The pharmacokinetics of diclofenac sodium in patients with active rheumatoid disease

Pharmacokinetic data for diclofenac sodium has been well established in healthy volunteers, whereas in patients with rheumatoid arthritis very little information is available in the literature. A single oral dose of enteric-coated diclofenac sodium was given to 10 patients with active rheumatoid disease, adopting the same procedures used for a group of 10 healthy volunteers in whom pharmacokinetic data was already available. Plasma specimens were collected over a period of 8h following administration and concentrations of diclofenac determined by GLC. Resulting plasma concentration curves were similar to those obtained in the healthy subjects in that areas under curves and terminal half-lives were comparable. However, peak concentrations of diclofenac were significantly reduced in the rheumatoid patients. The lower peak concentrations were correlated with the lower serum albumin levels in the patients which are associated with active rheumatoid disease.