Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 2005, p. 4429-4436, Vol. 49, No. 11
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AAC.49.11.4429-4436.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa,1 Division of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Therapy, Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden,2 Clinical Research and Development, Pfizer, Sandwich, United Kingdom3
Received 27 June 2005/ Returned for modification 27 July 2005/ Accepted 5 August 2005
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
The primary metabolic pathways for RFP are deacetylation and nonenzymatic hydrolysis. This results in one primary enzymatic metabolite, 25-desacetyl RFP, and two secondary nonenzymatic metabolites, 3-formyl RFP and 3-formyldesacetyl RFP (18). The primary route of elimination for the rifamycins is via biliary excretion with enterohepatic recirculation, although gastrointestinal secretion and renal clearance also play a role (1, 4, 18). RFP is an inducer of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 and CYP2C8/9 at the same order of magnitude as RIF (1, 3, 8), although it does not possess the same autoinductive properties (10, 11).
The pharmacokinetics of RFP in TB patients have been described previously by using noncompartmental techniques (16, 21). The effects of age (14), sex (13), various degrees of hepatic dysfunction (15), and HIV infection (12) on the pharmacokinetics of RFP have all been investigated in separate studies. The data from those studies were all analyzed by model-independent methods, and only a single covariate factor at a time was investigated. Furthermore, the impact of prior administration of RIF on the pharmacokinetics of RFP has not been investigated in patients.
This study was designed to describe the population pharmacokinetics of RFP and 25-desacetyl RFP in a South African pulmonary TB patient population receiving companion frontline antimycobacterial agents concomitantly. Special reference was made to investigating the influence of previous exposure to RIF and the variability in the pharmacokinetic parameters between patients and between occasions and the influence of different covariates on RFP and 25-desacetyl RFP pharmacokinetics.
|
|
|---|
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 1. Patient characteristicsa
|
Treatment and sample collection.
Patients were divided into the following three RFP dosage groups based on weight: 600 mg/day for those with body weights of 36 to 45 kg, 750 mg/day for those with body weights of 46 to 55 kg, and 900 mg/day for those with body weights of
56 kg. Participants received a single oral dose of RFP (Priftin; Hoechst Marion Roussel, Lainate, Italy) on study days 1 (occasion 1) and 5 (occasion 2), approximately 30 min after they ingested a soup-based meal. Patients continued to receive their concomitant antimycobacterial therapy on study days 1 to 8 at the following doses: subjects weighing <50 kg received 240 mg INH (INH-Betabs; Betabs, Johannesburg, South Africa), 1,200 mg PZA (Pyrazide; Hoechst Marion Roussel, Midrand, South Africa), and 800 mg EMB (Rolab 400, Rolab, Kempton Park, South Africa); subjects weighing >50 kg received 300 mg INH, 1,500 mg PZA, and 1,200 mg EMB. None of the patients received RIF during the study period. Blood samples (4 ml) were collected via an indwelling cannula (Introcan; 1.1 by 32 mm; B. Braun AG, Melsungen, Germany) prior to dosing and at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 24, 48, and 72 h following drug administration on both occasions. The samples were stored temporarily in darkness on ice before undergoing centrifugation (3E-1 bench-top centrifuge; Sigma, Osterode am Harz, Germany) at 3,500 rpm for 10 min. The plasma was subsequently harvested into labeled 1.5-ml microcentrifuge tubes (Greiner Bio-One International, Kremsmuenster, Austria) and stored at 80°C until analysis.
Drug quantification. The simultaneous determination of RFP and 25-desacetyl RFP plasma concentrations were made by using a validated high-pressure liquid chromatography method developed at the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa (16). The standard curve ranges of concentrations in plasma were 6.84 x 104 to 3.42 x 102 mmol/liter for RFP and 2.99 x 104 to 2.39 x 102 mmol/liter for 25-desacetyl RFP. The intraday coefficients of variation ranged from 2.8% to 4.4% for RFP and from 4.4% to 5.6% for 25-desacetyl RFP. The interday coefficients of variation for RFP and 25-desacetyl RFP were 2.5 to 4.7% and 4.0 to 6.3%, respectively.
