Oral esomeprazole in Japanese pediatric patients with gastric acid-related disease: Safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics.

BACKGROUND: Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are widely used for the treatment of gastric acid-related disease, but they are not approved for use in children in Japan. To assess the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and efficacy (gastrointestinal symptom improvement) of PPI in Japanese pediatric patients with gastric acid-related disease, we conducted an 8 week, open-label, parallel-group, multicenter, phase I/III study of once-daily oral esomeprazole use. METHODS: Japanese children, aged 1-14 years with gastric acid-related disease, were stratified by weight and age into five groups (10 patients/group) to receive esomeprazole as granules for suspension (10 mg) or capsules (10 mg or 20 mg) once daily. RESULTS: Esomeprazole was absorbed and eliminated rapidly in all groups, with a median time to reach maximum plasma concentration of 1.47-1.75 h, an arithmetic mean terminal elimination half-life of 0.80-1.37 h, and a weight-correlated apparent total body clearance of 0.216-0.343 L/h/kg. Area under the plasma concentration-time curve during a dosage interval and maximum plasma drug concentration were generally higher in groups given a higher dose (20 mg) or with a lower age/weight, but also in patients identified as poor metabolizers on cytochrome P450 2C19 genotype. Most patients who had any upper gastrointestinal symptoms at baseline were asymptomatic at the end of the study. Thirty-three patients (66%) reported ≥1 adverse events, including three patients who reported serious adverse events not judged to be causally related to esomeprazole. CONCLUSIONS: Oral esomeprazole, at 10 mg or 20 mg once daily, had a similar safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetic profile in Japanese pediatric patients to that previously seen in adults and Caucasian children.

Prevention of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in critically ill Chinese patients: a randomized, double-blind study evaluating esomeprazole and cimetidine.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of esomeprazole in preventing upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in critically ill Chinese patients, using cimetidine as an active comparator. METHODS: A pre-specified non-inferiority limit (5%) was used to compare rates of significant upper GI bleeding in this randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, phase 3 study across 27 intensive care units in China. Secondary endpoints included safety and tolerability measures. Patients required mechanical ventilation and had at least one additional risk factor for stress ulcer bleeding. Patients were randomized to receive either active esomeprazole 40 mg, as a 30-min intravenous (IV) infusion twice daily, and an IV placebo cimetidine infusion or active cimetidine 50 mg/h, as a continuous infusion following an initial bolus of 300 mg, and placebo esomeprazole injections, given up to 14 days. Patients were blinded using this double-dummy technique. RESULTS: Of 274 patients, 2.7% with esomeprazole and 4.6% with cimetidine had significant upper GI bleeding (bright red blood in the gastric tube not clearing after lavage or persistent Gastroccult-positive "coffee grounds" material). Non-inferiority of esomeprazole to cimetidine was demonstrated. The safety profiles of both drugs were similar and as expected in critically ill patients. CONCLUSIONS: Esomeprazole is effective in preventing upper GI bleeding in critically ill Chinese patients, as demonstrated by the non-inferiority analysis using cimetidine as an active control. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02157376.

Reducing Adverse Effects During Drug Development: The Example of Lesogaberan and Paresthesia.

PURPOSE: Lesogaberan, a γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)B receptor agonist, was developed for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients with a partial response to proton pump inhibitor therapy. A high prevalence of paresthesia was observed in healthy individuals after dosing with lesogaberan in early-phase clinical trials. The aim of this review was to gain further insight into paresthesia caused by lesogaberan by summarizing the relevant preclinical and clinical data. METHODS: This study was a narrative review of the literature and unpublished data. FINDINGS: The occurrence of paresthesia may depend on the route or rate of drug administration; several studies were conducted to test this hypothesis, and formulations were developed to minimize the occurrence of paresthesia. Phase I clinical studies showed that, in healthy individuals, paresthesia occurred soon after administration of lesogaberan in a dose-dependent manner regardless of the route of administration. The occurrence of paresthesia could be decreased by fractionating the dose or reducing the rate of administration. These findings suggest that the initial rate of absorption plays an important part in the development of paresthesia. Modified-release formulations minimize the occurrence of paresthesia while retaining the anti-reflux activity of the drug, as measured by esophageal pH and the number of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations. IMPLICATIONS: The development of lesogaberan was halted because the effect on gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms observed in Phase II studies was not considered clinically meaningful in the target patient population. Nevertheless, it is an example of successful formulation development designed to minimize the occurrence of a compound's adverse effect while retaining its pharmacodynamic action.

Pharmacokinetics of esomeprazole following varying intravenous administration rates.

There are situations where the use of an oral proton pump inhibitors is not possible. In such situations an intravenous route is the preferred alternative. An intravenous formulation of esomeprazole has recently been developed. This study was designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and tolerability of single-dose intravenous esomeprazole using different rates of administration. The study was an open randomised, cross-over design in healthy male and female (n = 24). Esomeprazole 40 mg intravenously was administrated as an infusion over 10, 15, 20 or 30 min., or esomeprazole 20 mg intravenously as an injection over 3 min. There was a wash-out period of at least 6 days between dose regimens. It was demonstrated that increasing the rate of intravenous infusion of esomeprazole 40 mg resulted in higher Cmax values (geometric means; 5.2-7.6 micromol/l), but the AUC values remained relatively constant (7.1-7.2 micromor/l). As expected esomeprazole 20 mg administered as a 3 min. intravenous injection had lower Cmax (3.6 micromol/l) and AUC (2.9 micromol.r/l) values than any of the infusions of esomeprazole 40 mg. Intravenous esomeprazole was well tolerated in this study. In conclusion, any variation in the infusion rate of esomeprazole 40 mg intravenously has little effect on the pharmacokinetics of esomeprazole in healthy volunteers, which provides flexibility in the choice of dosing regimens.

Rapid initial gastric emptying and hypersensitivity to gastric filling in functional dyspepsia: effects of duodenal lipids.

OBJECTIVE: Impaired distension-induced gastric accommodation and hypersensitivity to distension have been demonstrated by gastric barostat in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). In this study we investigated distension-induced responses to gastric filling with water in healthy volunteers and FD patients, using non-invasive ultrasonography. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eighteen healthy volunteers and 18 FD patients were given infusions of 10 ml saline or lipid (3 kcal/ml) through a nasoduodenal tube. After tube retraction, the stomach was filled with 1000 ml water during 10 min. Intragastric volume was monitored by 3D ultrasonography, and fullness, pain and nausea were assessed. RESULTS: Compared with healthy volunteers, patients with FD had faster gastric emptying at 5 min (p = 0.0008) and reported more fullness (p = 0.006) during gastric filling with water. Prior duodenal lipid exposure reduced initial gastric emptying rate in FD patients to the level seen in healthy volunteers. However, despite similar gastric volumes, the patients still reported greater fullness (p = 0.002) and nausea (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with FD had abnormally rapid initial gastric emptying of water and hypersensitivity to gastric filling. Though normalizing gastric emptying rate and volumes, duodenal lipid exposure did not improve hypersensitivity. Rapid initial gastric emptying of water might be a sign of impaired distension-induced gastric accommodation.