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Stereoselective disposition of proton pump inhibitors

Andersson T, Weidolf L

Clinical drug investigation, 2008

Abstract

It is estimated that about half of all therapeutic agents are chiral, but most of these drugs are administered in the form of the racemic mixture, i.e. a 50/50 mixture of its enantiomers. However, chirality is one of the main features of biology, and many of the processes essential for life are stereoselective, implying that two enantiomers may work differently from each other in a physiological environment. Thus, receptors or metabolizing enzymes would recognize one of the ligand enantiomers in favour of the other. With one exception, all presently marketed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)--omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole and rabeprazole--used for the treatment of gastric acid-related diseases are racemic mixtures. The exception is esomeprazole, the S-enantiomer of omeprazole, which is the only PPI developed as a single enantiomer drug. The development of esomeprazole (an alkaline salt thereof, e.g. magnesium or sodium) was based on unique metabolic properties that clearly differentiated esomeprazole from omeprazole, the racemate. At comparable doses, these properties led to several clinical advantages, for example higher bioavailability in the majority of patients, i.e. the extensive metabolizers (EMs; 97% in Caucasian and 80-85% in Asian populations), lower exposure in poor metabolizers (PMs; 3% in Caucasian and 15-20% in Asian populations) and lower interindividual variation. For the other, i.e. racemic, PPIs there are some data available on the characteristics of…

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