Population pharmacokinetics study of azithromycin oral formulations using NONMEM

Objective: A population pharmacokinetic study of orally dosed azithromycin was conducted in order to determine if the antibiotic usage in clinical practice is reasonable and individualized. Method: A nonlinear mixed effect model with various oral azithromycin formulations was constructed using the NONMEM program. Based on a dataset of 160 healthy volunteers, the pharmacokinetic parameters and the relationship between the inter-individual effects and fixed effects were estimated. Result: A two compartment model with first-order absorption and elimination was established. The values for Cl(1)/F, Cl(2)/F, V(1)/F, V(2)/F and Ka were 121 ml/h, 282 ml/h, 1,939 ml, 5,650 ml and 1.05 h(-1), respectively. The results provided evidence that the body weight affects the Cl(1)/F and Cl(2)/F and age affects the V(1)/F. Conclusion: A nonlinear mixed effect model for oral azithromycin formulations was developed for a Chinese healthy population.Pharmacology & PharmacySCI(E)0ARTICLE10662-6694