Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental MedicineLung pharmacokinetics of inhaled and systemic drugs: a clinical evaluation
Clinical pharmacokinetic studies on lung-targeted drugs are typically limited to measurements of systemic plasma concentrations, which provide no direct information on lung target-site concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether spatial pharmacokinetic studies in human lung are feasible. To this end, the lung pharmacokinetics of commonly prescribed drugs was evaluated by sampling different lung compartments after inhalation and oral administration.
The results have shown that pharmacokinetic studies in human lung are, indeed, feasible: After inhaled administration, considerably higher drug concentrations were found in the lungs – in the bronchial mucosa and in the bronchial and peripheral epithelial lining fluid – than in plasma.
This result is of particular importance for clinical pulmonary pharmacokinetic studies with novel drugs targeting the lung, as target tissue concentrations can thus be determined more accurately and the therapeutic dose and dosing interval can be better estimated.
Read the publication: Lung pharmacokinetics of inhaled and systemic drugs: a clinical evaluation