Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of a Novel Mitochondrial Modulator, TRC150094, in Overweight and Obese Subjects: A Randomized Phase-I Clinical Trial.

TRC150094, a novel mitochondrial modulator, can restore metabolic flexibility by improving insulin resistance in preclinical studies. This study primarily aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of oral TRC150094 after conducting two double-blind, randomized, Phase-I studies, single ascending dose (SAD) and multiple ascending dose (MAD), with n = 46, in overweight/obese adult and elderly subjects. In addition, the effect of TRC150094 on pharmacodynamic (PD) efficacy markers was evaluated. PK assessments, including maximum concentration (Cmax), area under the plasma concentration (AUC), time to Cmax (Tmax), and elimination half-life (t½), were assessed at pre-specified time points. PD assessments included apolipoprotein B (ApoB), triglycerides, hepatic fat by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) parameters. TRC150094 was rapidly absorbed, and the AUC of TRC150094 increased in a dose-dependent manner across all doses in non-elderly and elderly cohorts. Cmax was more than the dose-proportional for all doses in all cohorts. Tmax ranged from 0.25 to 4 h, and t½ ranged from 15 to 18 h, making TRC150094 suitable for once-daily dosing. Food did not interfere with the overall absorption of the drug. The metabolites of TRC150094 were glucuronide and sulfate conjugates, and 20% of the drug was excreted unchanged in the urine. TRC150094 at 50 mg showed an improving trend in triglycerides. A significant reduction in Apo B was observed after 50 mg dose (-2.34 vs. 13.24%, p = 0.008), which was, however, not the case after 150 mg (8.78 vs. 13.24%, p = 0.1221). Other parameters such as hepatic fat and insulin sensitivity indices (HOMA-IR, MATSUDA Index derived from OGTT) showed an improving trend for the dose of 50 mg. In terms of safety, all the AEs reported were mild to moderate in severity. None of the adverse events was considered definitely or probably related to treatment, and there were no abnormal laboratory findings. In conclusion, the PK of TRC150094 was linear with no clinically significant food effect. TRC150094 and its metabolites suggest a lesser likelihood of drug-drug interactions. Overall, TRC150094 ensured safety and exhibited suitability for all subjects. Clinical Trial Registration: EUDRA CT: 2009-014941-10 (SAD) and CTR-India registration: CTRI/2009/091/000601 (MAD).

Applied Pharmaceutical Analysis India 2014 conference report.

Applied Pharmaceutical Analysis (APA) India 23-26 February 2014, Ahmedabad, India The fifth Applied Pharmaceutical Analysis (APA) India meeting was held in February 2014 at Hyatt Ahmedabad, India. With the theme of 'The Science of Measurement: Current status and Future trends in Bioanalysis, Biotransformation and Drug Discovery Platforms', the conference was attended by over 160 delegates. The agenda comprised advanced and relevant research topics in the key areas of bioanalysis and drug metabolism. APA India 2014 provided a unique platform for networking and professional linking to participants, innovators and policy-makers. As part of the global research community, APA India continues to grow and receive considerable attention from the drug discovery and development community of India.

Recent advances in sample preparation techniques for effective bioanalytical methods.

This paper reviews the recent developments in bioanalysis sample preparation techniques and gives an update on basic principles, theory, applications and possibilities for automation, and a comparative discussion on the advantages and limitation of each technique. Conventional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), protein precipitation (PP) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) techniques are now been considered as methods of the past. The last decade has witnessed a rapid development of novel sample preparation techniques in bioanalysis. Developments in SPE techniques such as selective sorbents and in the overall approach to SPE, such as hybrid SPE and molecularly imprinted polymer SPE, have been addressed. Considerable literature has been published in the area of solid-phase micro-extraction and its different versions, e.g. stir bar sorptive extraction, and their application in the development of selective and sensitive bioanalytical methods. Techniques such as dispersive solid-phase extraction, disposable pipette extraction and micro-extraction by packed sorbent offer a variety of extraction phases and provide unique advantages to bioanalytical methods. On-line SPE utilizing column-switching techniques is rapidly gaining acceptance in bioanalytical applications. PP sample preparation techniques such as PP filter plates/tubes offer many advantages like removal of phospholipids and proteins in plasma/serum. Newer approaches to conventional LLE techniques (salting-out LLE) are also covered in this review article.

