Background: Artemisinin derivatives are the main drugs used for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. Although these drugs remain the most powerful anti-parasitic agents available, there is now evidence for parasite resistance to artesunate, the most widely used artemisinin derivative [1]. This finding provides motivation for conducting more pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) studies of artesunate to monitor its […]
Author: Kris Jamsen
Optimal designs for population pharmacokinetic studies of the partner drugs administered with artemisinin derivatives
Background: The World Health Organization recommends artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) as first line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria1. ACT consists of a highly effective but short lived artemisinin derivative and a less effective but longer lasting partner drug(s). We have recently proposed optimal designs for future population pharmacokinetic studies of the main artemisinin derivative (Artesunate), […]
Optimal designs for population pharmacokinetic studies of a drug with large assay variability for patients with restrictive sampling schedules
Objective: This work aimed to determine an optimal design for patients with restrictive sampling schedules who received a drug* that displays huge assay variability, is rapidly absorbed and has a very short elimination half-life. Methods: Rich data from 20 patients were modelled in R (using nlme) to determine the structural pharmacokinetic (PK) model, PK parameters, inter-patient and […]