Pharmacokinetic characteristics of roxatidine.

This article reviews the published and unpublished results of pharmacokinetic studies with roxatidine acetate in healthy volunteers of different ethnic origins, patients with various degrees of renal impairment, patients on maintenance hemodialysis, lactating women, and elderly patients. In addition, it reports on the findings of interaction studies with food and other drugs. The pharmacokinetic characteristics of roxatidine were found to be nearly identical for different doses, formulations, and ethnic groups. The decrease in relative total clearance (oral clearance) in patients with renal impairment and in the elderly can be explained almost completely by their level of renal function. As expected from the pharmacokinetic characteristics in healthy volunteers, only a small amount of roxatidine is removed by hemodialysis. Dose reduction is recommended in patients with renal impairment, but dose supplementation after hemodialysis is not necessary. Only a negligible fraction of the dose administered is excreted with breast milk. No pharmacokinetic interactions were found with theophylline, warfarin, propranolol, diazepam, and desmethyldiazepam, antipyrine or antacids. Food did not interfere with the absorption or disposition of roxatidine.