Abstract
The metabolism and disposition of eltrombopag, the first-in-class small molecule human thrombopoietin receptor agonist, were studied in six healthy men after a single oral administration of a solution dose of [14C]eltrombopag (75 mg, 100 μCi). Eltrombopag was well tolerated. The drug was quickly absorbed and was the predominant circulating component in plasma (accounting for 63% of the total plasma radioactivity). A mono-oxygenation metabolite (M1) and acyl glucuronides (M2) of eltrombopag were minor circulating components. The predominant route of elimination of radioactivity was fecal (58.9%). Feces contained approximately 20% of dose as glutathione-related conjugates (M5, M6, and M7) and another 20% as unchanged eltrombopag. The glutathione conjugates were probably detoxification products of a p-imine methide intermediate formed by metabolism of M1, which arises through cytochrome P450-dependent processes. Low levels of covalently bound drug-related intermediates to plasma proteins, which could result from the reaction of the imine methide or acyl glucuronide conjugates with proteins, were detected. The bound material contributes to the longer plasma elimination half-life of radioactivity. Renal elimination of conjugates of hydrazine cleavage metabolites (mostly as M3 and M4) accounted for 31% of the radiodose, with no unchanged eltrombopag detected in urine.
Footnotes
This work was supported by GlaxoSmithKline.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://dmd.aspetjournals.org.
doi:10.1124/dmd.111.040170.
↵ The online version of this article (available at http://dmd.aspetjournals.org) contains supplemental material.
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ABBREVIATIONS:
- ITP
- immune thrombocytopenia
- SB-611855
- 2′-hydroxy-3′-amino-3-biphenylcarboxylic acid
- HPLC
- high-performance liquid chromatography
- LSC
- liquid scintillation counting
- MS/MS
- tandem mass spectroscopy
- PK
- pharmacokinetic
- AUC
- area under the concentration-time curve
- LC
- liquid chromatography
- MS
- mass spectrometry
- ESI
- electrospray ionization
- gHMBC
- gradient heteronuclear multiple bond coherence.
- Received April 23, 2011.
- Accepted June 6, 2011.
- Copyright © 2011 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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