Pharmacokinetics of oral sitamaquine taken with or without food and safety and efficacy for treatment of visceral leishmaniais: A randomized study in Bihar, India

Abstract

This randomized, open-label study of patients in India with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) investigated the effect of food on sitamaquine and desethyl-sitamaquine pharmacokinetics. Patients were randomized to receive oral sitamaquine, 2 mg/kg/day, once a day for 21 days across four cohorts (n = 41) (fasted/fed, fed/fasted, fed/fed, and fasted/fasted) over two periods (days 1-10 and 11-21), or intravenous amphotericin B (AmB), 1 mg/kg every other day for 30 days (n = 20). Mean day 21 pharmacokinetics across the four cohorts were sitamaquine, area under curve (AUC) (0-τ) = 6,627-8,903 ng.hr/mL, AUC (0-16) = 4,859-6,633 ng.hr/mL, maximum plasma concentration ( C max ) = 401-570 ng/mL, apparent terminal half-life ( t 1/2 ) = 18.3-22.8 hr, time to reach C max ( t max ) = 3.5-6 hr; and desethyl-sitamaquine, AUC (0-τ) = 2,307-3,163 ng.hr/ mL, C max = 109-154 ng/mL, t 1/2 = 23.0-27.9 hr, t max = 2-10 hr, with no significant food effect. On-therapy adverse events were observed for sitamaquine in 4 (10%) of 41 patients and for AmB in 17 (85%) of 20 patients. The final clinical cure (day 180) was 85% (95% confidence interval = 70.8-94.4%) for sitamaquine and 95% (95% confidence interval = 75.1-99.9) for AmB. Sitamaquine can be taken regardless of food intake, was generally well tolerated, and showed potential efficacy in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. Copyright © 2011 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.