A test of positive suggestions about side effects as a way of enhancing the analgesic response to NSAIDs.

Side effects are frequent in pharmacological pain management, potentially preceding analgesia and limiting drug tolerability. Discussing side effects is part of informed consent, yet can favor nocebo effects. This study aimed to test whether a positive suggestion regarding side effects, which could act as reminders of the medication having been absorbed, might favor analgesia in a clinical interaction model. Sixty-six healthy males participated in a study "to validate pupillometry as an objective measure of analgesia". Participants were unknowingly randomized double-blind to positive vs control information about side effects embedded in a video regarding the study drugs. Sequences of moderately painful heat stimuli applied before and after treatment with diclofenac and atropine served to evaluate analgesia. Atropine was deceptively presented as a co-analgesic, but used to induce side effects. Adverse events (AE) were collected with the General Assessment of Side Effects (GASE) questionnaire prior to the second induced pain sequence. Debriefing fully informed participants regarding the purpose of the study and showed them the two videos.The combination of medication led to significant analgesia, without a between-group difference. Positive information about side effects increased the attribution of AE to the treatment compared to the control information. The total GASE score was correlated with analgesia, i.e., the more AEs reported, the stronger the analgesia. Interestingly, there was a significant between-groups difference on this correlation: the GASE score and analgesia correlated only in the positive information group. This provides evidence for a selective link between AEs and pain relief in the group who received the suggestion that AEs could be taken as a sign "that help was on the way". During debriefing, 65% of participants said they would prefer to receive the positive message in a clinical context. Although the present results cannot be translated immediately to clinical pain conditions, they do indicate the importance of testing this type of modulation in a clinical context

Adherence to intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in Papua New Guinean infants: A pharmacological study alongside the randomized controlled trial.

The intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) trial that took place in Papua New Guinea showed an overall reduction of 29% of the risk of malaria when delivering single-dose sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) associated to 3 days of amodiaquine (AQ) every three months to children during the first year of life. The aim of the present study was to assess if the last two doses of AQ were truly administered as prescribed by the parents at home based on drug level measurement and PK modelling, which is a good proxy of medication adherence. It provides also important information to discuss the efficacy of the intervention and on feasibility of self-administered preventive malaria treatment. During the three-arm randomized double-blinded IPTi trial, each child was prescribed one dose of SP (day 0) and 3 doses of either AQ or artesunate (AS) at day 0, 1 & 2 adjusted to weight or placebo. Treatments were given at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. The first day of treatment was delivered by nursing staff (initiation under directly observed treatment (DOT)) and the two last doses of AQ or AS by parents at home without supervision. For this cross-sectional study, 206 consecutive children already involved in the IPTi trial were enrolled over a 2-month period. At the time of the survey, allocation of the children to one of the three arms was not known. Blood samples for drug level measurement were collected from finger pricks one day after the planned last third dose intake. Only children allocated to the SP-AQ arm were included in the present analysis. Indeed, the half-life of AS is too short to assess if drugs were given on not. Because of the short half-life of AQ, desethyl-AQ (metabolite of AQ (DAQ)) measurements were used to investigate AQ medication adherence. Two PK (PK) models from previously published studies in paediatric populations were applied to the dataset using non-linear mixed effect modelling (NONMEM) to estimate the number of doses really given by the parents. The study nurse reported the administration time for the first AQ dose while it was estimated by the parents for the remaining two doses. Out of 206 children, 64 were in the SP-AQ arm. The adjusted dosing history for each individual was identified as the one with the lowest difference between observed and individual predicted concentrations estimated by the two PK models for all the possible adherence schemes. The median (range) blood concentration AQ in AQ arm was 9.3 ng/mL (0-1427.8 ng/mL), (Quartiles 1-3: 2.4 ng/mL -22.2 ng/mL). The median (range) for DAQ was 162.0 ng/mL (0-712 ng/mL), (Quartiles 1-3: 80.4 ng/mL-267.7 ng/mL). Under the assumption of full adherence for all participants, a marked underprediction of concentrations was observed using both PK models. Our results suggest that only 39-50% of children received the three scheduled doses of AQ as prescribed, 33-37% two doses and 17-24% received only the first dose administered by the study nurse. Both models were highly congruent to classify adherence patterns. Considering the IPTi intervention, our results seem to indicate that medication adherence is low in the ideal trial research setting and is likely to be even lower if given in day-to-day practice, questioning the real impact that this intervention might have. More generally, the estimation of the number of doses truly administered, a proxy measure of adherence and an assessment of the feasibility of the mode of administration, should be more thoroughly studied when discussing the efficacy of the interventions in trials investigating self-administered malaria preventive treatments

Population pharmacokinetic modelling and evaluation of different dosage regimens for darunavir and ritonavir in HIV-infected individuals

