RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NEUROTOXICITY OF THE HYPOXIC CELL RADIOSENSITIZER SR 2508 AND THE PHARMACOKINETIC PROFILE

  • 1 January 1987
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 47  (1) , 319-322
Abstract
Complete pharmacological data from 71 patients treated on the phase 1 trial of SR 2508 were analyzed to see if the dose-limiting toxicity of peripheral neuropathy is related to the individual patient''s pharmacokinetic profile. In a retrospective analysis, the risk of toxicity was best predicted by using the bivariate model of total drug exposure and the time over which the treatment course was given. During exposure [area under the curve (AUC)] for a single treatment was calculated by the integral over time of the serum concentration of SR 2508. Since the AUC was constant during the course of a patient''s treatment, the total drug exposure (total-AUC) was estimated by the product of the AUC times the number of drug administrations. While the clinical efficacy of hypoxic cell sensitizers remains to be proven, SR 2508 is better tolerated than its predecessors, misonidazole and desmethylmisonidazole, as three times the amount of SR 2508 can be given. If this model is confirmed in the current phase II and III trials, the probability of developing neuropathy would be predictable for an individual patient from measurements made at the time of the first drug dose, allowing for the adjustment of drug schedule to avoid all but minor toxicity.