method to assess systemic and pre-systemic cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A activity using ineffective microgram doses of midazolam. METHODS: In an open, one sequence, crossover study, 16 healthy participants received intravenous and oral midazolam at microgram (0.001 mg intravenous and 0.003 mg oral) and regular milligram (1 mg intravenous and 3 mg oral) doses to assess the linearity of plasma and urine pharmacokinetics. RESULTS: Dose-normalized AUC and Cmax were 37.1 ng ml(-1 ) h [95% CI 35.5, 40.6] and 39.1 ng ml(-1) [95% CI 30.4, 50.2] for the microdose and 39.0 ng ml(-1 ) h [95% CI 36.1, 42.1] and 37.1 ng ml(-1) [95% CI 26.9, 51.3] for the milligram dose. CLmet was 253 ml min(-1) [95% CI 201, 318] vs. 278 ml min(-1) [95% CI 248, 311] for intravenous doses and 1880 ml min(-1) [95% CI 1590, 2230] vs. 2050 ml min(-1) [95% CI 1720, 2450] for oral doses. Oral bioavailability of a midazolam microdose was 23.4% [95% CI 20.0, 27.3] vs. 20.9% [95% CI 17.1, 25.5] after the regular dose. Hepatic and gut extraction ratios for microgram doses were 0.44 [95% CI 0.39, 0.49] and 0.53 [95% CI 0.45, 0.63] and compared well with those for milligram doses (0.43 [95% CI 0.37, 0.49] and 0.61 [95% CI 0.53, 0.70]). CONCLUSION: The pharmacokinetics of an intravenous midazolam microdose is linear to the applied regular doses and can be used to assess safely systemic CYP3A activity and, in combination with oral microdoses, pre-systemic CYP3A activity.
