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Two Decades-Long Journey from Riluzole to Edaravone: Revisiting the Clinical Pharmacokinetics of the Only Two Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapeutics

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Abstract

The recent approval of edaravone has provided an intravenous option to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in addition to the existing oral agent, riluzole. The present work was primarily undertaken to provide a comprehensive clinical pharmacokinetic summary of the two approved ALS therapeutics. The key objectives of the review were to (i) tabulate the clinical pharmacokinetics of riluzole and edaravone with emphasis on absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties; (ii) provide a comparative scenario of the pharmacokinetics of the two drugs wherever possible; and (iii) provide perspectives and introspection on the gathered clinical pharmacokinetic data of the two drugs with appropriate conjectures to quench scientific curiosity. Based on this review, the following key highlights were deduced: (i) as a result of both presystemic metabolism and polymorphic hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) metabolism, the oral drug riluzole exhibited more inter-subject variability than that of intravenous edaravone; (ii) using various parameters for comparison, including the published intravenous data for riluzole, it was apparent that edaravone was achieving the desired systemic concentrations to possibly drive the local brain concentrations for its efficacy in ALS patients with lesser variability than riluzole; (iii) using scientific conjectures, it was deduced that the availability of intravenous riluzole may not be beneficial in therapy due to its fast systemic clearance; (iv) on the contrary, however, there appeared to be an opportunity for the development of an oral dosage form of edaravone, which may potentially benefit the therapy option for ALS patients by avoiding hospitalization costs; and (v) because of the existence of pharmaco-resistance for the brain entry in ALS patients, it appeared prudent to consider combination strategies of edaravone and/or riluzole with suitable P-glycoprotein efflux-blocking drugs to gain more favorable outcomes in ALS patients.

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  1. Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    Ranjeet Prasad Dash & R. Jayachandra Babu

  2. Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Zydus Research Centre, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 382210, India

    Nuggehally R. Srinivas

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Ranjeet P. Dash, R. Jayachandra Babu and Nuggehally R. Srinivashave declare no conflicts of interest or competing interests relevant to the content of this review article.

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Dash, R.P., Babu, R.J. & Srinivas, N.R. Two Decades-Long Journey from Riluzole to Edaravone: Revisiting the Clinical Pharmacokinetics of the Only Two Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapeutics. Clin Pharmacokinet 57, 1385–1398 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40262-018-0655-4

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