Lack of effect of grapefruit juice on diltiazem bioavailability in normal subjects

The objective of the presented two-way randomized crossover study was to investigate whether repeated doses of grapefruit juice (200 ml at 0, 2, 4, 8 and 12 h) enhanced bioavailability of diltiazem (120 mg, orally) in nine healthy male subjects. Grapefruit juice did not alter AUC or cmax of diltiazem, whereas the half life experienced a slight, but statistically significant, increase (4.1 +/- = 1.2 vs 5.1 +/- 0.7 h). The N-demethyldiltiazem/diltiazem and deacetyldiltiazem/diltiazem ratios were not affected by grapefruit juice intake, which indicates that these metabolic pathways are not inhibited. Whereas bioavailability of some calcium channel antagonists of the dihydropyridine type metabolized via the same cytochrome P450 has been shown to be dramatically increased by grapefruit juice intake, the bioavailability of the benzothiazepine calcium channel antagonist diltiazem remained unchanged. This suggests that factors other than biotransformation may contribute to the clear effect of grapefruit juice on the bioavailability of those substances.