A PHARMACOKINETIC COMPARISON OF 2 ORAL LIQUID GLUCOCORTICOID FORMULATIONS

To compare pharmacokinetics of liquid prednisolone and prednisone solu tions and to assess relative bioavailability, six healthy adult men we re administered 15 mg of each formulation. Blood samples were obtained and assayed for plasma prednisolone concentrations by high-performanc e liquid chromatography. Peak concentration was significantly higher w ith liquid prednisolone (mean +/- SD 430.3 +/- 62.5 vs 333.0 +/- 27.8 ng/ml, p=0.013), with similar times to peak concentration. Prednisolon e liquid gave higher concentrations at every time point (statistically significant for all except 0.25 hrs after the dose), resulting in a s ignificantly greater total area under the curve (2029.8 +/- 246.9 vs 1 633.3 +/- 221.1 ng/ml . hour, respectively, p=0.002). Clearance was sl ower for prednisolone (128.3 +/- 15.1 vs 149.1 +/- 17.6 ml/min/1.73 m( 2), p=0.01), and the relative bioavailability of the prednisolone liqu id using prednisone liquid as the reference standard was 116 +/- 14%. Thus, prednisolone liquid has similar pharmacokinetic characteristics as prednisone liquid, with improved bioavailability.