A physiologically based pharmacokinetic analysis to predict the pharmacokinetics of intravenous isavuconazole in patients with or without hepatic impairment

Isavuconazole (ISA) is an azole antifungal used in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis. Patients with mild or moderate hepatic impairment have lower clearance (CL) than the healthy population. Currently, there are no data on ISA in patients with severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh class C). The purposes of this study were to build a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to describe the pharmacokinetics (PK) of intravenous ISA and to predict changes in ISA disposition in different patient populations and in patients with hepatic impairment so as to guide personalized dosing. By incorporating the systemic and drug-specific parameters of ISA, the model was initially developed in a healthy population and was validated with 10 independent PK profiles obtained from healthy subjects and from patients with normal liver function. The results showed satisfactory predictive capacity; most of the relative predictive errors were within ±30% for the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and the maximum concentration of the drug in serum (C(max)). The observed concentration-time profiles of ISA in plasma were well described by the model-predicted profiles. The model adequately predicted the reduced CL of ISA in patients with mild or moderate hepatic impairment. Furthermore, the model predicted a decrease in CL of about 60% in patients with severe hepatic impairment. Therefore, we recommend reducing the dose by 50% in patients with severe hepatic impairment. The model also predicted differences in the PK of ISA between Caucasian and Asian populations, with a Chinese/Caucasian CL ratio of 0.67. The PBPK model of ISA that was developed provides a reasonable approach for optimizing the dosage regimen in different ethnic populations and in patients with severe hepatic impairment.