Population pharmacokinetic analysis. Plasma molar concentration-time data for RFP and 25-desacetyl RFP for all patients were modeled by use of a nonlinear mixed-effects approach with NONMEM (version V, double precision, level 1.1) (20). The first-order conditional estimation method was used to estimate all population pharmacokinetic parameters except for the parent absorption lag time, where the first-order estimation method was employed. The model building was divided into two stages: parent drug model development followed by metabolite model development. Tracking of run information and parameter estimates during the model-building process was managed by using the software utility Census (22).
Single- and multicompartment pharmacokinetic models with linear elimination were fitted to the RFP concentration-time data. The models included first-order absorption with and without a lag time to determine the basic pharmacokinetic structural model. The need for interindividual variability (IIV) was evaluated in all basic structural parameters and was modeled exponentially as in the case for oral clearance (CL/F):
![]() | (1) |
iCL/F is the interindividual variability, which is assumed to be normally distributed around zero and which has a variance (
2)CL/F, to distinguish the ith patient's clearance from the population mean predicted from the regression model. This was done to avoid negative individual parameter estimates. Residual variability incorporated both additive and proportional error terms. Concentration-time profiles of the patient data displayed a secondary peak for 23 of 45 patients at 6 h. The 6-h sample was the first sample taken after lunch, and the peak could have resulted from RFP reabsorption from the small intestine following the release of bile from the gall bladder. An enterohepatic recirculation model was employed to characterize this. This model incorporated a hypothetical gall bladder compartment whereby drug entered from the central compartment and was later emptied into the absorption compartment. Separate rate constants were estimated for each process, and the time of gall bladder emptying was determined by the time of food intake relative to the time of drug ingestion. The potential effect of prior administration of RIF on RFP pharmacokinetics was also investigated. An empirical model explored changes in RFP clearance due to previous RIF administration with putative induction and the need for separate population CL/F values for the two dose occasions. Furthermore, interoccasional differences (IOV) in the pharmacokinetic parameters were explored and modeled as in the case for the volume of distribution of the central compartment (V/F):
![]() | (2) |
iV/F is the interoccasional variability in the ith individual, which is assumed to be normally distributed around zero and which has a variance of (
2)V/F.
Individual empirical Bayes post hoc estimates were generated from the basic parent model, and individual
values for each pharmacokinetic parameter were plotted against the following covariates to identify potential relationships as well as the shape of the relationship: WT; body mass index; sex; HIV status; new or retreatment TB patient; smoking; alcohol abuse; recreational drug use; hemoglobin level; creatinine clearance; and total protein, albumin, serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase levels. Further testing and selection of covariates was achieved by using a stepwise generalized additive modeling, as implemented in Xpose (7). Covariates identified as being important were first assessed in the basic model by univariate addition and were ranked in descending order according to the change in objective function value (
OFV). The variables were then tested by forward stepwise inclusion into the model. Covariates were included in the model at a significance level of 0.05 (
OFV = 3.84). When no further covariates could be included at the 5% significance level, a backwards deletion was carried out at the 10% (
OFV = 10.83) significance level. Continuous covariates were centered at the median values and were included in the model as exemplified in the case of body weight:
![]() | 3 |
WTCL is the change in CL/F for each WT unit and WTi is the ith individual's weight. The individual empirical Bayesian post hoc estimates from the final parent drug model were fixed and served as input for the metabolite model. Single-compartment and multicompartment models with linear and nonlinear elimination were fitted to the metabolite plasma concentration-time data. Presystemic formation of the metabolite via the first-pass effect was investigated and modeled by using a hypothetical metabolite absorption compartment (9). Models that assumed that the metabolite was formed only systemically and models that included the elimination of 25-desacetyl RFP through a second nonhepatic pathway were also tested. Different models were applied to describe a change in metabolite exposure observed between the first and second RFP doses. These included a linear change in the oral clearance of the metabolite (CLM/F) over time (equation 4), an exponential change in CLM/F over time (equation 5), and a saturable elimination model (equation 6).
![]() | (4) |
![]() | (5) |
![]() | (6) |
Model evaluation and qualification.
