Pharmacokinetics of repeated oral doses of amlodipine and amlodipine plus telmisartan in healthy volunteers.

This open-label, crossover study was performed to establish if there is evidence for interaction between telmisartan, an angiotensin II antagonist, and amlodipine, a class II (dihydropyridine) calcium channel antagonist, on the basis of pharmacokinetics and safety. In a two-way crossover trial, 12 healthy Caucasian males were randomized to receive once daily for 9 days oral amlodipine 10 mg with or without oral telmisartan 120 mg. After a washout period of > or = 13 days, the subjects were switched to the other medication regimen. The geometric means of the primary pharmacokinetic parameters at steady state (day 9) for amlodipine when given alone were the following: maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) 17.7 ng/mL, area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) 331 ng.h/mL, and renal clearance 39.5 mL/min, with 8% of the total amlodipine dose being excreted. When concomitant telmisartan was given, the respective values were 18.7 ng/mL, 352 ng.h/mL, and 43.0 mL/min, with 9.4% of the total amlodipine dose being excreted renally. The limits of the 90% confidence intervals (CIs) for the ratios of these steady-state parameters were 0.97 to 1.14 for Cmax and 0.98 to 1.16 for AUC; both were within the predefined reference range (0.8 to 1.25) for bioequivalence. The high intersubject variability in urinary amlodipine excretion resulted in bioequivalence not being demonstrated for renal clearance. Adverse effects were few, mild to moderate in intensity, and transient whether amlodipine was given alone or with telmisartan. Vital signs, except for blood pressure, and clinical laboratory values were unaffected by either medication. The findings of this study show that concomitant telmisartan and amlodipine may be administered as there is no clinically significant variation in primary pharmacokinetic parameters of amlodipine in the presence of telmisartan, and the safety of the combination is comparable to that of amlodipine alone.