Investigation of second-meal intake time and bioequivalence of tadalafil-loaded orodispersible films

Abstract

Tadalafil (TD) has poor water solubility but is well absorbed without affecting food intake when administered orally. Owing to patient adherence and therapeutic characteristics, a TD-loaded orodispersible film (TDF) is preferable. However, the mechanistic role of dietary status on the clinical pharmacokinetic analysis of TDF in healthy human volunteers should be investigated because the gastrointestinal environment varies periodically according to meal intervals, alt-hough commercial 20 mg TD-loaded tablets (TD-TAB, Cialis® tablet) may be taken with or with-out food. TDF was prepared by dispersing TD in an aqueous solution and polyethylene glycol 400 to ensure good dispersibility of the TD particles. In the fasting state, each T/R of Cmax and AUC between TD-TAB and TDF showed bioequivalence with 0.936–1.105 and 1.012–1.153, respec-tively, and dissolution rates in 1000 mL water containing 0.5% SLS were equivalent. In contrast, TDF was not bioequivalent to TD-TAB under the fed conditions by the Cmax T/R of 0.610–0.798. The increased dissolution rate of TDF via the micronization of drug particles and the reduced viscosity of the second meal content did not significantly affect the bioequivalence. Interestingly, an increase in second meal intake time from 4 h to 6 h resulted in the bioequivalence by the Cmax T/R of 0.851–0.998 of TD-TAB and TDF. The predictive diffusion direction model for physi-cal digestion of TD-TAB and TDF in the stomach after the first and second meal intake was suc-cessfully simulated using computational fluid dynamics modeling, accounting for the delayed drug diffusion of TDF caused by prolonged digestion of stomach contents under postprandial conditions.