Pharmacokinetics of primaquine in healthy volunteers

The pharmacokinetics of primaquine were investigated in 8 healthy subjects (4 males and 4 females). The volunteers received 15 mg base of primaquine daily for 14 days. The results showed that the concentration-time profiles in whole blood and in plasma were similar. The mean values (+/- SD) of area under the curve (AUC) of the last dose were significantly decreased when compared to the values of the first dose both in whole blood and in plasma (909.96 +/- 603.07, 1,147.05 +/- 684.8 ng.hr/ml respectively in whole blood with p = 0.007 and 1,255.11 +/- 531.59, 1,603.66 +/- 505.45 ng.hr/ml respectively in plasma with p = 0.023). The decrease in the concentration-time profile of the last dose was due to enhancement of drug elimination with significant increase in clearance after the last dose (4.871 +/- 1.741 and 6.443 +/- 2.514 ml/min/kg respectively in whole blood with p = 0.007, 3.199 +/- 1.197 and 4.422 +/- 2.068 ml/min/kg respectively in plasma with p = 0.016).