Objective: To understand the sociodemographic, geographical, and clinical characteristics of rural veterans utilizing home modification (HM) healthcare services under the Home Improvement Structural Alterations (HISA) program, to compare these characteristics between rural and urban veteran users, to estimate the costs of HMs performed, and to present distance that users traveled to HISA-prescribing medical facilities within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
Background: Accessible housing is in short supply. HMs allow veterans with disabilities (VWDs) to remain living at home rather than enter institutional-type settings.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 3C-like protease inhibitor PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir), in combination with ritonavir (Paxlovid), was recently granted emergency use authorization by multiple regulatory agencies for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients. Disposition studies on nirmatrelvir in animals and in human reagents, which were used to support clinical studies, are described herein. Plasma clearance was moderate in rats (27.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global pandemic. Alongside vaccines, antiviral therapeutics are an important part of the healthcare response to countering the ongoing threat presented by COVID-19. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of PF-07321332, an orally bioavailable SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitor with in vitro pan-human coronavirus antiviral activity and excellent off-target selectivity and in vivo safety profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe blood-to-plasma ratio (R ) is an important property of drug candidates. R is applied widely in drug discovery to convert plasma pharmacokinetic parameters to the respective parameters in blood and to develop in vitro-in vivo correlations. Some compounds such as prodrugs, soft drugs, and peptide mimetics are unstable in blood, making accurate in vitro R measurement challenging, but necessary.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder caused by a single point mutation (β6 Glu → Val) on the β-chain of adult hemoglobin (HbA) that results in sickled hemoglobin (HbS). In the deoxygenated state, polymerization of HbS leads to sickling of red blood cells (RBC). Several downstream consequences of polymerization and RBC sickling include vaso-occlusion, hemolytic anemia, and stroke.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnzymes of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) superfamily contribute to the elimination of drugs from almost all therapeutic classes. Awareness of the importance of glucuronidation as a drug clearance mechanism along with increased knowledge of the enzymology of drug and chemical metabolism has stimulated interest in the development and application of approaches for the characterisation of human drug glucuronidation in vitro, in particular reaction phenotyping (the fractional contribution of the individual UGT enzymes responsible for the glucuronidation of a given drug), assessment of metabolic stability, and UGT enzyme inhibition by drugs and other xenobiotics. In turn, this has permitted the implementation of in vitro - in vivo extrapolation approaches for the prediction of drug metabolic clearance, intestinal availability, and drug-drug interaction liability, all of which are of considerable importance in pre-clinical drug development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman liver microsomes (HLM) and human hepatocytes (HHEP) are two common in vitro systems used in metabolic stability and inhibition studies. The comparison between the assays using the two systems can provide mechanistic insights on the interplay of metabolism, passive permeability and transporters. This study investigated the critical factors impacting the unbound intrinsic clearance (CL) and IC of CYP3A inhibition between HLM and HHEP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActive uptake mediated by organic anion transporter 2 (OAT2) has been previously hypothesized as a key player in hepatic disposition of its substrates. Previous studies have shown that another hepatic uptake transporter, organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATP) 1B1, significantly elevates liver concentrations of drugs transported by it. As tissue concentration typically governs pharmacodynamics, drug-drug interactions, and toxicity in the liver, it is important to understand if OAT2 functions similarly to OATP1B1 in raising liver exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBinding to various tissues and species is frequently assessed in drug discovery and development to support safety and efficacy studies. To reduce time, cost, and labor requirements for binding experiments, we conducted a large comparison study to evaluate the correlation of fraction unbound (f) across 7 tissues of 5 species, including white adipose, brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung, and skeletal muscle of mouse, rat, dog, monkey, and human. The results showed that there were no significant species differences of f for tissue binding, and a single-species (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiopharm Drug Dispos
November 2018
The effect of low temperature (4 °C) on plasma protein binding and tissue binding was evaluated for the first time using a large set of structurally diverse compounds covering a wide range of physiochemical properties and fraction unbound values. These results show that temperature has little effect on plasma protein binding and tissue binding and that the measured binding values at 4 °C are equivalent, on average, to those at physiological temperature (37 °C). The exception is indomethacin, where binding component(s) changed during long incubation at 37 °C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF6-Chloro-5-[4-(1-hydroxycyclobutyl)phenyl]-1-indole-3-carboxylic acid (PF-06409577) is a direct activator of the human 1-containing adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (ΑMPK) isoforms. The clearance mechanism of PF-06409577 in animals and humans involves uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (UGT)-mediated glucuronidation to an acyl glucuronide metabolite of PF-06409577 [(2,3,4,5,6)-6-((6-chloro-5-(4-(1-hydroxycyclobutyl)phenyl)-1-indole-3-carbonyl)oxy)-3,4,5-trihydroxytetrahydro-2-pyran-2-carboxylic acid (M1)], which retains selective activation of human 1-containing AMPK isoforms. This paper describes a detailed characterization of the human UGT isoform(s) responsible for glucuronidation of PF-06409577 to M1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantitative proteomic methods require optimization at several stages, including sample preparation, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and data analysis, with the final analysis stage being less widely appreciated by end-users. Previously reported measurement of eight uridine-5'-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) generated by two laboratories [using stable isotope-labeled (SIL) peptides or quantitative concatemer (QconCAT)] reflected significant disparity between proteomic methods. Initial analysis of QconCAT data showed lack of correlation with catalytic activity for several UGTs (1A4, 1A6, 1A9, 2B15) and moderate correlations for UGTs 1A1, 1A3, and 2B7 (s = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantitative characterization of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzymes is valuable in glucuronidation reaction phenotyping, predicting metabolic clearance and drug-drug interactions using extrapolation exercises based on pharmacokinetic modeling. Different quantitative proteomic workflows have been employed to quantify UGT enzymes in various systems, with reports indicating large variability in expression, which cannot be explained by interindividual variability alone. To evaluate the effect of methodological differences on end-point UGT abundance quantification, eight UGT enzymes were quantified in 24 matched liver microsomal samples by two laboratories using stable isotope-labeled (SIL) peptides or quantitative concatemer (QconCAT) standard, and measurements were assessed against catalytic activity in seven enzymes ( = 59).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConjugated hyperbilirubinemia accompanied by cholestasis is a frequent side effect during chronic treatment with the antimicrobial agent fusidic acid. Previous studies from our laboratory, addressing mechanisms of musculoskeletal toxicity arising from coadministration of fusidic acid with statins, demonstrated the ability of fusidic acid to potently inhibit human organic anion transporting polypeptides OATP1B1 (IC = 1.6 μM) and OATP1B3 (IC = 2.
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