CLINICAL PHARMACOKINETICS IN THE TREATMENT OF TROPICAL DISEASES - SOME APPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

In recent years major advances have been made in the clinical pharmacology of many drugs used for the treatment of tropical diseases, particularly in the design and development of dosage regimens for the treatment of severe malaria. For example, by careful manipulation of its rate of administration, chloroquine has been shown to be well tolerated when used for treatment of severe disease caused by susceptible parasites. Similarly, important advances have been made in the rational design of quinine dosage regimens for patients in South East Asia and Africa. Investigation of the pharmacokinetics of mefloquine has drawn attention to the problems associated with its administration as combination therapy with pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine in Thailand, Similarly, evaluation of the pharmacokinetic properties of halofantrine has led to the demonstration that poor and erratic absorption could be just as likely to explain therapeutic failure as resistance of the parasite to effects of this drug. Disposition of the antimalarial biguanides has highlighted the role of host-related effects in the determination of drug response. For example, a small percentage of individuals are unable to convert proguanil (chloroguanide) to its active triazine metabolite, cycloguanil. Finally, agents that reverse chloroquine resistance are currently under development for the treatment of malaria. The importance of assessing the clinical pharmatokinetic properties of potential resistance reversers must be recognised. While limited success has been achieved in antifilarial chemotherapy, other parasitic diseases have been largely neglected with advances in the laboratory still awaiting full recognition of their clinical application. For example, clinical pharmacokinetic concepts may be used to improve the therapy of human hydatid disease. We believe that clinical management of tropical diseases can be improved by the application of clinical pharmacokinetic principles. However, this may not be universally advantageous. For example, the artemisinin (qinghaosu) derivatives are among the most recently developed antimalarials that have great therapeutic promise. Recent evidence suggests that pharmacokinetic data would be of limited value in the design and optimisation of dosage regimens because of its chemical reactivity and the unusual mechanism by which these drugs kill parasites. Similar limitations may apply to the microfilaricidal drug, ivermectin.