pH-dependent drug-drug interactions for weak base drugs: potential implications for new drug development

Absorption of an orally administered drug with pH-dependent solubility may be altered when it is coadministered with a gastric acid-reducing agent (ARA). Assessing a drug's potential for pH-dependent drug-drug interactions (DDIs), considering study design elements for such DDI studies, and interpreting and communicating study results in the drug labeling to guide drug dosing are important for drug development. We collected pertinent information related to new molecular entities approved from January 2003 to May 2013 by the US Food and Drug Administration for which clinical DDI studies with ARAs were performed. On the basis of assessments of data on pH solubility and in vivo DDIs with ARAs, we proposed a conceptual framework for assessing the need for clinical pH-dependent DDI studies for weak base drugs (WBDs). Important study design considerations include selection of ARAs and timing of dosing of an ARA relative to the WBD in a DDI study. Labeling implications for drugs having DDIs with ARAs are also illustrated.