[Absolute bioavailability of a special sustained-release acetylsalicylic acid formulation]

Absolute Bioavailability of a Special Acetylsalicylic Acid Sustained Release Formulation. The absolute bioavailability of an acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) sustained release formulation (Contrheuma retard), containing 300 mg ASA as initial dose and 350 mg in a retard formulation, was determined in comparison to a standard ASA solution for intravenous administration in a two-treatment, two-period cross-over trial with 6 healthy male volunteers by comparing the areas under the plasma-fluctuation-time curves of the primary metabolite. In addition, it was examined by comparison of the mean times after administration of both formulations, whether the test formulation meets the requirements of a sustained release formulation. The investigations led to the following results: The absolute bioavailability of the test formulation was 95%. The statistical comparison of the areas under the concentration-time courses allowed no decision (neither for equivalence nor difference). The maximal concentration of SA after intravenous administration of the standard formulation was reached after 0.4 h on an average and amounted to 62 micrograms/ml. After oral administration of the test formulation, a mean concentration maximum of 28 micrograms/ml was calculated, which had been reached after about 2 h. The differences are statistically significant. The mean time for SA was 6 h after the standard formulation, whereas after administration of the test compound, a mean of 11.5 h was calculated. 24 h following administration, the concentration of SA was 1.3 micrograms/ml after intravenous administration of the standard formulation and 5.5 micrograms/ml after administration of the test formulation. These differences, too, are statistically significant. From the comparison of the mean time for SA, a retard factor of 1.9 was calculated.