Bioavailability of seven furosemide tablets in man.

A seven-way crossover study was conducted in 14 healthy male volunteers to evaluate the relative bioavailability of seven different marketed 40 mg furosemide tablets. Each dose was administered as a single tablet after an overnight fast, and blood samples were obtained for 16 hours. Plasma was assayed by HPLC. There were no statistically significant differences among the seven products for the mean peak concentration (1.01-1.29 micrograms/ml), mean time of peak (1.2-2.1 h) or mean area under the plasma concentration-time curves, which differed by less than 14 per cent. However, one product exhibited greater intersubject variability, and on this basis was considered inequivalent to the other six products. Furosemide is a potent and widely used diuretic. Currently the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has granted approval to at least twelve manufacturers of 40 mg furosemide tablets, based in part on bioavailability data obtained in human subjects. In addition, the USFDA has granted an 'AB' therapeutic equivalence evaluation to each of these products, which is understood by many to indicate the therapeutic equivalence and interchangeability of these products. The objective of the present investigation was to directly compare the bioavailability of seven 40 mg furosemide tablet products which had previously been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Bioavailability of dyphylline and dyphylline-guaifenesin tablets in humans.

A six-way-crossover bioavailability study was conducted with twelve healthy male volunteers to evaluate the relative bioavailability of three tablet formulations containing dyphylline and three tablet formulations containing dyphylline-guaifenesin. Each subject was administered two tablets of each product with greater than or equal to 3 d separating each dose. Blood samples were obtained just prior to each dose and at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0 h following each dose. An HPLC method was used to assay dyphylline in the serum. The mean tmax ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 h for the six products. The mean values for Cmax differed by 29%, and the AUC values differed by less than 8%. It was noted that the dyphylline-guaifenesin products exhibited a lower bioavailability than the products which only contained dyphylline. It was concluded that the three combination products were bioequivalent, as were the three dyphylline products.

Determination of free disopyramide plasma concentrations using ultrafiltration and enzyme multiplied immunoassay.

Disopyramide is an antiarrhythmic drug that exhibits nonlinear binding to plasma proteins. As a result, the total body clearance increases with increasing total drug plasma concentration. A rapid and sensitive method for the determination of free (unbound) disopyramide plasma concentrations is described. The procedure employs an ultrafiltration system (Centrifree), which can be used for basic drugs, along with an enzyme multiplied immunoassay system (EMIT) for the measurement of free disopyramide concentrations in plasma water filtrate. The EMIT method was adapted to permit measurement of disopyramide in plasma over a concentration range of 0.02-1.2 micrograms/ml. Plasma storage at -20 degrees C, filtration volume, or the presence of buffer and mono-N-dealkylated metabolite in plasma did not affect the binding determinations. There was no loss of drug during the filtration process. A good correspondence was found between the EMIT assay and a high performance liquid chromatography method, when applied to plasma samples obtained from a human subject who had ingested disopyramide. Furthermore, the extent of protein binding determined by the ultrafiltration system and by equilibrium dialysis were in good agreement. The binding of disopyramide in fortified human plasma decreased from 64 to 52% over a total drug concentration range of 1-5 micrograms/ml.

Absorption of phenobarbital from tablets and elixir.

A three-way crossover study was conducted with 24 healthy male volunteers to determine the relative bioavailability of four different 100-mg phenobarbital tablets compared with a reference elixir. Each subject received two of the tablets and the elixir at 30-d intervals. Blood samples were collected daily for 19 d after each dose. Plasma phenobarbital concentrations achieved with the five dosage forms differed by less than 20% within 2-3 h after dosing. The extent of absorption for all dosage forms, as determined from area under the plasma concentration-time profiles, were within 10% of each other. The peak plasma concentration was the greatest and the time to peak concentration was the shortest for the elixir. One of the tablets exhibited a time to peak concentration of 8.6 h, which was significantly longer than any of the other dosage forms. The time to peak concentration correlated with the percent of drug dissolved in 60 min, as determined in 0.1 M HCl, using the USP XX paddle method at 50 rpm.

Plasma levels of ethaverine after oral administration to humans.

