Pharmacokinetics of flunitrazepam following single- and multiple-dose oral administration to healthy human subjects

Healthy human subjects received single and multiple oral doses of flunitrazepam. Absorption and disposition were first order and reproducible from administration. The oral doses were virtually completely available to the liver, and elimination from the body occurred entirely via metabolism. Assuming the liver to be the sole eliminating organ, hepatic blood clearance and extraction ratio were approximately 0.235 liter/hr/kg and 0.154, respectively. Steady-state blood volume of distribution averaged 3.76 liters/kg in the single-dose studies. Terminal exponential half-lives from the single- and multiple-dose studies (different subjects) averaged 13.5 and 19.2 hr, respectively; these differences were not due to clearance changes but were entirely attributable to variations in volumes of distribution.