A simple integrated method for drug and derived metabolite kinetics. An application of the statistical moment theory.

A simple integrated method for the calculation of elimination rate constants of a drug and its derived metabolite has been developed. This method is based on the statistical moment theory and requires only simple calculations of the area under the curve and area under the moment curve of the parent drug and its derived metabolite. The application to a drug following a one-compartmental model is theoretically well justified and this method may also be applicable to drugs following higher kinetic models under certain conditions. The application of this method to several experimental cases is also presented.