Impact of pregnancy on abacavir pharmacokinetics

Objective:To describe abacavir pharmacokinetics during pregnancy and postpartum; physiological changes during pregnancy are known to affect antiretroviral drug disposition. Design:The Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group P1026s study is an on-going, prospective, non-blinded pharmacokinetic study of pregnant women receiving one or more antiretroviral drugs for routine clinical care, including a cohort receiving abacavir 300 mg twice daily. Methods:Serial plasma samples (predose, 1, 2, 4, and 6 h postdose) obtained antepartum (30–36 weeks of gestation) and again postpartum (6–12 weeks after delivery) were assayed for abacavir concentration by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Results:Antepartum evaluations were available for 25 women [mean age, 28.6 years (SD, 6); mean third-trimester weight 92 kg (SD, 35.4); and race/ethnicity 52% black, 28% Hispanic, 16% white, 4% Asian], with geometric mean abacavir area under the concentration–time curve (AUC) of 5.9 mg·h/l [90% confidence interval (CI), 5.2–6.8] and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of 1.9 mg/l (90% CI, 1.6–2.2). Seventeen women completed postpartum sampling, and the ratios of antepartum to postpartum AUC and Cmax were 1.04 (90% CI, 0.91–1.18) and 0.79 (90% CI, 0.65–0.98), respectively. Conclusions:Abacavir AUC during pregnancy was similar to that at 6–12 weeks postpartum and to that for non-pregnant historical controls (5.8 mg·h/l). Consequently, pregnancy does not appear to affect overall abacavir exposure significantly or to necessitate dose adjustments.