Population pharmacokinetics of platinum after nedaplatin administration and model validation in adult patients

AIMS: The pharmacokinetics of unbound platinum after administration of an anticancer drug nedaplatin, cis-diammineglycolateplatinum were examined using population analysis. The relevant covariates and the extent of inter- and intra-individual variability were evaluated. METHODS: In order to clarify the pharmacokinetic profile of nedaplatin, unbound platinum concentrations (789 points) in plasma after intravenous infusion of nedaplatin were obtained from 183 courses for 141 patients. Plasma concentration data were analysed by nonlinear mixed effect modelling using NONMEM to evaluate the population mean parameters and variances for inter- and intra-individual random effects. The final population model was validated by parameter sensitivity analysis using objective function mapping, the bootstrap resampling and a data-splitting technique, i.e. the Jackknife method, and the predictive performance of the final model was evaluated. RESULTS: A two-compartment pharmacokinetic model with zero-order input and first order elimination described the current data well. The significant covariates were creatinine clearance (CLcr) for clearance of platinum (CL) population mean 95% confidence interval (CI)] CL (l h(-1)) = 4.47 (3.27, 5.67) + 0.0738 (0.0581, 0.0896) x CLcr (CLcr: ml min(-1))] and body weight (BW: kg) for volume of distribution of platinum (Vc) Vc (l) = 12.0 (7.5, 16.5) + 0.163 (0.081, 0.246) x BW]. Inter-individual variations (CV%, 95% CI) for CL and Vc were 25.5% (20.7, 29.6) and 21.4% (17.0, 24.1), respectively, and intra-individual variation (CV%, 95% CI) was 12.6% (10.5, 14.4). The effects of pretreatment with nedaplatin or other platinum agents on clearance and volume of distribution were also tested, but no significant effect was found. The relationship between the observed and predicted unbound platinum concentration by empirical Bayesian prediction showed good correlation with no bias, suggesting that the final model explains well the observed data in the patients. The mean prediction error and root mean square prediction error (95% CI) were - 0.0164 micro g ml(-1) (- 0.4379, 0.4051) and 0.2155 micro g ml(-1) (not calculable, 0.6523), respectively. The values of mean, standard error and 95% CI for objective function mapping, the bootstrap resampling, the Jackknife estimates and the final model coincided well. CONCLUSIONS: A population pharmacokinetic model was developed for unbound platinum after intravenous infusion of nedaplatin. Only creatinine clearance was found to be a significant covariate of clearance, and BW was found to be a significant covariate of volume of distribution. These population pharmacokinetic estimates are useful for setting initial dosing of nedaplatin using its population mean and can also be used for setting appropriate dosage regimens using empirical Bayesian forecasting.