Improvement of Predictivity of Teicoplanin Serum Trough Concentrations at Steady State Calculated by Vancomycin Pharmacokinetic Parameter.

According to a recent study and meta-analysis, trough levels of >10 µg/mL teicoplanin (TEIC) may be acceptable for the treatment of uncomplicated infection, but no method of TEIC personalized medicine has been established. Vancomycin (VCM) and TEIC are glycopeptide antibiotic agents effective against methicillin-resistance Staphyloccocus aureus. This study aimed to establish TEIC personalized medicine at a steady state calculated by VCM pharmacokinetic parameters. Bayesian forecasting and population mean methods were employed to estimate individual total VCM clearance (CL) using existing population pharmacokinetics (PPK) parameter, and the differences between the CL calculated by these two methods were defined as ΔCL. Serum drug concentration data for patients treated with TEIC were collected at a steady state concentration (>96 h post infusion). There was a significant relationship between the prediction error of TEIC trough level and ΔCL. The relation between ΔCL and TEIC trough concentration at steady state was used to develop the following equation to determine the maintenance dose: TEIC (µg/mL)=1.1119X-6.124ΔCL+3.9164 (X is defined as TEIC trough concentration calculated from the PPK parameter). The results of this study indicated that it is possible to improve the prediction error of TEIC trough concentration at a steady state for patients who have received VCM therapy.

Population pharmacokinetics of transdermal fentanyl in patients with cancer-related pain.

Determining the appropriate dose of transdermal fentanyl (TDF) for the alleviation of cancer pain requires determining the factors causing variations in serum fentanyl concentration after TDF treatment. The objective of this study was to identify these factors and incorporate them into a formula that can be used to predict serum fentanyl concentration after application of a TDF patch. Blood samples of cancer patients treated with a TDF patch for the alleviation of pain were collected at 24, 48, and 72 hours after application to evaluate population pharmacokinetics using the nonlinear mixed-effect model (NONMEM). Based upon this evaluation, Child-Pugh Score and use of a cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) inducer were identified as the most significant factors in variations in serum fentanyl concentration and incorporated into the following Final Model formula: CL(fenta) (L/h) = 3.53 × (15 - Child-Pugh Score) × (1 + 1.38 × use or no use of CYP3A4 inducer). Bootstrap evaluation of the Final Model revealed a high convergence rate, suggesting that the model formula is a reliable and useful tool for determining TDF dose for the alleviation of cancer pain.