Population pharmacokinetic modeling of plasma and intracellular ribavirin concentrations in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

ABSTRACT: Ribavirin, a guanosine analog, is a broad-spectrum antiviral agent. Ribavirin has been a fundamental component of the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection for decades, but there is a very limited understanding of the clinical pharmacology of this drug. Furthermore, it is associated with a major dose-limiting toxicity, hemolytic anemia. Ribavirin undergoes intracellular phosphorylation by host enzymes to ribavirin monophosphate (RMP), ribavirin diphosphate (RDP), and ribavirin triphosphate (RTP). The intracellular forms have been associated with antiviral and toxic effects in vitro, but the kinetics of these phosphorylated moieties have not been fully elucidated in vivo. We developed a model to characterize the plasma pharmacokinetics of ribavirin and the difference between intrac

SUBMITTER: Wu LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4356818 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature