[Biological availability of digoxin and beta-acetyldigoxin after single-dose administration (author's transl)]

The biological availability of digoxin tablets (Lanicor) and beta-acetyldigoxin tablets (Novodigal) was tested after single-dose administration. Plasma levels over 48 hours, the area under the blood-level curves and the cumulative urinary excretion over seven days served as a measure of biological availability. The area under the blood-level curve after 1.0 mg digoxin by mouth was 40.7 +/- 1.7 ng . ml-1 . h and after 1.0 mg beta-acetyldigoxin by mouth 39.1 +/- 1.4 ng . ml-1 h, compared with 56.1 +/- 1.4 after 1.0 mg digoxin intravenously. Seven days later 0.67 +/- 0.12 mg digoxin of the orally administered digoxin, 0.68 +/- 0.12 mg digoxin of the orally administered beta-acetyldigoxin and 0.81 +/- 0.08 mg of the intravenously administered digoxin were excreted in the urine. There was no significant difference in the biological availability of the two drugs (P greater than 0.05).