Fourteen healthy human subjects received a 200 mg oral dose of ethaverine hydrochloride as an elixir. Blood samples were obtained for 12 h after dosing. Plasma ethaverine concentrations were determined using a paired-ion, reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method. Individual plasma concentration-time profiles were fitted to a two-compartment model with first-order absorption. The ethaverine was rapidly absorbed, based on a time of maximum plasma concentration of 0.75 h, a time-lag of 8.4 min, and an apparent first-order absorption half-life of 8.6 min. The mean terminal elimination half-life was 3.3 h.

Nonlinear ethotoin kinetics.

Five healthy subjects were given single 500-, 1500-, and 2500-mg doses of ethotoin as 250-mg tablets at 7-day intervals. Plasma samples were collected for 49 hr after dosing and were assayed by HPLC for ethotoin. The drug was more slowly absorbed after the two higher doses. There was a disproportionate increase in AUC in all subjects with the escalating doses. Individual subject data were fitted to a first-order model and one incorporating Michaelis-Menten elimination kinetics. Eleven of the 15 data sets were best described by the nonlinear model. All subjects reported visual disturbances with the two higher doses, and four of five experienced dyscoordination of gait with the 2500-mg dose. These effects did not appear to be related to plasma ethotoin concentration.

High-performance liquid chromatographic assay of tolbutamide and carboxytolbutamide in human plasma.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous measurement of tolbutamide and its major metabolite, carboxytolbutamide, in plasma. The assay involves the ether extraction of 1 ml of plasma, using chlorpropamide and an internal standard. The extract is dried, the residue is taken up in acetonitrile, and 5 micro l is injected into a reversed-phase column. The mobile phase consisted of 35% acetonitrile and 65% 0.05 M phosphoric acid buffer (pH 3.9). A fixed-wavelength detector was set at 254 nm. The sensitivity limits for the tolbutamide and carboxytolbutamide assay were 2 and 0.1 microgram/ml, respectively. The ratio of carboxytolbutamide to tolbutamide in plasma obtained from a subject given a 500-mg tolbutamide tablet was 1:20.

Bioavailability of microsize and ultramicrosize griseofulvin products in man.

The relative bioavailability of ten marketed dosage forms of griseofulvin was evaluated in two separate crossover studies. Each study utilized 12 healthy subjects, with eight of the subjects being common to both studies. Plasma griseofulvin concentrations were determined 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 25, 34, 49, and 73 hr after dosing, using a high-pressure liquid chromatographic method. The "high-dose" study compared four microsize dosage forms administered as 500-mg doses and two ultramicrosize formulations given as 250-mg doses. The "low-dose" study employed four 250-mg microsize products and two 125-mg ultramicrosize products. The individual plasma level-time profiles for the majority of doses suggested prolonged absorption of microsize griseofulvin. The ultramicrosize dosage forms exhibited peak concentrations which were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from those of the microsize products administered as twice the dose. In the high-dose study, the two 250-mg ultramicrosize dosage forms exhibited areas under the plasma level-time curve (AUC) which were significantly (p < 0.05) less than the AUCs for all but one of the 500-mg microsize products. In the low-dose study the AUCs for the ultramicrosize products were significantly lower than the AUCs for all of the microsize dosage forms. Significant differences were also noted among the AUCs for the microsize products, although the maximum difference was less than 20% in both studies. A comparison of the AUCs observed in the high- and low-dosage studies revealed that the AUCs for two of the 500-mg microsize dosage forms were only approximately 75% the AUC predicted from the 250-mg dose for the eight subjects common to both studies. All other formulations exhibited a dose proportionality for AUC.

High-pressure liquid chromatographic assay for griseofulvin in plasma.

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for griseofulvin assay in human plasma. The method utilized warfarin as an internal standard and easily quantitated griseofulvin plasma levels as low as 0.10 micrograms/ml. The method was compared to two fluorometric assay methods and was more specific for griseofulvin. Assay of 6-demethylgriseofulvin isolated from human urine demonstrated that this material was not responsible for the interferences apparent in the fluorometric procedures.