Summary
The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of cimetidine have been studied in healthy volunteers after administration of single intravenous (100 mg) and oral doses (100, 400 and 800 mg). After i.v. administration, the kinetics of cimetidine could be described by a linear, two compartment open model. Substantial variation in half-life was observed between subjects, with a mean value of 2.1 h (range 0.9–4.7). Cimetidine had a low hepatic extraction ratio and a high total plasma clearance, due to extensive urinary excretion of unchanged drug. After oral administration, the plasma concentration vs time curves in most subjects exhibited two marked peaks, an observation that seemed to be constant within individuals and was independent of dose. Bioavailability, estimated as the area under the plasma concentration vs time curves (AUC), after oral doses as compared to the intravenous dose, in most cases exceeded 100%. There was no correlation between bioavailability estimated as AUC and as urinary excretion of unchanged drug. These observations may indicate an enterohepatic circulatory mechanism, predominantly after oral administration. Both unchanged drug and its sulphoxide metabolite appear to be excreted in bile. The latter was shown in vitro to be reduced to cimetidine by fecal bacteria.
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Grahnén, A., von Bahr, C., Lindström, B. et al. Bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of cimetidine. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 16, 335–340 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605632
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605632