Rapid determination of oral pharmacokinetics and plasma free fraction using cocktail approaches: methods and application.

PURPOSE

To apply cocktail approaches for protein binding (PB) and pharmacokinetics (PK) within a discovery program as a means of providing timely systemic exposure (AUC and Cmax) data.

METHODS

For PB data, a procedure of cocktail ultrafiltration, mixed matrix sample preparation and single quadrupole atmospheric pressure ionization LC/MS analysis was used. In vivo PK studies consisted of 4 experimental compounds and a control compound dosed orally at 1 mg/kg (5 mg/kg total dose), with plasma samples obtained at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 h post dose. For PB and in vivo PK analysis, a control compound was tested within each cocktail to ensure consistent reproducibility.

RESULTS

Approximately 2 weeks were spent comparing single and cocktail approaches to determine the feasibility of this method for this project. Comparisons of cocktail data with single compound data revealed no significant differences between the approaches. The oral AUC values ranged from 0.01 to 9.28 micrograms.hr/ml and the Cmax values ranged from 0.04 to 2.17 micrograms/ml. Free fractions of the 44 compounds studied ranged from 0.006 to 0.271. Using the free fraction values to correct for free AUC and Cmax results in ranges of 0.001 to 0.473 microgram.hr/ml, and 0.001 to 0.119 microgram/ml, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

All 44 compounds tested had similar potencies in vivo. Thus, these results suggest that a respective 400 and 100-fold range in AUC and Cmax corrected for free fraction exist in the presence of comparable in vivo activity. The ability to generate this type of data in a timely manner allowed the selection of a candidate with low peripheral exposure relative to the effective dose. The free fraction and PK data on the 44 compounds described was collected within three work days by 2 lab scientists.