Phase I clinical studies of the advanced glycation end-product (AGE)-breaker TRC4186: safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications through a variety of mechanisms including endothelial dysfunction and structural abnormalities in the vasculature and myocardium. Reducing the AGEs burden and their ensuing pro-inflammatory, pro-oxidative and pro-coagulant effect with associated dysfunctional proteins in various target tissues may retard the progression of and even reverse diabetic macro- and microvascular complications. Pyridinium, 3-[[2-(methylsulfonyl) hydrazino] carbonyl]-1-[2-oxo-2-2-thienyl) ethyl]-chloride (TRC4186) has demonstrated AGE-breaking activities in in vitro experiments and improvement in the endothelial and myocardial function in animal models of diabetes mellitus with reduction of AGEs accumulation in tissues over time. The safety of TRC4186 has been established in in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies. Thus, this drug is being developed for the treatment of complications associated with diabetes. This investigation set out to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of TRC4186 in healthy human subjects after single and multiple ascending doses, fixed doses in elderly male and female subjects, and with food and different formulations of the compound. METHODS: Four studies were conducted during phase I clinical development of TRC4186. These were: (i) a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-dose, dose-ascending study in healthy male subjects with doses of TRC4186 ranging from 250 to 2500 mg administered as an oral solution (total six doses); (ii) a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple-dose, dose-ascending study in healthy male subjects with three doses of TRC4186 ranging from 500 to 2000 mg twice daily for 6 days with a final single dose on day 7; (iii) a randomized, open-label, three-way crossover study to assess the effect of food (fasted vs fed) and formulation (solution vs tablet) with TRC4186 500 mg; (iv) a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-dose, dose-ascending study in elderly male and female subjects at a dose of TRC4186 500 mg followed by TRC4186 1000 mg after a 7-day washout period. The safety and tolerability of TRC4186 were assessed by considering adverse events (AEs), ECG findings, vital signs and laboratory investigation results. RESULTS: TRC4186 was rapidly absorbed, with maximum plasma concentrations (C(max)) attained within 1-4 hours. C(max) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) were dose proportional over the range 250-2500 mg for a single dose and 500-2000 mg for multiple doses with twice-daily administration. Steady-state conditions were attained within 6 days at different dose levels. C(max) and AUC were not affected by age, sex, race or type of formulation. The tablet formulation of TRC4186 was bioequivalent with the solution form of the drug under fasting conditions and systemic availability of the tablet formulation was reduced by 40% when administered under fed conditions. Terminal elimination and renal clearance in the elderly male (age 69.1 +/- 6.0 years) were not significantly different compared with younger subjects (age 31 +/- 8.6 years). CONCLUSION: TRC4186 was safe and well tolerated when administered orally with either a single or multiple doses across the different ages, sexes, races and formulations studied. A dose-proportional increase in plasma TRC4186 concentration was seen, with steady state being achieved within 6 days.

Prediction of oral absorption in humans by experimental immobilized artificial membrane chromatography indices and physicochemical descriptors.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the human oral absorption (HOA) predictability of the experimentally determined immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) chromatography capacity factor (log k'IAM) in conjunction with physicochemical descriptors. Transcellular permeation was modeled based on determination of log k'IAM considering pH partition hypothesis, and the independent variables were polar surface area (PSA) and molecular weight (MW). The correlation between log k'IAM determined at different pH and n-octanol/water partition coefficient (log P) and contribution of polarity (PSA) and size (MW) in the transcellular permeation model were the extension to the previous work. A data set of 37 compounds with partition coefficient values taken from the literature was employed to show importance of ionic interaction in oral absorption prediction. The highest log k'IAM value among screened pH 4.5, 5.5, 6.5 and 7.4 (log k'IAM4.5-7.4) in conjunction with PSA predicted HOA with coefficient of determination (CD) of 0.9001 compare to log k'IAM4.5-7.4 alone with CD of 0.8454 after excluding bretylium from the set of 28 structurally diverse drugs for known reason. PSA helped to avoid over estimation of HOA for amiloride, famotidine and furosemide. The model was tested for its applicability in drug development program and found to predict oral absorption using physically meaningful and structurally related properties making them relatively straightforward for a medicinal chemist to interpret.

Relationship between immobilized artificial membrane chromatographic retention and human oral absorption of structurally diverse drugs.

Capacity factors are determined for a set of drugs for which human oral absorption (HOA) data are available, using immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) chromatography. The compound set represented acidic, basic, neutral and amphoteric drugs from various structure classes and having low to high human oral absorption. Effect of mobile phase pH on retention was investigated to determine the optimal condition for better correlation with HOA. The retention (capacity factor, k'(IAM) of each drug was measured by reverse phase HPLC using an IAM.PC.DD2 (1 cm x 3 mm i.d., 12 microm) column with an eluent of acetonitrile - 0.01 M phosphate buffer at pH 4.5-7.4. The pH dependent k'(IAM) was in accordance with pH partition theory. Using non-linear regression analysis the obtained log k'(IAM) values were compared with published data on HOA in order to establish correlation. The better correlation with HOA was observed when the highest log k'(IAM) value selected among pH 4.5-7.4 (R(2)=0.8566) for each drug rather than obtained at more traditional pH 7.4 (R(2)=0.7403). Finally, it was confirmed by Cook's D outlier test that there was no influential observation in the model that affect the relationship between IAM capacity factor and HOA. The assay conditions were optimized and validated to make it suitable for routine analysis and for compound characterization in early discovery where permeability may be an issue.