Population Pharmacokinetics of Nevirapine in an Unselected Cohort of HIV-1-infected Individuals

Aims: To study the population pharmacokinetics of nevirapine and to identify relationships between patient characteristics and pharmacokinetics in an unselected population of patients attending our outpatient clinic.

Methods: Ambulatory HIV-1-infected patients from the outpatient clinic of the Slotervaart Hospital who were being treated with a nevirapine-containing regimen were included. During each visit, blood samples were collected for the determination of nevirapine plasma concentrations and clinical chemistry parameters. Variables that were collected at baseline were serology for hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses, liver enzymes, and total bilirubin (TBR). In addition, information about concomitant use of St John's wort and patient demographics were included. The pharmacokinetics of nevirapine were described by first-order absorption and elimination using nonlinear mixed effect modelling (NONMEM V1.1). Population pharmacokinetic parameters (apparent clearance (CL/F), volume of distribution (V/F), absorption rate constant (k a)) were estimated, as were interindividual, interoccasion, and residual variability in the pharmacokinetics. The influence of patient characteristics on the pharmacokinetics of nevirapine was determined.

Results: From 173 outpatients a total number of 757 nevirapine plasma concentrations at a single random time point and full pharmacokinetic curves for 13 patients were available resulting in a database of 1329 nevirapine plasma concentrations. Mean CL/F, V/F, and k a were 3.27 l h-1, 106 l, and 01.66 h-1, respectively. CL/F of nevirapine was correlated with weight, chronic HCV infection, and baseline aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT). Chronic HCV and baseline ASAT> 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) decreased CL/F by 27.4% and 13.2%, respectively, whereas an increase in body weight of 10 kg increased CL/F by 0.14 l h-1. A trend towards a lower CL/F in patients of the Negroid race was observed. No significant covariates were found for V/F.

Conclusions: The pharmacokinetics of nevirapine were adequately described by our population pharmacokinetic model. Weight, chronic HCV infection, and baseline ASAT were found to be significant covariates for CL/F of nevirapine. The model incorporating these significant covariates may be an important aid in further optimizing nevirapine-containing therapy.