Skip to main content
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology logoLink to British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
. 1989 Aug;28(2):179–184. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1989.tb05413.x

Divided-dose kinetics of mefloquine in man.

G Franssen 1, B Rouveix 1, J Lebras 1, J Bauchet 1, F Verdier 1, C Michon 1, F Bricaire 1
PMCID: PMC1379902  PMID: 2789071

Abstract

The kinetics of mefloquine was investigated following oral divided-doses in 10 healthy Caucasian volunteers. They received 500 or 750 mg followed by 500 mg 8 h later. Unchanged mefloquine (M) and its carboxylic acid metabolite (MM) were measured in whole blood and plasma for 50 days by h.p.l.c. Maximum blood and plasma M concentrations of 1872 +/- 362 ng ml-1 (mean +/- s.d.) and 1900 +/- 434 ng ml-1, respectively, were found within 6-10 h after the second dose. The terminal plasma elimination half-life was 20.1 +/- 3.7 days (mean +/- s.d.) and the oral clearance was 22.3 +/- 6.7 ml h-1 kg-1 (mean +/- s.d.). Plasma concentrations of MM exceeded those of M by 2-3 fold within 2 days. The whole blood concentration of MM was lower than that in plasma but also exceeded the whole blood concentration of M.

Full text

PDF
179

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Chanthavanich P., Looareesuwan S., White N. J., Warrell D. A., Warrell M. J., DiGiovanni J. H., von Bredow J. Intragastric mefloquine is absorbed rapidly in patients with cerebral malaria. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1985 Nov;34(6):1028–1036. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1985.34.1028. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chevli R., Fitch C. D. The antimalarial drug mefloquine binds to membrane phospholipids. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1982 Apr;21(4):581–586. doi: 10.1128/aac.21.4.581. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Danis M., Felix H., Brucker G., Druilhe P., Datry A., Richard-Lenoble D., Gentilini M. Traitement curatif du paludisme à Plasmodium falciparum. P. vivax et P. ovale par la mefloquine. Med Trop (Mars) 1982 Jul-Aug;42(4):427–432. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Desjardins R. E., Pamplin C. L., 3rd, von Bredow J., Barry K. G., Canfield C. J. Kinetics of a new antimalarial, mefloquine. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1979 Sep;26(3):372–379. doi: 10.1002/cpt1979263372. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Harinasuta T., Bunnag D., Lasserre R., Leimer R., Vinijanont S. Trials of mefloquine in vivax and of mefloquine plus 'fansidar' in falciparum malaria. Lancet. 1985 Apr 20;1(8434):885–888. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(85)91670-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jauch R., Griesser E., Oesterhelt G. Metabolismus von Ro 21-5998 (Mefloquin) bei der Ratte. Arzneimittelforschung. 1980;30(1):60–67. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kapetanovic I. M., DiGiovanni J. D., Bartosevich J., Melendez V., Von Bredow J., Heiffer M. Analysis of the antimalarial, mefloquine, in blood and plasma using high-performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr. 1983 Oct 14;277:209–215. doi: 10.1016/s0378-4347(00)84838-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Karbwang J., Looareesuwan S., Phillips R. E., Wattanagoon Y., Molyneux M. E., Nagachinta B., Back D. J., Warrell D. A. Plasma and whole blood mefloquine concentrations during treatment of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria with the combination mefloquine-sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1987 Apr;23(4):477–481. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1987.tb03079.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Looareesuwan S., White N. J., Warrell D. A., Forgo I., Dubach U. G., Ranalder U. B., Schwartz D. E. Studies of mefloquine bioavailability and kinetics using a stable isotope technique: a comparison of Thai patients with falciparum malaria and healthy Caucasian volunteers. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1987 Jul;24(1):37–42. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1987.tb03133.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Rouveix B., Bricaire F., Michon C., Franssen G., Lebras J., Bernard J., Ajana F., Vienne J. L. Mefloquine and an acute brain syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1989 Apr 1;110(7):577–578. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-110-7-577. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. San George R. C., Nagel R. L., Fabry M. E. On the mechanism for the red-cell accumulation of mefloquine, an antimalarial drug. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1984 Mar 23;803(3):174–181. doi: 10.1016/0167-4889(84)90007-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schwartz D. E., Eckert G., Hartmann D., Weber B., Richard-Lenoble D., Ekue J. M., Gentilini M. Single dose kinetics of mefloquine in man. Plasma levels of the unchanged drug and of one of its metabolites. Chemotherapy. 1982;28(1):70–84. doi: 10.1159/000238062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Tin F., Nyunt Hlaing, Lim M. A., Win S., Lasserre R. Double-blind trial to find dose range using a fixed combination of mefloquine, sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine in falciparum malaria: a field study on adults in Burma. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1987;81(6):910–912. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(87)90347-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. White N. J. Drug treatment and prevention of malaria. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 1988;34(1):1–14. doi: 10.1007/BF01061409. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. de Souza J. M., Heizmann P., Schwartz D. E. Single-dose kinetics of mefloquine in Brazilian male subjects. Bull World Health Organ. 1987;65(3):353–356. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology are provided here courtesy of British Pharmacological Society

RESOURCES