Estimation of oral bioavailability of a long half-life drug in healthy subjects

Purpose. To estimate and compare the oral bioavailability of a drug (BMS-187745) administered as single doses of oral solution of either the parent drug or its prodrug (BMS-188494). Methods. A single-dose, two-period, three-treatment, control-balanced, residual-effect, incomplete block crossover study was completed in 16 healthy male subjects. All subjects received a 10 mg IV infusion of BMS-187745, and a single oral dose of either BMS-187745 (PO1) or BMS-188494 (PO2). A model is proposed to calculate the oral bioavailability of BMS-187745 which has a long half-life; incomplete data points were available to characterize its elimination phase. The plasma concentration-time data obtained following IV infusion of parent drug, and after administration of either PO1 or PO2 treatment were fitted simultaneously with systemic pharmacokinetic parameters shared by both the oral and IV routes of administration. Results. The best simultaneous fittings of the plasma concentration-time data were obtained by using a biexponential pharmacokinetic model with a first-order absorption rate constant. The mean bioavailability (F) values of BMS-187745 estimated by the proposed model were 26.5% and 2.6% when given as oral solution of its prodrug and as the parent drug. The coefficient of variation (CV) of these F values are reasonable, ranging from 38-40%. In contrast, F calculated by the model-independent AUC method exhibited high CV, ranging from 111-120%. Conclusions. The oral bioavailability values estimated by the proposed model were more reasonable compared to those calculated by the model-independent AUC method. The proposed approach may be useful for estimating bioavailability of long half- life drugs when incomplete data points are available to characterize their elimination phase.