Mycophenolate mofetil pharmacokinetics in renal transplant recipients on peritoneal dialysis

We prospectively studied the impact of peritoneal dialysis (PD) on the pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid (MPA) in five patients following renal transplantation. Three patients had a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of less than 10 ml/min and two had a GFR of more than 40 ml/min. Pharmacokinetics of MPA and of its main metabolite, mycophenolic acid glucuronide (MPAG), were studied during two consecutive 12-h periods (with and without PD). After initiation of PD in patients with severe renal impairment (GFR < 10 ml/min), MPA-area-under-the-concentration-curve (AUC) decreased up to 59 % and MPAG-AUC decreased up to 26 %. We did not observe any substantial changes in the MPA-AUC or MPAG-AUC of either patient with a GFR above 40 ml/min. Patients with a reduced GFR had much higher MPAG values than patients with a GFR above 40 ml/l; yet, we did not observe any differences in the MPA values. We found a significant inverse correlation between GFR and MPA-AUC (r = 0.81, P < 0.05) and between GFR and MPAG-AUC (r = 0.94, P < 0.01). While MPA was found only in traces in the peritoneal ultrafiltrate, the cumulative amount of MPAG removed by PD reached up to 2 g/12 h, representing 1.2 g of MPA. This is the first report describing a reduction in MPA-AUC and MPAG-AUC during PD. Further studies are needed to completely understand the pharmacokinetics of mycophenolate mofetil during PD. Received: 20 June 1997 Accepted: 26 August 1997