Inter- and intrasubject variabilities in the pharmacokinetics of rufloxacin after single oral administration to healthy volunteers

Rufloxacin is a new long-acting, once-daily quinolone antibacterial agent. We evaluated inter- and intrasubject variations in pharmacokinetics of rufloxacin following oral administration of 400 mg (two capsules) under controlled conditions, at an interval of 2 weeks (periods I and II), to 12 healthy male subjects. Plasma and urine samples were collected up to 48 h after drug administration. Plasma drug levels determined by bioassay were higher than those measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, indicating that one or more active metabolites were formed. Individual high-performance liquid chromatography plasma rufloxacin concentrations were fitted with a one-compartment open model with first-order input. There were considerable variations in the plasma concentration-time profiles among subjects; for example, the elimination half-life in plasma varied from 14.6 to 95.5 h. However, pharmacokinetic parameters calculated for the two periods did not differ significantly. These results suggest that the intrasubject variation in the pharmacokinetics of rufloxacin is usually small in spite of the considerable intersubject variation.