Bioavailability of aspirin from commercial suppositories

A comparison of the bioavailability of salicylate from five brands of commercially available aspirin rectal suppositories in an adult panel is presented. All brands show slow absorption compared to oral administration of the drug in tablet form. At best, about 40% of the dose (on the average) was absorbed when retention time in the bowel was limited to 2 hr. However, four out of the five brands give substantially lower absorption rates so that only about 20% of the aspirin is available.