Objectives Darunavir is a protease inhibitor that is administered with low-dose ritonavir to enhance its bioavailability. It is prescribed at standard dosage regimens of 600/100 mg twice daily in treatment-experienced patients and 800/100 mg once daily in naive patients. A population pharmacokinetic approach was used to characterize the pharmacokinetics of both drugs and their interaction in a cohort of unselected patients and to compare darunavir exposure expected under alternative dosage regimens. Methods The study population included 105 HIV-infected individuals who provided darunavir and ritonavir plasma concentrations. Firstly, a population pharmacokinetic analysis for darunavir and ritonavir was conducted, with inclusion of patients' demographic, clinical and genetic characteristics as potential covariates (NONMEM®). Then, the interaction between darunavir and ritonavir was studied while incorporating levels of both drugs into different inhibitory models. Finally, model-based simulations were performed to compare trough concentrations (Cmin) between the recommended dosage regimen and alternative combinations of darunavir and ritonavir. Results A one-compartment model with first-order absorption adequately characterized darunavir and ritonavir pharmacokinetics. The between-subject variability in both compounds was important [coefficient of variation (CV%) 34% and 47% for darunavir and ritonavir clearance, respectively]. Lopinavir and ritonavir exposure (AUC) affected darunavir clearance, while body weight and darunavir AUC influenced ritonavir elimination. None of the tested genetic variants showed any influence on darunavir or ritonavir pharmacokinetics. The simulations predicted darunavir Cmin much higher than the IC50 thresholds for wild-type and protease inhibitor-resistant HIV-1 strains (55 and 550 ng/mL, respectively) under standard dosing in >98% of experienced and naive patients. Alternative regimens of darunavir/ritonavir 1200/100 or 1200/200 mg once daily also had predicted adequate Cmin (>550 ng/mL) in 84% and 93% of patients, respectively. Reduction of darunavir/ritonavir dosage to 600/50 mg twice daily led to a 23% reduction in average Cmin, still with only 3.8% of patients having concentrations below the IC50 for resistant strains. Conclusions The important variability in darunavir and ritonavir pharmacokinetics is poorly explained by clinical covariates and genetic influences. In experienced patients, treatment simplification strategies guided by drug level measurements and adherence monitoring could be propose

Rôle du suivi thérapeutique des concentrations d'antirétroviraux dans la prise en charge des patients HIV

La mise sur le marché de nouvelles classes d'antirétroviraux a marqué l'avènement des « trithérapies ». Ces traitements particulièrement lourds sont source de contraintes, d'effets indésirables et d'interactions médicamenteuses nombreuses. En plus de ces éléments susceptibles d'influencer négativement l'observance thérapeutique, une importante variabilité pharmacocinétique complique la prise en charge. Puisque la réponse virologique nécessite le maintien de concentrations minimales efficaces, le suivi thérapeutique des antirétroviraux représente un outil complémentaire pour l'optimisation du traitement. Son rôle envisageable dans la prise en charge thérapeutique des patients VIH positifs est discuté, notamment lors d'échecs virologiques ou d'effets secondaires médicamenteux

Quantitative monitoring of tamoxifen in human plasma extended to 40 metabolites using liquid-chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry: new investigation capabilities for clinical pharmacology.

Liquid-chromatography (LC) high-resolution (HR) mass spectrometry (MS) analysis can record HR full scans, a technique of detection that shows comparable selectivity and sensitivity to ion transitions (SRM) performed with triple-quadrupole (TQ)-MS but that allows de facto determination of "all" ions including drug metabolites. This could be of potential utility in in vivo drug metabolism and pharmacovigilance studies in order to have a more comprehensive insight in drug biotransformation profile differences in patients. This simultaneous quantitative and qualitative (Quan/Qual) approach has been tested with 20 patients chronically treated with tamoxifen (TAM). The absolute quantification of TAM and three metabolites in plasma was realized using HR- and TQ-MS and compared. The same LC-HR-MS analysis allowed the identification and relative quantification of 37 additional TAM metabolites. A number of new metabolites were detected in patients' plasma including metabolites identified as didemethyl-trihydroxy-TAM-glucoside and didemethyl-tetrahydroxy-TAM-glucoside conjugates corresponding to TAM with six and seven biotransformation steps, respectively. Multivariate analysis allowed relevant patterns of metabolites and ratios to be associated with TAM administration and CYP2D6 genotype. Two hydroxylated metabolites, α-OH-TAM and 4'-OH-TAM, were newly identified as putative CYP2D6 substrates. The relative quantification was precise (<20 %), and the semiquantitative estimation suggests that metabolite levels are non-negligible. Metabolites could play an important role in drug toxicity, but their impact on drug-related side effects has been partially neglected due to the tremendous effort needed with previous MS technologies. Using present HR-MS, this situation should evolve with the straightforward determination of drug metabolites, enlarging the possibilities in studying inter- and intra-patients drug metabolism variability and related effects

Prospective determination of plasma imipenem concentrations in critically ill children.

Plasma imipenem concentrations were measured in 19 critically ill children (median age, 0.8 year; range, 0.02 to 12.9 years). Wide interindividual variations (2 to 4x at peak and >10x at trough concentrations) resulted in unpredictable plasma levels in several children. To avoid subtherapeutic drug levels, we recommend treatment with at least 100 mg/kg of body weight/day of imipenem-cilastatin for critically ill children requiring such therapy