Pharmacokinetics of bacampicillin using a compartment model with zero-order absorption

The pharmacokinetics of bacampicillin, a prodrug of ampicillin which is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, were studied in 10 healthy male volunteers after administration of 1,200 mg in a single oral dose. The pharmacokinetic analysis was carried out by applying a single-compartment kinetic model with zero-order absorption. The apparent duration of absorption (T) was about 1 h for all subjects. The peak plasma concentrations (Cmax) were 17.89 +/- 1.82 micrograms/ml, and the mean plasma half-life during beta-phase was 1.17 +/- 0.14 h. The area under the curve was 41.22 +/- 5.29 micrograms.h/ml. The mean urinary recovery during 24 h amounted to 76.4 +/- 3.65% of the dose.