[The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of two carbocysteine preparations after single and multiple dosing]

The relative bioavailabilities and pharmacokinetic profiles of 2 carbocisteine preparations (capsules, granulate) were evaluated in a single dose and a steady state study. 10 healthy volunteers took in a randomized, 2fold cross over design 750 mg 3-(carboxymethylthio)alanine (carbocisteine, Transbronchin) (1 portion of the granulate or 2 capsules) as a single dose or for 4 days 3 times a day (every 8 h) 1 portion of the granulate or 2 capsules, respectively. During the saturation phase the pre-dose serum levels in the morning were determined and on day 5 - after a last dosing the elimination kinetics were evaluated. The same time frame of blood withdrawals was used for the evaluation of serum kinetics after single dosing. The new developed gaschromatographic method for the rapid, sensitive and reliable quantitative determination of carbocisteine in serum saves not only a lot of time but also improves the detection limit and selectivity by a factor of approx. 10. The studies revealed bioequivalency of the carbocisteine granulate and capsule preparations. After multiple dosing, no cumulation of the carbocisteine serum levels occurred. A comparison of the AUCo-infinity and AUC tau (single/multiple dosing, respectively) showed linear pharmacokinetics without enzyme induction or saturation phenomena in man.