Tolerability of ibuprofen and flurbiprofen in G-6-PD deficient subjects: in vitro study.

1 A 'GSH (reduced glutathione) stability test' which consists of incubating blood samples with acetylphenylhydrazine and other test drugs and measuring GSH level before and after incubation, was carried out. 2 Application of this test to the blood of eight normal volunteers and twelve known G-6-PD deficient persons demonstrated that acetylphenylhydrazine and primaquine produced a significant decrease in GSH levels in G-6-PD deficient red cells compared to the reduction seen in normal red cells incubated with these drugs. No such change was observed with aspirin, ibuprofen and flurbiprofen. 3 The results of this in vitro study seem to indicate that ibuprofen and flurbiprofen are relatively innocuous in G-6-PD deficient individuals.