Why carry out this study?

Drugs often show differing pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles, such as higher plasma concentrations, in older people than in younger people owing to age-related decreases in physiological functions. Because changes in PK, especially increased exposure, may increase the risk of adverse events, the PK profiles of drugs in older people should be carefully considered.

There is limited information on PK profiles in older people because of the difficulty of performing clinical studies in this population.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the age-related changes in the PK of teneligliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, in Japanese and European descent subjects using a physiologically based PK (PBPK) model.

What was learned from the study?

The simulation using the PBPK model showed a tendency for the area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC) of teneligliptin to increase with age, whereas the maximum plasma concentration was less affected by age than AUC.

Older patients are highly diverse and individualized treatment is important. Since an increased plasma concentration of a drug may lead to adverse events, careful administration is necessary for patients with characteristics in which drug exposure is likely to increase.