Models were selected by visual inspection of basic goodness-of-fit plots, including plots of the observed data versus population predictions (PREDs) and individual predictions (IPREDs). Plots of individual weighted residuals versus IPREDs and the distribution of weighted residuals over time were assessed. The relative standard errors (RSEs) of the parameters were also compared to measure parameter precision, and the objective function value (OFV) was used to discriminate between hierarchical (nested) models. This discrimination was based on a significance level of 0.05, which corresponds to a decrease in OFV of
3.84 (one parameter difference), as the difference in OFV is approximately
2 distributed.
Model validation for both parent and metabolite were performed by mapping the response surface of the objective function (6) and by bootstrap resampling (5) to confirm parameter stability and sensitivity as well as the robustness of the model. For the former method, individual parameter values were fixed at ±5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, and 60% of the population estimate from the final model; and changes in the OFV were plotted against the parameter values. Polynomial equations (fourth order) were fitted to the plotted data. If it is the case that the OFV had a
2 distribution, the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the parameter estimate would correspond to a change in OFV of 3.84. The CIs were compared with those based on the standard errors (SEs) of the NONMEM estimates and were calculated as a point estimate (±1.96 x SE). Parameter estimates were reestimated for each of the 1,000 bootstrap samples. The mean, SE, and 95% CIs were also compared with the NONMEM estimates from the final model.
|
|
|---|
![]() View larger version (17K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. Means and standard deviations of observed RFP (solid circle and line) and observed 25-desacetyl RFP (solid triangle and dashed line) concentrations at each time point.
|
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 2. Final parameter estimates and comparison of the 95% confidence intervals for RFP population pharmacokinetic parameters estimated by standard errors of the NONMEM final estimates, bootstrapping, and objective function mapping
|
OFV = 48.16), and the latter model was followed further. Addition of IOV terms to ka and V/F further improved the model and provided the best fit to the data. Graphical analysis and stepwise generalized additive modeling identified WT as a possible covariate that influenced both CL/F and V/F. The inclusion of the effect of WT on CL/F provided the biggest drop in OFV (
OFV = 22.66). In the forward inclusion step only the influence of WT on V/F produced a significant decrease in OFV (
OFV = 15.85), which negated the need for a backward deletion process. A typical individual weighing 50 kg was estimated to have an apparent oral clearance of 2.03 liters/h and a volume of distribution of 37.8 liters. An increase of 0.049 liter/h and 0.691 liter was observed for a 1-kg increase in weight from the median value of 50 kg for CL/F and V/F, respectively. The PRED RFP concentration and the IPRED RFP concentration described the observed RFP concentrations well (Fig. 2), and no trends were seen in plots of weighted and individual weighted residuals versus IPRED (Fig. 3). The majority of individual weighted residuals were within 2.5 units of perfect agreement and were normally distributed around zero over the duration of the study (Fig. 3).
![]() View larger version (35K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. Observed RFP concentrations versus the PRED and IPRE concentrations on a normal scale. The solid line represents the line of identity.
|
![]() View larger version (31K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. IPRE RFP concentrations versus the individual weighted residuals and individual weighted residuals plotted over time.
|
Metabolite model. A one-compartment model with linear elimination was found to be optimal for further modeling of the data. It was not possible to characterize any first-pass formation of the metabolite, nor could the distinction between hepatic and nonhepatic clearance of the parent drug be made. Therefore, it was assumed that all metabolite was formed centrally and that all parent drug was eliminated through formation of the metabolite. Of the various models tested to describe the shape of the change in clearance of the metabolite, the exponential decline-over-time model and the saturated elimination model provided equally good fits of the data. The saturation model was chosen based on the physiological plausibility that the enzymes responsible for the formation of metabolite decline from a maximal induced CLM/F value rather than the "infinite" value assumed in the exponential model. Final population pharmacokinetic parameter estimates are presented in Table 3. Variability between individuals in the parameters describing the pharmacokinetics of 25-desacetyl RFP were 23% for VM/F and 36% for CLM/F. Inclusion of variability terms in the other parameters were not supported by the data.
