The Effects of Multiple Dose Fluoxetine and Metabolites on CYP1A2, CYP2C19, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 Activity

Inhibitory drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are a considerable concern as inhibition of drug's clearance can lead to increased plasma concentrations and subsequent adverse events and toxicities. Fluoxetine (Prozac®) is a widely prescribed antidepressant, but is also a potent inhibitor of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. Fluoxetine was chosen as the model inhibitor for this study because it is a clinically important inhibitor of multiple CYP enzymes with varying potencies for each isoform. From in vitro data, fluoxetine is predicted to be a moderate inhibitor of CYP2D6, but a strong inhibitor of CYP2C19 and CYP3A4. However, in vivo fluoxetine causes a potent interaction with CYP2D6 and a weak-to-no interaction with CYP3A4. The magnitude of the in vivo interaction of fluoxetine with CYP2C19 is not known. This in vitro-to-in vivo discrepancy is of concern for two reasons: 1) In clinical drug development, in vivo drug-drug interactions are tested only when in vitro experiments predict a risk for in vivo DDIs and 2) Because in vivo DDI's are tested using a rank order approach of going from the most potent in vitro interaction to the least potent until no interaction in vivo is observed. In this study the interaction between fluoxetine and CYP3A4, CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 will be quantified simultaneously and the quantitative in vitro-to-in vivo predictions tested. Fluoxetine will be orally administered daily for 14 days and CYP1A2, CYP3A4, CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 activity will be tested in the end of fluoxetine dosing using a cocktail of CYP probes including caffeine, midazolam, omeprazole and dextromethorphan. Lovastatin will be administered on a separate day and used as a second CYP3A4 probe to test whether CYP3A4 inhibition by fluoxetine depends on the contribution of intestinal CYP3A4 to the probe clearance. Plasma and urine samples will be collected for 12 and 24 hrs, respectively, during the control sessions (before fluoxetine administration) and for 24 hrs during the treatment sessions (fluoxetine multiple dose). The concentrations of each of the probe drugs and their metabolites (when applicable) as well as fluoxetine and its metabolites will be measured in the collected samples and pharmacokinetic analysis will be performed. The primary outcome measures for CYP inhibition will be the increase in the area under plasma concentrations time curve (AUC) of each of the probes.The null hypothesis of this study is that the area under plasma concentrations time curves (AUCs) of caffeine, dextromethorphan, omeprazole, midazolam or lovastatin are the same between the control session and the fluoxetine session. Because lovastatin has the greatest variability in its baseline pharmacokinetics the study was powered based on the specific null hypothesis for lovastatin. The alternative hypothesis is that fluoxetine decreases the clearance of the probe drugs resulting in a significant increase in the AUCs between the control and study sessions.