Population Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Analysis of the Bactericidal Activities of Sutezolid (PNU-100480) and Its Major Metabolite against Intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis inEx VivoWhole-Blood Cultures of Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis
ABSTRACTSutezolid (PNU-100480 [U-480]) is an oxazolidinone antimicrobial being developed for the treatment of tuberculosis. An active sulfoxide metabolite (PNU-101603 [U-603]), which reaches concentrations in plasma several times those of the parent, has been reported to drive the killing of extracellularMycobacterium tuberculosisby sutezolid in hollow-fiber culture. However, the relative contributions of the parent and metabolite against intracellularM. tuberculosisin vivoare not fully understood. The relationships between the plasma concentrations of U-480 and U-603 and intracellular whole-blood bactericidal activity (WBA) inex vivocultures were examined using a direct competitive population pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic 4-parameter sigmoid model. The data set included 690 PK determinations and 345 WBA determinations from 50 tuberculosis patients enrolled in a phase 2a sutezolid trial. The model parameters were solved iteratively. The median U-603/U-480 concentration ratio was 7.1 (range, 1 to 28). The apparent 50% inhibitory concentration of U-603 for intracellularM. tuberculosiswas 17-fold greater than that of U-480 (90% confidence interval [CI], 9.9- to 53-fold). Model parameters were used to simulatein vivoactivity after oral dosing with sutezolid at 600 mg twice a day (BID) and 1,200 mg once a day (QD). Divided dosing resulted in greater cumulative activity (−0.269 log10per day; 90% CI, −0.237 to −0.293 log10per day) than single daily dosing (−0.186 log10per day; 90% CI, −0.160 to −0.208 log10per day). U-480 accounted for 84% and 78% of the activity for BID and QD dosing, respectively, despite the higher concentrations of U-603. Killing of intracellularM. tuberculosisby orally administered sutezolid is mainly due to the activity of the parent compound. Taken together with the findings of other studies in the hollow-fiber model, these findings suggest that sutezolid and its metabolite act on different mycobacterial subpopulations.