| Abstract: | Based on its ideal PK/PD ratios, doxycycline hyclate (DOX‐h), a time‐dependant antibacterial, is ideally expected to achieve sustained plasma drug concentrations at or slightly above the MIC level for as long as possible between dosing intervals. Pursuing this end, a poloxamer‐based matrix was used to produce a 10% long‐acting injectable preparation (DOX‐h‐LA) and its serum concentrations vs. time profile investigated after its injection to pigs in the pericaudal s.c. by parallel design. Results were compared with the forced oral bolus dose and i.v. pharmacokinetics of DOX‐h. For this study, 12 recently weaned pigs per group were included in this trial, and a dose of 20 mg/kg was injected in all cases. DOX‐h‐LA showed the greatest values for bioavailability (115.38%); maximum serum concentration (Cmax) value was 1.5 ± 0.2 with a time to reach Cmax of 3.41 ± 0.04 h and an elimination rate constant of 70.93 ± 0.87 h. Considering minimum effective serum concentration of 0.5 μg/mL, a dose interval of at least 5 days can be achieved for DOX‐h‐LA, whereas p.o. and i.v. dosing of DOX‐h may only last 11 and 15 h, respectively. Pigs were slaughtered on day 30 after this trial, and no visible remnants of the preparation were detected neither fibrosis was observed after a thorough macroscopic and histopathological analysis. |