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 3. Final parameter estimates and a comparison of the 95% confidence intervals for 25-desacetyl RFP population pharmacokinetic parameters estimated by standard errors of the NONMEM final estimates, bootstrapping, and objective function mapping
|
OFV = 23.98). In the forward inclusion step only the influence of WT on VM/F produced a further significant decrease in OFV (
OFV = 11.35). The final 25-desacetyl RFP model therefore included two covariate relations: the combined effects of sex on CLM/F and WT on VM/F. Females had a 35% lower CLM/F than males, and an increase of 0.267 liter was observed for a 1-kg increase in weight from the median value of 50 kg. The CLM/F on day 1 for a male subject weighing 50 kg was estimated to be 6.74 liters/h. This value declined to 3.56 liters/h on study day 8 (Table 3). The population predicted 25-desacetyl RFP concentration and individual predicted 25-desacetyl RFP concentration described the observed concentrations well (Fig. 4), and no trends were seen in plots of weighted and individual weighted residuals versus IPRED or over time.
![]() View larger version (37K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Observed 25-desactyl RFP concentrations versus PRED and IPRE concentrations on a normal scale. The solid line represents the line of identity.
|
|
|
|---|
5%) above an MIC threshold (ratio free drug concentration/MIC), where the MIC for RFP in drug-sensitive isolates is 0.06 mg/liter, is seen as a determining factor with regard to treatment outcome (2). If 95% protein binding in our population is assumed, all subjects maintained a free drug concentration/MIC ratio
1 for up to 48 h on each occasion, and the increased CL/F with increased WT is not seen to have a negative impact on clinical outcomes. The lack of support for the inclusion of a change in CL/F between occasion 1 and occasion 2 supports the findings from the previously published noncompartmental analysis (16) that the prior administration of RFP for a period of between 4 and 6 weeks does not significantly alter the oral clearance of RFP. Sex differences have been shown to influence RFP pharmacokinetic measures (the maximum concentration in plasma, the area under the concentration-time curve, CL/F, V/F) derived by noncompartmental analysis (16). The results from the population analysis of the parent drug indicate that the differences in weight between individuals correlate better with the observed differences in CL/F and V/F rather than discrete sex differences. Females in this study generally had lower body weights, with only 3 of 16 weighing more than 50 kg but with 13 of 29 men weighing more than 50 kg. This resulted in lower median CL/F and V/F values in the female group and would account for the previously observed differences. Furthermore, coinfection with HIV, prior administration of RIF, smoking, alcohol abuse, and recreational drug use did not significantly affect the pharmacokinetics of RFP. A larger sample size may be required to detect differences within these subgroups, if indeed they exist.
The pharmacokinetics of 25-desacetyl RFP in this study were best described by a one-compartment model with no first-pass formation and a clearance value that declined in a nonlinear fashion over time after the withdrawal of RIF administration. The increased metabolite levels on the second dosing occasion are thought to be related to changes in the elimination of the metabolite, as no significant change in the pharmacokinetics of the parent drug was observed over time. This assumption is based on the fact that in previously published studies (1) prior RIF administration has been shown to increase the capacity of the liver to excrete hydrophobic compounds into the bile. Furthermore, sex was found to have a significant impact on CLM/F, with female patients demonstrating a 35% lower value than male patients. The weight differences between the two sex groups could not account for the lower value. A previous study by Schuetz et al. (19) found that women displayed only one-third to one-half the hepatic P-glycoprotein levels of men, which could account for the disparity between the sexes.
25-Desacetyl RFP has been shown to be active in vitro, with an MIC of 0.25 mg/liter in drug-susceptible isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (17). If it is assumed that protein binding is similar between parent and metabolite (
95%), then total plasma concentrations
5 mg/liter for an extended period of time are required to have an impact on treatment outcome. Only 25% (137of 656) of the plasma samples analyzed had metabolite concentrations above this level. Due to the limited pharmacological activity of the metabolite in our study population, the changes in metabolite kinetics between occasions is therefore not seen to have a negative clinical impact.
A population pharmacokinetic model for RFP and its deacetylated metabolite was developed that characterized the increased CL/F and V/F with increasing WT as well as the lower oral clearance of the metabolite in female patients. Prior treatment with RIF did not alter the pharmacokinetics of the parent drug but appeared to increase the excretion of the metabolite. Parameter estimates were consistent between individuals and between occasions, with low levels of interindividual variability observed for all parameters except the absorption rate constant.
|
|
|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»