Oral enoximone pharmacokinetics in patients with congestive heart failure

The pharmacokinetics of enoximone and its sulfoxide metabolite were determined following administration of a single oral dose of 1 or 2 mg/kg in seven patients with congestive heart failure, and in two normal volunteers following a single 75-mg capsule, and were compared to those published previously. Plasma concentrations of the metabolite were higher than enoximone, and their terminal slopes were parallel. Enoximone and enoximone sulfoxide plasma concentration-time data were fitted to a simple model that included a lag time. Absorption half-lives in patinets and normal volunteers averaged 17 minutes; the elimination half-life of enoximone in patients averaged 2.9 hours, and was slightly prolonged as compared with normal volunteers. The elimination half-life of enoximone sulfoxide averaged 17 minutes in patients and normal volunteers, and was considerably shorter than that reported in other studies. The oral clearance of enoximone in patients averaged 99 L/hr, and was lower than that observed in normal volunteers. The ratio of the area under the plasma concentration time curve of enoximone sulfoxide to enoximone averaged 4.7 in patients, and was similar to that observed in normal subjects. Enoximone oral clearance and the ratio of metabolite to parent were related to liver blood flow (determined by indocyanine green). Enoximone is 65% bound to albumin, which accounts for most of the drug bound to human plasma protein.