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Observational Study
. 2022 Jul;88(7):3516-3522.
doi: 10.1111/bcp.15227. Epub 2022 Feb 8.

Pharmacokinetic characterization of favipiravir in patients with COVID-19

Rezzan Gülhan  1 , Emel Eryüksel  2 , Medine Gülçebi İdriz Oğlu  1 , Yekta Çulpan  1 , Aylin Toplu  1 , Derya Kocakaya  2 , Elif Tigen  3 , Buket Ertürk Şengel  3 , Uluhan Sili  3 , Şehnaz Olgun Yıldızeli  2 , Mehmet Baran Balcan  2 , Abdullah Elçi  4 , Cenk Bulut  4 , Atila Karaalp  1 , Hasan Raci Yananlı  1 , Abdullah Emre Güner  5 , Mustafa Hatipoğlu  5 , Sait Karakurt  2 , Volkan Korten  3 , Neville Ratnaraj  6 , Philip Patsalos  6 , Pınar Ay  7 , Filiz Onat  1   8
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Free article
Observational Study

Pharmacokinetic characterization of favipiravir in patients with COVID-19

Rezzan Gülhan et al. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

This prospective observational study describes the pharmacokinetic characteristics of favipiravir in adult patients hospitalized for mild to moderate COVID-19 with a positive RT-PCR test. Favipiravir was administered for 5 days, with a loading dose of 3200 mg and a maintenance dose of 1200 mg/day. Serial blood samples were collected on Day 2 and Day 4 of the therapy. Laboratory findings of the patients (n = 21) and in-hospital mortality were recorded. Favipiravir concentrations exhibited substantial variability and a significant decrease during the treatment of COVID-19. The median favipiravir trough concentration (C0-trough ) on Day 2 was 21.26 (interquartile range [IQR], 8.37-30.78) μg/mL, whereas it decreased significantly to 1.61 (IQR, 0.00-6.41) μg/mL on Day 4, the area under the concentration-time curve decreased by 68.5%. Day 2 C0-trough of female patients was higher than male patients. Our findings indicate that favipiravir concentrations show significant variability during the treatment of COVID-19 and therapeutic drug monitoring may be necessary to maintain targeted concentrations.

Keywords: COVID; favipiravir; pharmacokinetics; therapeutic drug monitoring.

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