Blood levels following multiple oral dosing of chlorpheniramine conventional and controlled release preparations

An examination of steady-state performance of chlorpheniramine conventional versus controlled release products was conducted using 15 male subjects in a 3-way crossover study with a 2-week washout period between studies. The study was designed to determine if chlorpheniramine formulations provide consistent pharmacokinetic performance between individual units upon going from single dose to multiple dose therapy. In addition, the validity of predicting steady-state levels for these kinds of products using only single oral dose data was examined. The dosage forms evaluated were a conventional 4 mg tablet, and 8 mg barrier coated-bead capsule, and an 8 mg repeat action tablet. Multiple doses of each product were orally administered to each subject for 6 days prior to the study day to achieve steady-state levels and on the actual study day. Serum samples were collected at specific time intervals on the study day, and chlorpheniramine levels assayed by HPLC. Pharmacokinetic analysis was based on a two-compartment open model. The mean plasma elimination half-lives of the various dosage forms were in the range 24.5-25.4 h. There was no rapid release of drug from the controlled release products nor did they have drug release problems during the dosing interval. Good agreement was obtained between predicted average drug concentration at steady-state and drug concentration actually present for all the formulations studied. Based upon comparative examination of AUC, Cmax, and fraction of dose absorbed data, the controlled release products administered every 12 h were comparable in performance to a conventional release tablet administered every 6 h. Since the half-life of chlorpheniramine is approximately 1 day, therapeutic management may possibly be gained with dosing the patient once daily with a controlled release product or twice daily with a conventional tablet.