A semiphysiological pharmacokinetic model for artemisinin in healthy subjects incorporating autoinduction of metabolism and saturable first-pass hepatic extraction.

Aims: Previous studies have shown that the antimalarial drug artemisinin is a potent inducer of its own metabolism in both patients and healthy subjects. The aim of this study was to characterize the time-dependent pharmacokinetics of artemisinin in healthy subjects.

Methods: Twenty-four healthy males were randomized to receive either a daily single dose of 500 mg oral artemisinin for 5 days, or single oral doses of 100/100/250/250/500 mg on each of the first 5 days.

Artemisinin autoinduction is caused by involvement of cytochrome P450 2B6 but not 2C9.

Aim: Our goal was to investigate whether artemisinin autoinduction is caused by an increase in cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2B6 or CYP2C9 activities, we evaluated the effects of multiple-dose artemisinin administration on S-mephenytoin N-demethylation in healthy subjects.

Methods: Fourteen subjects, 6 poor metabolizers of CYP2C19 and 8 extensive metabolizers, received a single oral dose of 200 mg racemic mephenytoin (CYP2B6 in vivo marker) before (day -28) and during multiple-dose artemisinin administration (250 mg/d orally for 9 days and 500 mg on the tenth day). A 500-mg single dose of artemisinin was administered on day -28.

Artemisinin pharmacokinetics and efficacy in uncomplicated-malaria patients treated with two different dosage regimens.

The immediate efficacies of two oral dosage regimens of artemisinin were investigated in 77 male and female adult Vietnamese falciparum malaria patients randomly assigned to treatment with either 500 mg of artemisinin daily for 5 days (group A; n = 40) or artemisinin at a dose of 100 mg per day for 2 days, with the dose increased to 250 mg per day for 2 consecutive days and with a final dose of 500 mg on the fifth day (group B; n = 37). Parasitemia was monitored every 4 h. The average parasite clearance time was longer in group B than in group A (means +/- standard deviations, 50 +/- 23 and 34 +/- 14 h, respectively; P < 0.