Placental Transfer of Darunavir in an Ex Vivo Human Cotyledon Perfusion Model

Placental transfer of the HIV protease inhibitor darunavir was investigated in 5 term human cotyledons perfused with darunavir (1,000 ng/ml) in the maternal to fetal direction. The mean (+/- the standard deviation [SD]) fetal transfer rate (FTR) (fetal/maternal concentration at steady state from 30 to 90 min) was 15.0% +/- 2.1%, and the mean (+/- SD) clearance index (darunavir FTR/antipyrine FTR) was 40.3% +/- 5.8%. This shows that darunavir crosses the placenta at a relatively low rate, resulting in fetal exposure.