Clinical Therapeutics/Volume 32, Number 4, 2010
April 2010 659
*Current affiliation: Armed Forces Medical Research Institute, Daejeon,
Korea.
These data have been presented in part as a poster at the 108th Annual
Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and
Therapeutics, March 21–24, 2007, Anaheim, California.
Accepted for publication March 10, 2010.
doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2010.04.002
0149-2918/$ - see front matter
© 2010 Excerpta Medica Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Flecainide acetate is a class Ic antiar-
rythmic agent that is metabolized by the cytochrome
P450 (CYP) 2D6 isozyme. A previous open-label,
2-period, single-sequence crossover study in healthy
Korean male volunteers found differences in the phar-
macokinetics of flecainide between subjects with the
CYP2D6 wild-type allele and those with the CYP2D6*10
allele, as well as differences in the pharmacokinetic
interaction between flecainide and the CYP2D6 inhibi-
tor paroxetine between genotype groups.
Objective: This study evaluated QTc-interval changes
after administration of a single oral dose of flecainide,
with and without paroxetine, in relation to CYP2D6
genetic polymorphism.
Methods: This was a follow-on to the previous
pharmacokinetic study and used data from the same
group of healthy Korean male volunteers. Subjects were
grouped by CYP2D6 genotype as follows: CYP2D6*1/*1
or CYP2D6*1/*2 (group 1, extensive metabolizers);
CYP2D6*1/*10 (group 2, intermediate metabolizers);
and CYP2D6*10/*10 or CYP2D6*10/*36 (group 3,
poor metabolizers). Flecainide 200 mg was adminis-
tered on day 1 (period 1); after a 7-day washout period,
subjects received paroxetine 20 mg once daily from day 8
to day 14, and flecainide 200 mg on day 15 (period 2).
On days 1 and 15, serial 12-lead ECGs were obtained
before flecainide dosing and at 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 6, 8,
12, and 24 hours after dosing. Baseline ECGs were
obtained at the same time points on days –1 and 14.
Machine-read changes in the QT interval corrected
using the Fridericia formula (QTcF) and manually read
changes in the QT interval individually corrected using
mixed-effects modeling (QTcI) from time-matched
baseline were analyzed by genotype and by period (base-
line and paroxetine-inhibited state). The QRS duration
and JTc interval (QTcF – QRS) were also determined.
Results: Twenty-one healthy volunteers (mean [SD]
age, 24.5 [3.0] years; mean height, 173.5 [4.6] cm; mean
weight, 69.1 [4.5] kg), 7 in each group, were enrolled
in and completed the study. In period 1, all genotype
groups had significant increases from time-matched
baseline in both the QTcF interval (group 1: 17.4 mil-
liseconds [90% CI, 9.9–24.9], P < 0.001; group 2:
11.1 milliseconds [90% CI, 7.9–14.3], P = 0.013; and
group 3: 20.5 milliseconds [90% CI, 12.8–28.2], P <
0.001) and the QTcI interval (group 1: 15.4 milliseconds
[90% CI, 8.0–22.9], P = 0.001; group 2: 9.1 milliseconds
[90% CI, 6.5–11.8], P = 0.030; and group 3: 16.4 mil-
liseconds [90% CI, 9.3–23.5], P = 0.001); the extent of
increase did not differ significantly between groups. In
groups 1 and 2, the least squares mean difference be-
tween period 1 and period 2 was statistically significant
for the change in QTcF interval (6.5 milliseconds [90%
CI, 3.2–9.8], P = 0.002; and 6.7 milliseconds [90% CI,
Changes in the QTc Interval After Administration of
Flecainide Acetate, With and Without Coadministered
Paroxetine, in Relation to Cytochrome P450 2D6 Genotype:
Data From an Open-Label, Two-Period, Single-Sequence
Crossover Study in Healthy Korean Male Subjects
Kyoung Soo Lim, MD, PhD*; In-Jin Jang, MD, PhD; Bo-Hyung Kim, MD, PhD;
JaeWoo Kim, MD; Ji-Young Jeon, MS; You-Me Tae, MS; SoJeong Yi, MS; SoYoung Eum, MS;
Joo-Youn Cho, PhD; Sang-Goo Shin, MD, PhD; and Kyung-Sang Yu, MD, PhD
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seoul National University College of Medicine and
Hospital, Seoul, Korea