Bupropion is indicated to promote smoking cessation. Animal studies suggest that bupropion’s major metabolite hydroxybupropion can mediate bupropion’s pharmacologic activity. We measured plasma bupropion and metabolite levels in a double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized smoking cessation trial. Among the treatment adherent individuals, higher hydroxybupropion concentrations (per µg/mL) resulted in better smoking cessation outcomes (Week 3, 7 and 26 OR=2.82, 2.96 and 2.37, P=0.005–0.040), this was not observed with bupropion levels (OR=1.00–1.03, P=0.59–0.90). Genetic variation in CYP2B6, the enzyme that metabolizes bupropion to hydroxybupropion, was identified as a significant source of variability in hydroxybupropion formation. Our data indicate that hydroxybupropion contributes to the pharmacologic effects of bupropion for smoking cessation, and that variability in response to bupropion treatment is related to variability in CYP2B6-mediated hydroxybupropion formation. These findings suggest dosing bupropion to achieve a hydroxybupropion level of 0.7 µg/ml or increasing bupropion dose for CYP2B6 slow metabolizers, could improve bupropion’s cessation outcomes.

The predictive performance of physiologically‐based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) models for pharmacokinetics (PK) in renal impairment (RI) and hepatic impairment (HI) populations was evaluated using clinical data from 29 compounds with 106 organ impairment study arms were collected from 19 member companies of the International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development. Fifty RI and 56 HI study arms with varying degrees of organ insufficiency along with control populations were evaluated. For RI, the area under the curve (AUC) ratios of RI to healthy control were predicted within twofold of the observed ratios for > 90% (N = 47/50 arms). For HI, > 70% (N = 43/56 arms) of the hepatically impaired to healthy control AUC ratios were predicted within twofold. Inaccuracies, typically overestimation of AUC ratios, occurred more in moderate and severe HI. PBPK predictions can help determine the need and timing of organ impairment study. It may be suitable for predicting the impact of RI on PK of drugs predominantly cleared by metabolism with varying contribution of renal clearance. PBPK modeling may be used to support mild impairment study waivers or clinical study design.

Background Bupropion, an antidepressant and smoking cessation medication, is metabolized to hydroxybupropion (HB), an active metabolite, primarily by CYP2B6. Objectives To compare plasma concentrations of bupropion and metabolites at steady state in healthy volunteers with and without CYP2B6 genetic variants. Methods In a genotype-guided study of 42 healthy subjects we measured plasma and urine concentrations of bupropion and its metabolites, HB, threohydrobupropion (TB) and erythrohydrobupropion (EB) after 7 days of sustained release bupropion dosing. Results CYP2B6*6 and *18 gene variants were associated with approximately 33% reduced concentrations of HB, with no effects on concentrations of bupropion or other metabolites. We could account for 50% of the variation in HB concentrations in a model including genotype and sex. Conclusions Since HB is active and steady state concentrations of HB are more than 10 times higher than bupropion, CYP2B6 variants are likely to affect pharmacological activity. Due to the large individual variation within genotype group, the use of therapeutic drug monitoring for dose optimization may be necessary.