by Verrest L, Wasunna M, Kokwaro G, Aman R, Musa AM, Khalil EAG, Mudawi M, Younis BM, Hailu A, Hurissa Z, Hailu W, Tesfaye S, Makonnen E, Mekonnen Y, Huitema ADR, Beijnen JH, Kshirsagar SA, Chakravarty J, Rai M, Sundar S, Alves F, Dorlo TPC. Clinical Pharmacokinetics 2021. doi: 10.1007/s40262-021-01036-8
Summary: Intramuscular paromomycin monotherapy is effective for treating visceral leishmaniasis in Indian patients, but its efficacy is lower in Eastern Africa. To explore whether geographical differences in the efficacy of paromomycin might be caused by variability in pharmacokinetics, the authors developed a population pharmacokinetic model using pharmacokinetic data from two randomized controlled trials in visceral leishmaniasis patients from Eastern Africa and India. The model generated provides detailed insight into pharmacokinetic differences between Eastern African countries and India, however, these differences in paromomycin exposure do not seem to explain the geographical differences in paromomycin efficacy in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis patients.