39th National Congress of the Italian Society of Organ TransplantationGeneral observationMeltdose Tacrolimus Pharmacokinetics
Section snippets
Methods
MeltDose® technology, a platform developed by Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S (Hørsholm, Denmark), a company founded in 2002, is a drug delivery technology used to enhance the oral bioavailability and control the release of a drug, especially low water-soluble or -insoluble drugs. The goal of this technology is to improve efficacy and/or reduce side effects. Particle size plays a vital role in bioavailability. Unlike conventional and nanocrystal drug delivery formulations, which use larger
Results
The pharmacokinetic profiles of TAC have been recently studied by Garnok-Jones [10], who compared kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) and liver transplant recipients who were stable, treated TAC-IR and converted to LCP-TAC. The total daily dosage was 5.26 versus 7.39 mg comparing the LCP-TAC versus TAC-IR with a statistically significant difference in KTRs (P < .05) but not in LTRs (4.4 vs 6.1 mg). The AUC24 (ng · h/mL) was comparable in LCP-TAC and TAC-IR without significant differences (206.7
Discussion
TAC is a calcineurin inhibitor much more potent than cyclosporine, but its bioavailability is low and variable, which this has often created problems of clinical efficacy. The LCP-TAC uses a MeltDose® technology and represents an innovation in the field of the immunosuppressive drugs. This new technology increases the amount of active ingredient that reaches the blood, ensuring the best therapeutic efficacy. Furthermore, the controlled release ensures a continuous absorption not only in the
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