Browsing by Author "Kaartinen, Taavi"

In vitro studies have shown that esomeprazole, the S-isomer of omeprazole, is a metabolism dependent inhibitor (MDI) of cytochrome P450 2C19, an essential drug-metabolizing enzyme. In this study, we characterized the effects of esomeprazole in vivo on CYP2C19, 3A4, and 1A2 using pantoprazole, midazolam, and caffeine, respectively, as probe drugs. In addition, we estimated the half-life of CYP2C19 by observing its recovering activity after inhibition. In a 5-phase study 10 healthy volunteers were administered 20 mg pantoprazole, 50 mg caffeine and 0.5 mg midazolam before and 1, 25, 49 and 73 hours after a 7 day pretreatment with 80mg esomeprazole twice daily. Esomeprazole increased the (R)-pantoprazole’s exposure up to 5-fold and the significant increase lasted at least 72 hours, which suggests strong MDI of CYP2C19. Esomeprazole had a minor effect on CYP3A4 and no effect on CYP1A2. The turnover half-life of CYP2C19 was estimated to be 46 hours. This estimation will be useful in the future for in vitro-in vivo extrapolations and physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling of CYP2C19. Concomitant use of drugs metabolized by CYP2C19 should be considered cautiously because of the clinically relevant strong and prolonged inhibition of CYP2C19 by esomeprazole. Alterations in exposures to drugs metabolized by CYP2C19 are expected after discontinuation of esomeprazole treatment for at least 3-4 days.