Pharmacokinetics and Bioequivalence Study of Aniracetam after Single-dose Administration in Healthy Chinese Male Volunteers

The pharmacokinetics of aniracetam (CAS 72432-10-1) in Chinese healthy male volunteers was investigated for the first time. Twenty male volunteers were enrolled into this open, randomized, single blind two-sequence, two-period crossover study. Under fasting conditions, each subject received a single oral dose of 400 mg (2 x 200 mg/capsule) aniracetam as a test or reference formulation with a 3-day washout period between the two preparations. The plasma concentrations of aniracetam were analyzed by a sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the test and reference formulations were estimated as follows: The maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) were 8.75 +/- 7.82 and 8.65 +/- 8.70 ng/mL, Tmax were 0.4 +/- 0.1 and 0.4 +/- 0.1 h, and plasma elimination half-lives (t(1/2)) were 0.47 +/- 0.16 and 0.49 +/- 0.24 h, respectively. The AUC(0-t) values demonstrated nearly identical bioavailability of aniracetam from the examined formulations. AUC(0-2.5) values were 4.53 +/- 6.62 and 4.76 +/- 6.65 ng h/mL, the areas under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC(0-infinity) were 4.62 +/- 6.66 and 4.85 +/- 6.71 ng h/mL for the test and reference formulation, respectively. No statistical differences were observed for Cmax, and AUC(0-infinity) for aniracetam. The 90% confidence limits calculated for AUC and Cmax of aniracetam were within the standard bioequivalence range (80%-125% for AUC and Cmax). Therefore, the aniracetam test formulation can be regarded as bioequivalent to the aniracetam reference formulation.