Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling to predict the clinical effect of CYP3A inhibitors/inducers on esaxerenone pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects and subjects with hepatic impairment

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling (PBPK) to predict drug-drug interactions for encorafenib. Part II. Prospective predictions in hepatic and renal impaired populations with clinical inhibitors and inducers

Encorafenib, a potent BRAF kinase inhibitor gets significantly metabolised by CYP3A4 (83%) and CYP2C19 (16%) and is a substrate for P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Due to significant metabolism by CYP3A4, encorafenib exposure can increase in hepatic and renal impairment and may lead to altered magnitude of drug-drug interactions (DDI). Hence, it is necessary to assess the exposures & DDI's in impaired population.Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling (PBPK) was utilised to determine the exposures of encorafenib in hepatic and renal impairment along with altered DDI's. Prospective DDI's were predicted with USFDA recommended clinical CYP3A4, CYP2C19, P-gp inhibitors and CYP3A4 inducers.PBPK models for encorafenib, perpetrators simulated PK parameters within 2-folds error. Encorafenib exposures significantly increased in hepatic as compared to renal impairment because of reduced CYP3A4 levels.Hepatic impairment caused changes in inhibition and induction DDI's, when compared to healthy population. Renal impairment did not cause significant changes in DDIs except for itraconazole. P-gp, CYP2C19 inhibitors did not result in altered DDI's. The DDI's were found to have insignificant correlation with relative exposure increase of perpetrators in case of impairment. Overall, this work signifies use of PBPK modelling for DDI's evaluations in hepatic and renal impairment populations.

Bioequivalence of Esaxerenone Conventional Tablet and Orally Disintegrating Tablet: Two Single-Dose Crossover Studies in Healthy Japanese Men

We assessed the bioequivalence of a single dose of 5-mg of esaxerenone administered as an orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) with the conventional oral tablet in healthy Japanese men. This single-center, open-label, randomized, two-drug, two-stage crossover, single-dose study was conducted in two parts. In study 1, both formulations were taken with water. In study 2, only the ODT formulation was taken without water. The primary outcome was the evaluation of bioequivalence of the ODT and conventional tablet using the pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters maximum plasma concentration (C_max ) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve to the last quantifiable time (AUC_last ). Plasma concentrations were measured using a validated liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry method and PK parameters were calculated by noncompartmental analysis. The ratios of the geometric least-squares mean (2-sided 90% confidence intervals [90%CIs]) for ODT with (study 1) and without (study 2) water to the conventional tablet were 1.03 (1.00-1.07) and 1.01 (0.96-1.06) for C_max and 1.03 (1.00-1.07) and 0.96 (0.94-0.98) for AUC_last , respectively. The 90%CIs fell within the predefined bioequivalence range of 0.80-1.25. Treatment-emergent adverse events were similar between both formulations. In conclusion, esaxerenone 5-mg ODT taken with or without water was bioequivalent to a single 5-mg conventional oral tablet.

Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Esaxerenone, a Novel Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonist: A Review

Esaxerenone is a selective, nonsteroidal, high-affinity mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist recently approved in Japan for the treatment of hypertension. It has high oral biovailability, a large volume of distribution, and is primarly metabolized in liver and excreted in bile. Esaxerenone is an efficient antihypertensive, whether given alone or as add-on therapy. The antihypertensive effect is accompanied by renoprotective action, which is being further investigated in current clinical trials. Due to its relatively long half-life and high affinity for the mineralocorticoid receptor, esaxerenone is administered once daily and in low absolute doses. The safety of esaxerenone is considerable, since hyperkalemia is not frequent and, when it does appear, not sustained. Endocrine adverse events, which frequently occur with steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, are extremely rare with esaxerenone. Although the risk of clinically significant drug-drug interactions is not high, esaxerenone treatment should start with low doses, with subsequent titration to achieve the optimal clinical effect, all while monitoring serum potassium and paying attention to concomitant therapy with drugs that may induce or inhibit esaxerenone metabolism. This review article offers comprehensive information about the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of esaxerenone in humans, which should help clinicians to more precisely tailor esaxerenone dosing regimens to their patients.