Regional gastrointestinal delivery of remogliflozin etabonate in humans

Remogliflozin etabonate (RE) is the prodrug of remogliflozin (R), an inhibitor of renal glucose transport designed to reduce blood glucose concentrations for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. This open-label, randomized, single-dose, four-way crossover study, (with one add-on arm) in eight healthy men evaluated the regional gastrointestinal absorption of RE, the systemic appearance of the active entity R, and an active metabolite, GSK279782. The InteliSite (R) Companion Capsule was used to administer a single dose of RE 100mg to the mid-small intestine or cecum/colon. Oral administration of the IR tablet of RE showed similar bioavailability of R compared with small intestine delivery with both suspension and solution. The lowest bioavailability of remogliflozin was found with large intestine delivery and therefore not a suitable region for prodrug delivery. Although both lower permeability and decreased ester hydrolysis of remogliflozin etabonate in the colon can explain reduced plasma exposures of remogliflozin, the data suggest relatively limited remogliflozin etabonate hydrolysis in the colon and provides evidence for a diminishing gradient of esterase activity from small to large intestine. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.