Pharmacokinetics of chloroquine and mono-desethylchloroquine in pregnancy.

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2010 Jan 19;

Authors: Karunajeewa HA, Salman S, Mueller I, Baiwog F, Gomorrai S, Law I, Page-Sharp M, Rogerson S, Siba P, Ilett KF, Davis TM


In order to determine the pharmacokinetic disposition of chloroquine (CQ) and its active metabolite, desethylchloroquine (DECQ) when administered as intermittent presumptive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) for malaria, 30 Papua New Guinean women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy and 30 age-matched non-pregnant women were administered three daily doses of 450 mg CQ (8.5 mg/kg/day) in addition to a single dose of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Blood was taken at baseline and 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 48 and 72 h, and at 7, 10, 14, 28 and 42 days post-treatment in all women. Plasma was subsequently assayed for CQ and DECQ by high performance liquid chromatography and population pharmacokinetic modelling was performed. Pregnant subjects had significantly lower area under the plasma concentration-time curve for both CQ (35,750 vs 47,892 mug.h/liter, P